WILEMAN DE 22
Ship Name and Designation History
This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.
Ordered for Great Britain as HMS FOLEY BDE-22 Keel Laid April 30 1942 - Launched December 19 1942 Retained by U.S. Navy January 25 1943 Renamed February 19 1943 |
This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).
Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.
- Covers Page 1 (1943)
Postmarks
This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.
A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an
image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN
THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the
existing example.
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Postmark Type |
Postmark Date |
Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image |
Thumbnail Link To Cover Image |
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Locy Type |
1943-08-07 |
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Note:
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Locy Type |
1945-06-18 |
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Note:
Other Information
WILEMAN earned four battle stars during World War II
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 4 stars - WWII Victory Medal
NAMESAKE - William Wolfe Wileman USNR (May 4 1917 - September 13 1942)
Wileman graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1940 and enlisted in the Naval Reserve on February 12 1941 as a Seaman Second Class. After basic training at Oakland, Cal., he transferred to the Pensacola Naval Air Station for aviation training on April 3 and the following day, received his appointment as an Aviation Cadet. He finished the basic course at Pensacola in August and moved to the Miami Naval Air Station on the 31st for advanced training. His flight instruction ended on November 4; and, on the 5th, Wileman was commissioned an Ensign in the Naval Reserve. The Navy Directory for 1942 suggests that Ens. Wileman was assigned to Fighting Squadron (VF) 6 on board USS ENTERPRISE CV-6. While he may have served briefly with that unit and on board that ship, he was definitely a member of VF-2 on board USS YORKTOWN CV-5 by the time of the Battle of the Coral Sea early in May 1942. During that action in the evening of May 7, Ens. Wileman earned the Navy Cross for shooting down at least one, and perhaps two, Japanese fighters. Later, he transferred to VF-5 and saw service at various locations in the southwestern Pacific. At the time of his death on September 13 1942, Ens. Wileman was based ashore on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands with a portion of VF-5 assigned to the "Cactus Air Force" at Henderson Field. Further details of Ens. Wileman's death are unavailable, but he was presumed dead as a result of enemy action while defending his base from Japanese air raids. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart having been killed in action as a direct result of wounds received in action with the enemy of the United States. His other awards received posthumously included the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; American Defense Service Medal; and the World War II Victory Medal.
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