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Frederick Thomas Weber (4 February 1916 - 4 June 1942) was born at Des Moines, Iowa and later attended college at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. before transferring to Drake University in Des Moines in 1935. He graduated during the summer of 1938 and enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on 30 August. Seaman 2d Class Weber successfully completed elimination flight training at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Kansas City, Kansas; and, on 27 July 1939, he was appointed an aviation cadet in the Naval Reserve. After 10 months of training at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., Weber was appointed a naval aviator on 10 May 1940. A little over a month later, he concluded his training and, on 12 June 1940, received his commission and orders to Bombing Squadron (VB) 6 attached to the carrier Enterprise (CV-6). This proved to be Ens. Weber's only assignment during his brief naval career. During the remainder of 1940 and for 11 of the 12 months of 1941, he served with his ship and squadron operating out of San Diego, and later out of Pearl Harbor. His duties consisted of training in aerial warfare in preparation for the conflict with Japan expected to erupt at any time.
At the end of the first week in December 1941, Enterprise was returning from Wake Island. Foiled in their attempt to locate the Japanese striking force on 7 December, the carrier entered Pearl Harbor on the 8th. The following morning, she sortied and began defensive patrols of the area to assure that no enemy invasion force was on its way to Hawaii. In April 1942 Enterprise served as an escort for Hornet (CV-8) during the Halsey-Doolittle bomber raid on Tokyo and returned to Oahu on 25 April. Dispatched too late to join in the Battle of the Coral Sea, his ship returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 May to prepare for what would be an even more important strategic battle-the first real defeat of Japanese naval airpower during the struggle over Midway Island. On 28 May 1942, Enterprise steamed out of Pearl Harbor, accompanied by Hornet and their escorts of Task Force 16, to lie in ambush north of Midway. Swiftly repaired Yorktown (CV-5) followed two days later. On the morning of 4 June, land-based patrol planes from Midway made contact with the advancing Japanese force. While Midway defended itself against enemy air attacks and landbased air unsuccessfully tried to pierce the Japanese defenses, Weber and his comrades in VB-6 took to the air to begin a long gruelling search. By 0730, the entire attack group was aloft and streaking off toward the enemy's reported position. Lt. Comdr. Clarence "Wade" McClusky, the Enterprise air group commander, led the squadron himself as the formation winged on toward Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Carrier Striking Force. (Frederick Weber's biography continued here)
USS Weber, DE-675, was the first ship named in his honor. (US Navy photo from the The Zephyr (of Galesburg IL) ) |
Bill Gonyo |
