WILLIS DE 395
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.
- Edsall Class Type FMR Destroyer Escort
- USS WILLIS DE-395
Commissioned December 10 1943 - Decommissioned September 12 1947
Stricken July 1 1972
Sold August 17 1973 to Edward O. Sanchez of New Bedford MA, and broken up for scrap
Keel Laid July 17 1943 - Launched September 14 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 incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). 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.
- Cover Page 1 (1944)
Postmarks
This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). 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.
| POSTMARK TYPE | DATE FROM to DATE TO |
THUMBNAIL LINK TO CLOSE-UP IMAGE |
THUMBNAIL LINK TO FULL COVER IMAGE |
|---|
|
Locy Type |
1944-05-04 |
 |
 |
Note:
Other Information
Earned 1 Battle Star (WWII)
*
Battle of The Atlantic 1944
Earned Presidential Unit Citation for her actions in The Atlantic 1944
NAMESAKE - Ensign Walter Michael Willis USN (January 14 1917 - December 7 1941)
Willis was killed during the Pearl Harbor attack while serving with USS ENTERPRISE AIR GROUP SQUADRON 6. On the morning of December 7, as ENTERPRISE was returning from Wake Island to Hawaii, the carrier sent up a flight of SBD's to scout the water ahead. Willis took off in one of these bombers for what was intended to be a routine flight to FORD ISLAND NAS. However, instead of enjoying an ordinary scouting mission, these planes ran head-on into a war, for they arrived almost simultaneously with the start of the Japanese attack. In the ensuing aerial melee, Willis and his gunner were among the Americans shot down.
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