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Below are extracts from letters from his sister, Clara M. Willett to her cousin:
My brother's name is William Frank Willett. He has always gone as W.J. Willett. He thought his middle name was "John." All his papers
and credentials were all "W.J. Willett", so he just kept it that way.
W.J. was a Lt. Commander in the US Navy, serving in both WW I and WW II. He commanded the USS President Lincoln carrying troops "over
there" in WWI. He took 5000 boys to Europe each trip, and after the war was over he brought back 5000 boys each trip. His boat was the
USS. President Lincoln. On his last trip over to get more boys, the gunners sighted a U-boat. They fired. But someone had "monkeyed"
with the gun. It hit back and all the officers on deck were injured. One was killed and one was knocked completely insane. William's
nerves were torn to shreds - shell shocked. After a lot of treatment, he seemed slightly better. Then World War II came along. William held
Pilot Licenses to all the big harbors on the globe. There were few men at the time who held such licenses. So they needed him badly. They
didn't draft him because of his disability, but they wanted him. So he went. This time he commanded the largest merchant ship afloat at the
time, the Neponset. He made many trips to the war area, time and again. He carried oil. He got many more "bumps" in World War II. He
has been completely disabled for SO many, many years. His home was in Baltimore through all these years. Last Tuesday he "dismissed
himself from the hospital and went back to the rooming house. Mrs. Jacobs went to the store to buy something for him. Upon her return,
she found him cold and dead.
During the First World War he was "shell-shocked" and ruined for life. Then he served on the Neponset, a merchant ship in WW II. He
held a ship Pilots License for all the major ports in the world.
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