He is among the Tablets of the missing at the Manila American Cemetery and is also on the Roseau County Veterans Memorial at Roseau, MN.
~
The son of C. Everett and Edith (Oliver) Battles, he attended the Lee Lewis grade school in Clear River Twp. then for three years he attended the Crookston School of Agriculture, where he was a member of the debate team and earned a Red River Dairyman pin. He returned to Warroad for his senior year and graduated from Warroad HS in 1942. He had 3 brothers and 3 sisters.
He entered the Navy in 1942, he was trained at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, then Jacksonville, FL and finally San Diego, Ca. His active duty was in Aviation Ordinance attached to Patrol Squadron Eleven. Wesley flew patrol in southern and western Australia until September 1943. From that time until February 1944 he was engaged in rescue work, search missions and anti-shipping attacks against the enemy in the Japanese controlled area of the Bismarck Sea. This work earned a Presidential Citation for his unit.
On December 16, 1943, his unit was sent to drop food and supplies to Australian Commandos 250 miles behind Japanese lines along the Sepik River in New Guinea. On December 19, the Squadron flew what Yank magazine called one of the most daring rescues of the war in the South Pacific. Load after load was lifted out with everyone racing against time as the Japanese closed in. When Wesley's plane returned for the last load, it developed engine trouble. They were forced to hide the plane as best they could and spend the night within five miles of Japanese headquarters. Another crew volunteered to fly repairs to them, enabling Wes's team to fly out the last load of Australians.
A letter to Wesley's parents from the Secretary of the Navy, dated February 7, 1946 reads in part: "Your son, Wesley Everett Battles, Aviation Ordnanceman Second Class, United States Navy, has been carried on the official records of the Navy Dept. in the status of missing in action as of August13, 1944, when the plane in which he was flying, attached to Patrol Squadron Eleven, failed to return from a night patrol flight in the vicinity of Halmahera, Woendi Lagoon, Schouten Islands."
The letter went on to say that the plane had not been heard from since it transmitted routine messages that morning. After the war, the War Department could not find Wesley's name on any list of personnel liberated from Japanese prisoner of war camps, therefore he was officially declared deceased. A memorial service was held in Warroad, in October 1946.
~
The son of C. Everett and Edith (Oliver) Battles, he attended the Lee Lewis grade school in Clear River Twp. then for three years he attended the Crookston School of Agriculture, where he was a member of the debate team and earned a Red River Dairyman pin. He returned to Warroad for his senior year and graduated from Warroad HS in 1942. He had 3 brothers and 3 sisters.
He entered the Navy in 1942, he was trained at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, then Jacksonville, FL and finally San Diego, Ca. His active duty was in Aviation Ordinance attached to Patrol Squadron Eleven. Wesley flew patrol in southern and western Australia until September 1943. From that time until February 1944 he was engaged in rescue work, search missions and anti-shipping attacks against the enemy in the Japanese controlled area of the Bismarck Sea. This work earned a Presidential Citation for his unit.
On December 16, 1943, his unit was sent to drop food and supplies to Australian Commandos 250 miles behind Japanese lines along the Sepik River in New Guinea. On December 19, the Squadron flew what Yank magazine called one of the most daring rescues of the war in the South Pacific. Load after load was lifted out with everyone racing against time as the Japanese closed in. When Wesley's plane returned for the last load, it developed engine trouble. They were forced to hide the plane as best they could and spend the night within five miles of Japanese headquarters. Another crew volunteered to fly repairs to them, enabling Wes's team to fly out the last load of Australians.
A letter to Wesley's parents from the Secretary of the Navy, dated February 7, 1946 reads in part: "Your son, Wesley Everett Battles, Aviation Ordnanceman Second Class, United States Navy, has been carried on the official records of the Navy Dept. in the status of missing in action as of August13, 1944, when the plane in which he was flying, attached to Patrol Squadron Eleven, failed to return from a night patrol flight in the vicinity of Halmahera, Woendi Lagoon, Schouten Islands."
The letter went on to say that the plane had not been heard from since it transmitted routine messages that morning. After the war, the War Department could not find Wesley's name on any list of personnel liberated from Japanese prisoner of war camps, therefore he was officially declared deceased. A memorial service was held in Warroad, in October 1946.
