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Casualty Info
Home Town Des Moines, IA
Last Address 1089 Bateman St Galesburg, Illinois
Casualty Date Jun 04, 1942
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
Wall/Plot Coordinates Court 2 (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
On the morning on 4 Jun 1942 aircraft of the USS Enterprise's (CV-6) air group launched to attack the Japanese carrier striking force that was approaching the Midway atoll. Bombing Squadron Six (VB-6) attacked the enemy Japanese Force scoring a number of direct hits on the enemy aircraft carriers. Of the fifteen dive bombers from VB-6 that took off from the Enterprise that morning only five survived the attack although six pilots and five gunners where rescued later. Enemy anti-aircraft fire and fuel exhaustion took the biggest toll on this squadron after the initial attacks. Ensign Frederick Thomas Weber and AOM3 Ernest Lenard Hilbert did not return from this mission, and they were listed as missing in action. Their remains were unrecoverable. On 5 Jun 1943 they were presumed dead.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 083087
Navy Cross
Awarded for Action During World War II
Service: Navy
Battalion: Bombing Squadron 6 (VB-6)
Division: U.S.S. Enterprise (CV-6)
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 309 (December 1942)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Ensign Frederick Thomas Weber (NSN: 0-83087), United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Dive Bomber in Bombing Squadron SIX (VB-6), attached to the U.S.S. ENTERPRISE (CV-6), during the "Air Battle of Midway," against enemy Japanese forces on 4 - 6 June 1942. Flying at a distance from his own forces which rendered return unlikely because of probable fuel exhaustion, Ensign Weber participated in two dive-bombing attacks against Japanese naval units. In the first, launched in the face of concentrated anti-aircraft fire and overwhelming fighter opposition, he scored a direct hit on an enemy aircraft carrier. In the second, while pressing home a desperate and vigorous counter-attack against Japanese fighters, he was shot down. His unflinching devotion to duty, maintained at great personal risk against tremendous odds, aided greatly in the success of our forces and was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
