This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Avery, Willis Virgil, PhM1c.
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Contact Info
Home Town Vestal
Last Address Boulder City Nevada
Date of Passing May 13, 2015
Location of Interment Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery - Boulder City, Nevada
Willis V. Avery passed away on May 13, 2015 at the age of 93, following his wife Miriam and son Raymond. He is survived by daughter Sandra Sanders of El Dorado Hills, CA and son Bill Avery of Boulder City, NV and grandsons Chris, Jason, and Tim Avery and Greg Sanders and two great granddaughters. Willis grew up on a dairy farm in Vestal, NY. He joined the US Navy at 18 years old prior to the beginning of WWII. He served as a First Class Pharmacist Mate aboard the USS Solace, a hospital ship that was moored alongside Battleship Row during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He and members of his crew went aboard the burning USS Arizona to give aid to the wounded and help them abandon the sinking ship. He was given a Naval Commendation of Service for his "distinguished devotion and extraordinary courage and disregard for his own safety." Forty-nine years later, Willis hosted the first USS Solace Reunion. Willis played saxophone and clarinet in the Navy band in Auckland, New Zealand where he met his wife, Miriam, of 54 years. Willis enjoyed a 33 year career with IBM Corporation in Endicott, NY, as a computer trouble shooter. A devoted husband and father, Willis had a wonderful sense of humor, loved to laugh and enjoyed telling a good story. His interests included raising beagles, ham radio, and golf. He continued to play clarinet throughout his life. He and Miriam retired to Lady Lake, Florida and then to Boulder City, NV in 1991. Much of his time in later years was spent enjoying the company of friends and playing pool at the Senior Center. Memorial service will be held at the Veterans Cemetery in Boulder City, Nevada on May 29 at 10:40 am. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Senior Center of Boulder City, 813 Arizona Street, Boulder City, NV 89005.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Attack on Pearl Harbor
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1941
Description The attack on Pearl Harbor, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, the Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and Operation Z during planning, was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.
Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the next seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. All but Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed. One Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured.
The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940,[19] disappeared. Clandestine support of the United Kingdom (e.g., the Neutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.
From the 1950s, several writers alleged that parties high in the U.S. and British governments knew of the attack in advance and may have let it happen (or even encouraged it) with the aim of bringing the U.S. into war. However, this advance-knowledge conspiracy theory is rejected by mainstream historians.
There were numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan. However, the lack of any formal warning, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was judged by the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime.
