WEBER APD 75
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.
Keel Laid February 22 1943 - Launched May 1 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.
- Weber Covers Page 1 (1945)
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.
|
Postmark Type |
Date From to Date To |
Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image |
Thumbnail Link To Cover Image |
|---|
|
Locy Type |
1945-03-18 |
 |
 |
As APD-75
Other Information
WEBER earned one battle star during World War II
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
China Service Medal - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 1 star - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal - Philippine Liberation Ribbon
NAMESAKE - Frederick Thomas Weber USNR (February 4 1916 - June 4 1942)
Weber enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on August 30 1938. Seaman 2d Class Weber successfully completed elimination flight training at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Kansas City, Kansas; and, on July 27 1939, he was appointed an Aviation Cadet in the Naval Reserve. After 10 months of training at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., Weber was appointed a naval aviator on May 10 1940. A little over a month later, he concluded his training and, on 12 June 1940, received his commission and orders to Bombing Squadron (VB) 6 attached to the Carrier USS ENTERPRISE CV-6. This proved to be Ens. Weber's only assignment during his brief naval career. On the morning of June 4 1942, land-based patrol planes from Midway made contact with the advancing Japanese force. While Midway defended itself against enemy air attacks and landbased air unsuccessfully tried to pierce the Japanese defenses, Weber and his comrades in VB-6 took to the air to begin a long gruelling search. By 0730, the entire attack group was aloft and streaking off toward the enemy's reported position. Lt. Comdr. Clarence "Wade" McClusky, the Enterprise air group commander, led the squadron himself as the formation winged on toward Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Carrier Striking Force. Weber followed his squadron leader in on carrier KAGA as the third plane in the first section. The Bombing 6 Action Report states that ". . . at least three 1,000-pound bomb hits were observed on that target and it became a mass of flame and smoke." Since only the three Bombing 6 planes which participated in the attack on that carrier carried that size bomb, Weber and his two squadron mates all apparently scored direct hits on the target. Hence Weber contributed as much as anyone to the sinking of KAGA.
That afternoon, Weber took off from ENTERPRISE with a composite attack group made up of the remnants of the several groups decimated earlier. At about 1545, planes from Scouting 6 and 14 of USS YORKTOWN CV-5 Bombing 3 joined with the four operational aircraft remaining to Bombing 6 and sped off in chase of the remaining carrier. Unfortunately, the American fighters still extant had to remain with the carriers as combat air patrol so the attack group was denuded of fighter cover. The American planes climbed to 19,000 feet and maneuvered their way up sun of HIRYU and her escorts. During the jockeying for position, Japanese fighters jumped the unprotected dive bombers. Before reaching the "push over" point, Ens. Weber's plane fell victim to the enemy fighters. He and his aircrewman, Aviation Ordnanceman 3d Class E. L. Hilbert, spiraled into the sea and to their deaths. For his part in sinking KAGA and for his supreme sacrifice in assisting his colleagues to sink the remaining enemy carrier, Ens. Weber was promoted retroactively to Lieutenant (junior grade) and was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously
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