USS Willis (DE-395)

USS Willis (DE-395)

USS Willis (DE–395) is an Edsall-class destroyer escort, the first United States Navy ship so named. This ship was named for Ensign Walter Michael Willis (14 January 1917 – 7 December 1941). He enlisted in the Naval Reserve as a seaman 2d class at Minneapolis. Willis received an appointment as reserve aviation cadet on 22 December 1939. Six days later, he reported to Pensacola Naval Air Station for flight instruction and, on 14 August 1940, emerged with his aviator's wings.

Commissioned an ensign on 10 September, Willis soon joined Bombing Squadron (VB) 6, based in USS Enterprise (CV-6), and flew Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers until early in December 1941. On the morning of 7 December, 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, the naval air station at Pearl Harbor. 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 upon Pearl Harbor. In the ensuing aerial melee, Willis and his gunner were among the Americans shot down.