WILSON History

The following information was provided by George and Shirley Chaisson. George believes the author was YN1 Robert Sutton. I'm trying to track him down with resources available to confirm this. This document is undated. Again, all spelling errors are mine.

THE LERAY WILSON (DE 414)

The Lucky LERAY she was nicknamed, perhaps in a moment when some member of her crew wanted to play the sardonic soothsayer. Actually, most men who have served aboard her during the last and most intense year of the Pacific war consider themselves fortunate in retrospect.

The LERAY WILSON was present with an escort carrier unit at the Battle of Samar Island and escaped gunfire from enemy cruisers and battleships 14 odd miles away only because of the presence and partial sacrifice of another small unit of CVE's DD's, and DE's immediately to northward.

Later, in the invasion of Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, the LERAY WILSON helped escort a large group of troop transports safely through a gauntlet of attacking Japanese planes. While on screening duty inside the gulf after landing day, the WILSON was hit by an enemy bomber, but although her torpedo tubes were sliced off at the end and a spectacular gasoline fire was started on the superstructure deck, the torpedoes did not explode and the fire was quickly extinguished before damage could be done to any enclosed compartment.

Back in action in time to take part in the invasion of Okinawa, the LERAY WILSON did patrol duty protecting the invasion fleet around that island, not only on D-Day but also later for a period of 50 consecutive days, during which the American ships were subject to airplane attacks more frequently and violently desperate than at any other time in the whole war. Of the more than 400 enemy "raids" taking place in that time, several came within attacking distance of the LERAY WILSON, but the ship was not hit, and her crew had the satisfaction of seeing a number of Japanese planes blow up in midair. One enemy fighter making a surprise low attack over the crowded Hagushi Beach anchorage had a wing disintegrated by gunfire from the WILSON, and fell into the water some 1500 yards away.

The ship was placed in commission the afternoon of May 10, 1944 at the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company dock, Houston, Texas. One of the new 5-inch gun turret type of DE, propelled by two 6,000 horsepower steam turbines, the LERAY WILSON was built at an approximate cost of $3,000,000 by the Brown Ship Building Company of Houston, Texas.

She was named after a Metalsmith Second Class, USN, who was killed in action during a surprise Japanese bombing attack at Darwin, Australia, on February 19, 1942. Despite the rapidity with which the attack developed and the very obvious danger to being trapped by an explosion, Wilson, a member of the after repair party of an American warship, went immediately below decks and had just completed closing all doors and hatches when a bomb hitting the ship within a few feet of him caused his death. Because of his courage and efficiency in the performance of his hazardous task, the flooding of the ship following the explosion was confined to two compartments. Wilson was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.

The new ship's Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Commander Matthew V. Carson. The Executive Officer was Lieutenant Felix L. Englander, USN, a member of the Annapolis class of 1940 and a former anti-aircraft control officer on the U.S.S. PHILADELPHIA. Four of the eight other officers and more than two-thirds of the crew of 184 men had never been to sea.

After a readiness for sea period at Galveston, Texas, the ship set sail for shakedown training at Bermuda on May 28, 1944, with two other new DE's. She arrived on June 3, and began four weeks of what many of her crew consider their most intense period of activity, trying out all the new equipment, taking kinks out of the personnel organization and getting used to their jobs and life at sea.

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On July 2 the LERAY WILSON left Bermuda and two days later was in the Charlestown, Massachusetts, Navy Yard, where a number of alterations were made and the ship's battle information center and plotting room modernized.

The ship arrived at the Panama Canal Zone on July 25. From there she went to San Diego, and, after a pause, to Pearl Harbor, which she entered on August 19. There she took part in further training exercises in preparation for action against submarines, planes, and surface targets.

On Sept. 22 she was in Eniwetok, Marshall Islands. And on Oct. 1 she was ordered to proceed to Seeadler Harbor, Manus, Admiralty Islands, where she was to stage for the invasion of Leyte, the largest undertaking of its kind in the Pacific War up to that time.

The Wilson's officers and men, not knowing what was in store for them, and many never having heard of Manus before, were amazed at the mass of ships they saw upon entering Seeadler Harbor. The large anchorage contained virtually the entire 7th Fleet, consisting of most of the old battleships that had been "sunk" at Pearl Harbor, several cruisers, 18 escort carriers, and all the transports, cargo ships, minesweepers, destroyers, destroyer escorts, landing craft, and supporting ships necessary for a tremendous landing operation. The LERAY WILSON had to thread its way through the ships to the berth assigned it like a man hunting a partner on a crowded dance floor.