He is among the Tablets of the missing at the Manila American Cemetery and is also on the Roseau County Veterans Memorial at Roseau, MN.
~
The son of C. Everett and Edith (Oliver) Battles, he attended the Lee Lewis grade school in Clear River Twp. then for three years he attended the Crookston School of Agriculture, where he was a member of the debate team and earned a Red River Dairyman pin. He returned to Warroad for his senior year and graduated from Warroad HS in 1942. He had 3 brothers and 3 sisters.
He entered the Navy in 1942, he was trained at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, then Jacksonville, FL and finally San Diego, Ca. His active duty was in Aviation Ordinance attached to Patrol Squadron Eleven. Wesley flew patrol in southern and western Australia until September 1943. From that time until February 1944 he was engaged in rescue work, search missions and anti-shipping attacks against the enemy in the Japanese controlled area of the Bismarck Sea. This work earned a Presidential Citation for his unit.
On December 16, 1943, his unit was sent to drop food and supplies to Australian Commandos 250 miles behind Japanese lines along the Sepik River in New Guinea. On December 19, the Squadron flew what Yank magazine called one of the most daring rescues of the war in the South Pacific. Load after load was lifted out with everyone racing against time as the Japanese closed in. When Wesley's plane returned for the last load, it developed engine trouble. They were forced to hide the plane as best they could and spend the night within five miles of Japanese headquarters. Another crew volunteered to fly repairs to them, enabling Wes's team to fly out the last load of Australians.
A letter to Wesley's parents from the Secretary of the Navy, dated February 7, 1946 reads in part: "Your son, Wesley Everett Battles, Aviation Ordnanceman Second Class, United States Navy, has been carried on the official records of the Navy Dept. in the status of missing in action as of August13, 1944, when the plane in which he was flying, attached to Patrol Squadron Eleven, failed to return from a night patrol flight in the vicinity of Halmahera, Woendi Lagoon, Schouten Islands."
The letter went on to say that the plane had not been heard from since it transmitted routine messages that morning. After the war, the War Department could not find Wesley's name on any list of personnel liberated from Japanese prisoner of war camps, therefore he was officially declared deceased. A memorial service was held in Warroad, in October 1946.
~
The son of C. Everett and Edith (Oliver) Battles, he attended the Lee Lewis grade school in Clear River Twp. then for three years he attended the Crookston School of Agriculture, where he was a member of the debate team and earned a Red River Dairyman pin. He returned to Warroad for his senior year and graduated from Warroad HS in 1942. He had 3 brothers and 3 sisters.
He entered the Navy in 1942, he was trained at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, then Jacksonville, FL and finally San Diego, Ca. His active duty was in Aviation Ordinance attached to Patrol Squadron Eleven. Wesley flew patrol in southern and western Australia until September 1943. From that time until February 1944 he was engaged in rescue work, search missions and anti-shipping attacks against the enemy in the Japanese controlled area of the Bismarck Sea. This work earned a Presidential Citation for his unit.
On December 16, 1943, his unit was sent to drop food and supplies to Australian Commandos 250 miles behind Japanese lines along the Sepik River in New Guinea. On December 19, the Squadron flew what Yank magazine called one of the most daring rescues of the war in the South Pacific. Load after load was lifted out with everyone racing against time as the Japanese closed in. When Wesley's plane returned for the last load, it developed engine trouble. They were forced to hide the plane as best they could and spend the night within five miles of Japanese headquarters. Another crew volunteered to fly repairs to them, enabling Wes's team to fly out the last load of Australians.
A letter to Wesley's parents from the Secretary of the Navy, dated February 7, 1946 reads in part: "Your son, Wesley Everett Battles, Aviation Ordnanceman Second Class, United States Navy, has been carried on the official records of the Navy Dept. in the status of missing in action as of August13, 1944, when the plane in which he was flying, attached to Patrol Squadron Eleven, failed to return from a night patrol flight in the vicinity of Halmahera, Woendi Lagoon, Schouten Islands."
The letter went on to say that the plane had not been heard from since it transmitted routine messages that morning. After the war, the War Department could not find Wesley's name on any list of personnel liberated from Japanese prisoner of war camps, therefore he was officially declared deceased. A memorial service was held in Warroad, in October 1946.
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