World War II Honoree

William Woodward Outerbridge

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Middleport, Ohio

Honored By

Friends of American Heroes

He proudly served his country in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Ward which fired the first salvo just prior to the U.S. entering the WWII, sinking an enemy submarine a full hour before the Japanese bombs hit Pearl Harbor. At 6:30 AM on December 7, 1941 the Ward’s crew sighted a sub periscope operating in restricted waters. When the sub surfaced and was recognized as a Japanese sub, he as the Ward’s Captain gave the order to fire on the sub. The first shot missed but the second shot hit the lower part of the conning tower and the sub rolled and righted itself again and then went down. An hour later the Japanese launched a full scale attack on Pearl Harbor. After the attack on Pearl Harbor the Ward was retrofitted as a high speed transport. They became part of the task force responsible for troop landings in the South Pacific where Japanese Kamikaze attacks were common. It was a Kamikaze that eventually led to the scuttling of the Ward on December 7, 1944, exactly 3 years to the day after they first engaged the enemy at the mouth of Pearl Harbor. He retired as a Lieutenant Commander.