Service Photo |
Service Details |
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Last Rank
Petty Officer First Class
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Last Primary NEC
TM-0000-Torpedoman's Mate
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Last Rating/NEC Group
Torpedoman's Mate
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Primary Unit
1944-1945, TM-0000, USS Barbel (SS-316)
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Service Years
1937 - 1945
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Last Photo |
Personal Details
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Home State
 Washington | |
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Year of Birth 1919 |
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This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Wilks, Ferris Washington, TM1.
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
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Casualty Info
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Home Town Olympia,WA |
Last Address Olympia,WA
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Casualty Date Feb 04, 1945 |
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Cause Hostile, Died while Missing |
Reason Lost At Sea-Unrecovered |
Location Pacific Ocean |
Conflict Submarine War Patrols |
Location of Interment Manila American Cemetery - Taguig City, Philippines |
Wall/Plot Coordinates Tablets of the Missing (cenotaph) |
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Last Known Activity
On 3 February BARBEL sent a message to GABILAN, USS TUNA (SS-203), and USS BLACKFIN (SS-322) stating that she had been bombed by enemy aircraft three times that day and would transmit again the following night with more information. But no transmission came. On 6 February, TUNA indicated that she had been unable to raise BARBEL for 48 hours and requested a rendezvous with her sister sub on the following day. BARBEL didn’t show. The navy declared her overdue and presumed lost on 16 February, the day on which she was scheduled to leave her patrol area.
Japanese records examined after the war state that on 4 February a plane dropped two bombs on a surfaced sub, scoring one hit near the bridge. The crew of the aircraft watched the sub, on fire, plunge beneath the waves. It did not return to the surface. It is almost certain that the sub was BARBEL.
Eighty-one men were lost with their boat, the recipient of three battle stars for her World War II service
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Comments/Citation Not Specified
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