WILLIAM B. HEDRICK, LTJG, USN

William Hedrick '51

Date of birth: January 16, 1927

Date of death: June 9, 1954

Age: 27

Lucky Bag

From the 1951 Lucky Bag:

William Bull Hedrick

Huntly, Virginia

Pull in to the Naval Academy after several years of varied life . . . attended prep school for four years but enlisted in the Navy before graduation . . . Bill will be remembered at Virginia Episcopal School for being the first from that school be chosen as all-Southern football . . . comes from a long line of Navy people . . . chose the Navy as his profession on his own . . . his understanding of human nature and good fellowship will lead him to the highest Navy level . . . Bill will set the best of examples wherever he goes . . . from all of his classmates . . . "the best of luck, mate."

William Bull Hedrick

Huntly, Virginia

Pull in to the Naval Academy after several years of varied life . . . attended prep school for four years but enlisted in the Navy before graduation . . . Bill will be remembered at Virginia Episcopal School for being the first from that school be chosen as all-Southern football . . . comes from a long line of Navy people . . . chose the Navy as his profession on his own . . . his understanding of human nature and good fellowship will lead him to the highest Navy level . . . Bill will set the best of examples wherever he goes . . . from all of his classmates . . . "the best of luck, mate."

Loss

From VP Navy:

IWAKUNI, Japan, June 10 (UP)- Navy and Air Force planes dared threatening weather today to take off at dawn in an all-out search for an American plane missing south of Japan with 17 men aboard. U.S. Navy surface ships joined in the search and patrol craft of the Japanese Coast Guard raced out of their Kyushu bases to lend their efforts to the hunt for the missing Navy PBY amphibian. Navy headquarters said two Marine officers from the First Marine Air Wing, six naval officers and seven enlisted men from VP 47, the planes home base, and one naval officer and one enlisted man from Fleet Air Wing Six were aboard the missing craft, which was on a routine flight to Hong Kong..." Contributed by Paul Schlagheck [email protected] [26OCT99]
WASHINGTON, June 10 (AP) The U.S. Navy announced today the names of 17 men who were aboard a Navy amphibian plane overdue on a flight between Japan and Okinawa. The plane was attached to the Navy Patrol Squadron at Iwakuni Air Base. Personal aboard the plane: Lt. Wallace R. Carter, Alameda, Cal.; Lt. (JG) Cecil F. Hackeny Jr. Birmingham, Ala.; Lt. (JG) William B. Hedrick, Alameda, Cal.; Lt. (JG) Wallace H. Wertz, Newport, Pa.; Ens. John D. McCathy, Olean, N.Y. Ens. Homer F. Trotter Jr., San Bernardino, Cal.; Ens. Berje Weramian , Corpus Christi, TX.; Douglas C. Campbell, Electronics Technician 2/c Boscobel, Wis.; Ira E. Crider, Telman 3/c Tyler, TX.; Jerrold D. Edwards, Aviation Electronics Technician 3/c Portland, Ore.; Ronald D. Graham Aviation Structural Mechanic 2/c Danora, Pa.; Donald D. Landon, Photographers Mate 3/c, and James E. Landon, Aviation Ordnance Man 2/c, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Laurence E. Stone, Aviation Electronics Man 1/c, Alameda, Cal.; Walter R. Raab, Aviation Machinist Mate, Hawthorne, Cal. The following two are Marines: Maj. James R. O'Moore, Corono Delmar, Cal.; Capt. Theodore R. Moore, Warren, Pa. There are a couple of errors in the article. This is as it appears in the Stars & Stripes James LaFollett Omaha, Texas..." Contributed by Paul Schlagheck [email protected] [26OCT99]
TOKYO, July 11 (AP) Japanese volunteers who assisted in recovering the bodies of 17 Americans who were killed in a plane crash on Yaku Island received the thanks of the American government yesterday. In a letter to Rokusuke Kudo, chief of the forestry agency on the island, Vice Admiral W.M. Callaghan, Far East commander thanked the Japanese for aiding removing the bodies from the storm swept peak of the mountain island which juts 6,000 feet from the sea off southern Japan. Crashed Against Peak The Navy amphibious plane with 17 Marines and Naval personnel aboard crashed against the side of the peak at the 5,500 foot level on June 9. Efforts to reach the site of the crash were delayed for more than a week due to bad weather and difficult mountain terrain. While the Navy struggled to reach the crashed plane via helicopters, ground parties of Japanese and U.S. service personnel attempted to reach the plane by land. When the death scene was finally reached the Japanese and Americans built crude bridges and primitive roads down the steep mountains to remove the bodies. At Ambo, a village at the foot of the peak the Japanese held traditional funeral services for the 17. Pacific Stars & Stripes, James LaFollett, Omaha, Tx, 10-19-99..."Contributed by Paul Schlagheck [email protected] [26OCT99]

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Born in Virginia, William attended Virginia Episcopal School in 1944. Football, All-Southern left guard.
In 1940, William’s family was in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father David was a Navy captain, mother Mildred, brother James, sister Katharine, and his grandmother was Margaret A. Bull.

He was the youngest son of Dave (USNA '09) and Mildred. He was also survived by his wife, Joan, and a young son whom he had not yet seen.

William is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.