World War II Honoree

Warren Dale Wilson

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Crane, Missouri

Honored By

Warren Dale Wilson

Enlisted in the U.S. Navy in July 1942. After he was sworn in, in Springfield, Missouri he was sent to Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois. There he was selected for a 16-week Radio School at the University of Chicago. After he completed the course to be a Radio Operator, he was sent to Norfolk, Virginia. There they were separated into crews for service aboard Landing Ship Tanks (LST). His crew was numbered 62. He and his crew were then transported by train to the Philadelphia Navy Yards and commissioned to the LST 236. They then traveled down the Delaware River to Norfolk, Virginia and then to New York to be outfitted for overseas duty. They left New York in convoy to North Africa. Their first stop was Oran and they then continued to Bizerte with a group of See Bees to repair the damage done to the port. He and his crew then started training with the First Ranger Division and the 2nd Armored Division for the Invasion of Sicily. Three weeks after their arrival in Bizerte, they invaded Sicily. They landed at Licata, Sicily and then after the initial invasion continued transporting troops to Sicily, and returning to Africa with Prisoners of War. In operations against Italy, they also landed troops and supplies at different locations, including a landing with Canadian 7th Armored Division was made on the coast of Italy across from Albania. Following six months of duty in the Mediterranean, they were ordered to Calcutta, India by way of the Suez Canal, Red Sea and Indian Ocean. They were in India for more than three weeks. They also made one landing with British Forces against the Japanese in Burma. They were then ordered to England to train for the Normandy Invasion. They landed on Juno Beach under the British command with Canadian troops. Following the Invasion of Normandy and the build up, he was rotated back to the U.S. He was given a 30 day leave and then reported back to Camp Bradford, Virginia. He was aboard another LST headed for the Pacific when President Truman dropped the Bomb. His ship and crew were in New Orleans when his orders going to the Pacific were cancelled. His ship, along with others, went to the St. John's River close of Jacksonville, Florida. He was eligible for discharge in October, but didn't get his papers until late December. He was discharged from Lambert Field in St. Louis and made it home for Christmas in 1945.