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Early Sunday morning on December 7, 1941, a 24-year old dive bomber pilot from Minneapolis, Ensign Walter M. Willis, left the carrier USS Enterprise with his squadron on a routine scouting mission as the carrier returned to Hawaii from Wake Island. He was flying a Douglas SBD Dauntless. As his squadron approached Oahu, they were suddenly attacked by an incoming squadron of Japanese Zero fighter planes. Purely by accident, they had stumbled upon Japanese planes attacking Pearl Harbor. Willis and his gunner, Coxswain Fred Ducolon, never came back. Later reports indicated that they knocked two enemy planes from the sky before going down at sea. He was one of the first American airmen to die in World War II. His remains were not recovered.
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Service number: 084140
Walter Michael Willis – Dive Bomber Pilot Shot Down on December 7, 1941
Walter Michael Willis – Sacrificed His Life for Our Freedom
Walter Willis was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 10, 1917. From the U. S. 1930 Census, we learn that Walter’s father, also Walter, was not listed on this document. His mother Marie, 34, had three children living at home at this time: Walter, 13, Marion, 9, and Lorraine, 7. Walter’s mother worked as a weaver at the local woolen mill. They lived at 919 Second Street, in Minneapolis.
After graduating from La Salle High School, Walter attended the University of Minnesota. Willis served a tour with the Marine Corps as a Private First Class in September of 1936 before enlisting as a Seaman 2nd Class in the Naval Reserve in Minneapolis. He received his appointment as an aviation cadet on December 22, 1939, and shortly thereafter reported to Pensacola Naval Air Station to receive flight training. He received his Naval Aviator wings on August 14, 1940. He received his commission as an Ensign on September 10 of that same year. He was a member of Bombing Squadron (VB- 6), and considered one of the best aviators in his squadron in spite of his junior rank.
Walter Willis was then assigned to the Bombing Squadron VB-6 aboard the carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6). The USS Enterprise had one of the most fortunate pieces of good luck during the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. They, along with other carriers were out at sea, thus avoiding the surprise air attack. However, some bad luck occurred for the aviators aboard this huge ship. Unaware of the Japanese attack, Enterprise launched eighteen of her SBDs - the CAG's aircraft, 13 aircraft from Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6) and four aircraft from Bombing Squadron Six (VB-6) - at dawn on 7 December to scout an arc extending from the northeast to southeast of the ship, and to land at Ford Island at Pearl Harbor after completing their search routes. As these aircraft arrived in pairs over Pearl Harbor, they were caught between attacking Japanese aircraft and defensive anti-aircraft fire from the ships and shore installations below. Seven SBDs were shot down, either from enemy action or friendly fire, with the loss of eight airmen killed and two wounded.
Enterprise received radio messages from Pearl Harbor reporting that the base was under attack, and she was later directed to launch an airstrike based on an inaccurate report of a Japanese carrier southwest of her location. The strike was launched around 17:00, consisting of six Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters of Fighting Squadron Six (VF-6), 18 Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers of Torpedo Squadron Six (VT-6), and six SBDs of VB-6.
Unable to locate any targets, the torpedo and dive bombers returned to Enterprise, but the six fighters were directed to divert to Hickam Field on Oahu. Although word of the planes' expected arrival had been broadcast to all ships and anti-aircraft units in the area, the appearance of the Wildcats in the night sky over Oahu triggered panic firing, which shot down three of them, killing their pilots, while a fourth aircraft ran out of fuel, forcing the pilot to bail out.
Tragically, Walter Willis was killed in action on the first day of the attack, December 7, 1941. Early Sunday morning on December 7, 1941, a 24-year-old dive bomber pilot from Minneapolis, Ensign Walter M. Willis, left the carrier USS Enterprise with his squadron on a routine scouting mission as the carrier returned to Hawaii from Wake Island. He was flying a Douglas SBD Dauntless. As his squadron approached Oahu, they were suddenly attacked by an incoming squadron of Japanese Zero fighter planes. Purely by accident, they had stumbled upon Japanese planes attacking Pearl Harbor. Willis and his gunner, Coxswain Fred Ducolon, never came back. Later reports indicated that they knocked two enemy planes from the sky before going down at sea. He was one of the first American airmen to die in World War II.
Date with Infamy
posted in FROM THE COCKPIT: STORIES OF NAVAL AVIATION on December 07, 2012
All told, of the eighteen Dauntless dive-bombers that launched that fateful morning, one was shot down by friendly fire and five others fell to Japanese aircraft. Not until December 22nd would a telegram arrive at 140 8th Avenue NE in Minneapolis informing Mrs. Marie Willis that her son was missing in action. Four days later a personal letter from Rear Admiral John H. Towers arrived, this one bearing news that her son’s status had been changed to killed in action. Walter was awarded a Purple Heart posthumously.
Willis is honored at the Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii.
His family also created a memorial at the Fort Snelling National Memorial Cemetery in Minneapolis. Walter was awarded a Purple Heart posthumously.
Walter Willis did receive another outstanding honor. The Navy invited his mother, Marie, to be present at the launching of a new destroyer escort ship in Huston, Texas. The ship named in his honor; USS Willis (DE–395) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy.
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota) 09 Sep 1943, Thursday, Page 20
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This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.
Resources:
https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=69202
https://www.newspapers.com/image/187280281/?terms=Walter%20Michael%20Willis&match=1
https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Walter+Michael+_Willis&event=_minneapolis-hennepin-minnesota
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/7271542:1089?
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/197167645/walter-michael-willis
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/79843793:6224
https://www.mnmilitarymuseum.org/exhibits/veterans-page/ensign-walter-m-willis/
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nnam/education/articles/from-the-cockpit--stories-of-naval
US Navy Muster Rolls
U.S. Census 1930
Joyce, Robert (SBTS Historian), AT2
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