Willis Sherman Lees III
Second Lieutenant Willis “Budge” Lees was a Marine pilot who flew with VMF-223 in the Solomon Islands campaign.
He failed to return from a combat mission over Guadalcanal on 13 September 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number O-9428
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
August 26, 1919
at Arlington, MA
Parents
Willis Sherman Lees, Jr.
Elsie M. (Viney) Lees
Education
Passaic High School
Heidelberg University (ex-1942)
Rutgers University (ex-1944)
Occupation & Employer
College student
Service Life
Entered Service
May 13, 1941 (enlisted)
April 6, 1942 (officer)
Home Of Record
96 Ascension Street
Passaic, NJ
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. Willis Lees, Jr.
Military Specialty
Pilot
Primary Unit
VMF-223
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Distinguished Flying Cross
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Second Lieutenant Willis “Budge” Lees was a pilot assigned to VMF-223, part of the Cactus Air Force operating out of Guadalcanal. During his long combat tour, he accounted for two confirmed kills and shared another with a fellow pilot. On 1 October 1942, Lees received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Admiral Chester Nimitz.
The next day, all available aircraft scrambled to defend the island from a Japanese raid. Lees took off in F4F-4 Bureau Number 02098 (Squadron #19) and joined the fray, but was immediately targeted by Lt (j.g.) Katsutoshi Kawamata of the Tainan kokutai. Kawamata shredded the Wildcat with a well-aimed burst. As the “wrecked” fighter fell from the sky, Lees flung open the canopy and bailed out at a high altitude. He was never seen again.
Lees was reported as missing in action following the engagement; on 3 October 1943, he was officially declared dead. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain.
Burial Information or Disposition
None; remains not recovered.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of parents, Willis & Elsie Lees
Location Of Loss
Lieutenant Lees was last seen in combat near Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.
There is little that is more wretched than a parent not just burying their child but not having a grave to visit with their mortal remains. My heart goes out to his family.
I agree completely, Mustang.Koji. My great uncle, Lt. Commander Edmund Billings was lost with the cruiser USS Quincy at the battle of Guadalcanal, and I know there are many in my family (myself included) who wish he had been brought home – as it is, we have only a few pictures and stories, and his name on a wall in Manila – quite far from us on the US east coast.
Especially heartbreaking are the cases where an ID could have been possible, but someone fouled up or didn’t feel like doing the work. The three Marines in the Pending Cases section are basically a dead cert; their families are dying out – Cpl. Ragsdale’s wife remarried and had a family after the war, but she kept trying to find his grave until the day she died in 2007. Or the case of Robert Budd and Tom Phillips, also dead on Guadalcanal – the Army team sent to locate their graves decided to file a bogus report and go on a drinking binge in a nearby town.
The more research that is done, the more cases like this come to light – but also, the more time goes by, making it much harder to locate a site. Already 70 years have come and gone… seven decades too long.
I appreciate your support of MissingMarines, and thanks for the re-blog!
Cheers,
Geoffrey
I am sorry for your own family’s void, Geoffrey. Between your great Uncle Billings, my dearly departed neighbors “Old Man Jack” and “Mr. Johnson”, that makes three – three young men who saw it all.
In addition, while my father served in the US 8th Army’s Military Intelligence Service during the Occupation, his younger brother (also born in Seattle as my father) was killed on Leyte while wearing a sergeant’s uniform of the Japanese Imperial Army. Like your Great Uncle, my Uncle Suetaro’s body was never found either.
Thank you for sharing your family’s involvement, Geoffrey.
Reblogged this on Masako and Spam Musubi and commented:
To know this young, handsome hero went missing when Mr. Johnson was also fighting for life as a Marine aboard the Big E at the same time and locale brings added poignancy to this story… I can but hope that someday he will be found…
Thank you both for the original post and the re-blog. Telling these stories and sharing the sacrifices of such brave men keep the memories of them alive long after they have passed into history.