On Oct. 12, Task Force 77, the striking power of the 7th Fleet, got underway for the objective. Among the approximately 65 ships in the formation was the LERAY WILSON, which with a unit of CVE's later seperated from the cruisers and battleships. The ship encountered her worst storm on the 17th of October, when a typhoon harried severely the invasion fleet.

It was at 0725 on Oct. 25, an overcast day, when the ship's tactical voice radio brought forth the astounding news that large enemy warships were sighted only 15 miles away. The three destroyers in the Wilson's task unit placed themselves in a protecting line between the vulnerable escort carriers and the enemy force, while the Wilson and 4 other DE's formed an anti-submarine screen on the other side of the carriers, which were launching planes as fast as they could and at the same time making maximum speed to get away from the faster Japanese ships.

At 0848 the enemy commenced firing, and 50 minutes later, several splashes from their shells were seen near the three screening destroyers, which had been making a show of return fire at extreme range. But the Japanese were prevented from closing by constant attacks from our planes and by accurate fire from another group of CVE's, DD's, and DE's which were taking the brunt of the enemy's onslaught. A sister ship of the LERAY WILSON, the SAMUEL B. ROBERTS, was one of three American ships of this nearby task unit sunk after having successfully made a heroic torpedo attack against the vastly more powerful Japanese battleship and cruiser force. But the Japanese decided to turn back, and in so doing lost for all time the initiative in the Pacific naval war.

About two hours after the battle had begun, an American torpedo bomber, which had been hit by enemy gunfire crashed off the LERAY WILSON's starboard bow. Its three-man crew was rescued by the Wilson.

The carriers with which the LERAY WILSON was operating provided local air support over Leyte for about two weeks and on Nov. 3 were back in Manus. Later that month the LERAY WILSON was with them again in the Philippines Sea, protecting shipping lanes from possible enemy air and submarine attacks.

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On Dec. 10 the LERAY WILSON left Manus for the third time and proceeded to Cape Torokina, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, where transports and landing craft of the 7th Fleet were taking aboard troops for the coming invasion of Luzon. The LERAY WILSON helped escort these back to Manus and in early January went with them up to Lingayen Gulf.

At 0710 on Jan. 10, 1945, while the Wilson was patrolling an anti-submarine sector inside Lingayen Gulf, an enemy twin-engine bomber identified as a Nell was seen approaching from seaward. It made a dive from a covering cloud close by and was only about 1,000 yards away and 25 feet above the water when the ship commenced firing with its port 20mm and forward 40mm guns. Many hits were observed and the aircraft took fire, flames coming from the port engine and wing. But it could not be stopped and struck the ship's superstructure deck amidships. The fuselage did a somersault and crashed into the water about 100 feet on the other side. Fire that broke out on the ship was extinguished in less than eight minutes as repair parties speedily brought hoses to bear from fire plugs forward and aft. Eleven men of the crew were lost in action. Another, carried over the side by the concussion, was rescued with comparatively minor injuries by a DE standing by to assist.

The LERAY WILSON left the gulf that night and proceeded as an escort for a convoy returning to Leyte. She was back in Manus on January 23 for repairs and availability.

On March 5, the WILSON arrived in Saipan, Marianas Islands, to prepare for the invasion of Okinawa. She helped escort one of the amphibious groups which arrived at Okinawa on D-day. She was again in the Ryukyus on May 1 after a trip to Saipan and back. Her former Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Englander, was now in command. This time the LERAY WILSON remained in the waters around Okinawa as part of an anti-submarine and anti-aircraft screen until June 19, while the Japanese air forces did its utmost to destroy our invasion shipping. The WILSON's men became all too accustomed to being aroused at midnight for general quarters.

The ship on the 19th proceeded with a merchant convoy to Ulithe Atoll, Caroling Islands. There she was assigned to a fueling and replenishment group for the fast carrier task groups, now putting finishing touches on the destruction of the Japanese military machine. For most of the next two months the LERAY WILSON was steaming in waters east of Honshu, protecting the oilers and provision ships which were making possible the Third Fleet's continuous operations against Japan.

Finally the war was won. And for the LERAY WILSON, after steaming more than 80,000 miles, it was trail's end and when on September 4, almost surrounded by some of the world's mightiest battleships and cruisers which had preceeded the Allied occupation forces, she lay at anchor in Tokyo Bay.

THE END

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