World War II veteran honored as part of War Memorial’s Veterans Day gathering

His service to America did not go unnoticed at The War Memorial.  

In November, Dave Wigley was one of two World War II veterans honored at the nonprofits Veterans Day Breakfast.  

At the breakfast, The War Memorial remembered the bravery and sacrifices of our veterans. The event, attended by over 200 people, featured a speech from keynote speaker Army Brig. Gen. Michael Lalor. As part of his remarks, Lalor took time to acknowledge a couple World War II veterans in attendance, one of whom was Wigley.    

The 98-year-old Wigley has resided in Frankenmuth for nearly 60 years. His son-in-law Brian Kaufman was the featured speaker at The War Memorial’s 9/11 Service of Remembrance last year.  

Born in Saginaw, Wigley graduated from Vassar High School in 1943. Recalling the attack on Pearl Harbor from Dec. 7, 1941, Wigley said a radio program featuring Jack Benny was interrupted on that Sunday night for an announcement about the news of the attack.  

Little did he know then, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was where Wigley would be stationed for the majority of his time in the Navy.  

Soon after being drafted in 1944, Wigley went to the U.S. Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois.  

While not involved in combat during World War II, Wigley was a witness to a maritime incident that took place on May 21,1944 – the West Loch Disaster. The situation happened at Pearl Harbor U.S. Naval Base. The incident began following an explosion in a staging area for Landing Ships, Tank and other amphibious assault ships in West Loch. It’s estimated that more than 160 naval personnel died and nearly 400 were injured.   

“They were getting ready to send seven LSTs down to Saipan, preparing for the invasion,” he explained. “That never came about because these ships were all loaded with personnel and gear. They were sitting in the harbor and there was an ammunition shift and all seven of them blew up, loaded with personnel. It was horrible.”  

At the time of the incident, Wigley was stationed at a section base, next to Hickam Field, standing guard. He estimates he was about a mile and a half away from where the ships exploded.  

“We could feel it,” he said. “I knew it was something awful when it happened and something that you don’t want to experience.”  

While based in Pearl Harbor, Wigley said his responsibilities included doing night patrols on boats.  

“We’d eat at 6 in the evening and by 6:30, we’d be dispatched to our stations in the harbor which we would patrol during the night,” he said. “We slept on our boats. There were six men on a boat.”   

He explained that in peacetime, the boats were placed on battleships and used by captains to go from ship to shore. In wartime, they were converted to be utilized as patrol boats.  

“We also had to watch the harbor for the locals that would fish there,” Wigley said. “They would fish for Samoan crabs. They weren’t supposed to be fishing there and were arrested. What some did was place magnetic detonators on the hull of a ship and they could blow them up.”  

Reflecting on his service to America, some 80 years ago, Wigley views it as a growing-up period.   

“You go from being a boy to a man overnight,” he said. “I don’t view it as time that I lost.”  

After his discharge from the Navy in 1946, Wigley returned home to Vassar, which is where he lived until he moved to Frankenmuth in 1966.  

Wigley and his wife, Alice Wigley, married in 1958. The couple has two children, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.   

*This story originally was published in the March-April 2024 edition of Live Inspired Magazine, a War Memorial publication.