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| Name | Narrative | Branch and Rank | Unit and Specialty | Conflict/Arena | Born/Died |
| Walter M. Kressler, Jr. | Walter Marrs "Walt" Kessler, Jr. was born in December 27, 1936 and raised in Burlington, New Jersey where he met the love of his life, Elizabeth "Betty" Kressler (nee. Tracy). Settling on Burlington Avenue in Delanco, they raised their family of three daughters and one son. Walt joined the US Navy in 1955 and served until 1959. He was a boilerman on the USS Witek, (EDD 848), a Gearing-class destroyer out of New London Connecticut. Witek spent most of her underway time off the eastern seaboard and in the western Atlantic, sometimes in the Caribbean, participating in experimental exercises with other units of the Operational Development Force based at New London. She operated primarily with other experimental ships, such as Maloy (EDE-791), and submarines, testing ASW electronics installations. On some occasions, when she conducted project work out of New London, she would slip up the coast to Rockland, Maine, or to Portsmouth, NH. Her local operations in Long Island Sound earned her the nickname "The Galloping Ghost of the Long Island Coast." On occasion, outside her normal independent routine, Witek conducted exercises with carrier task forces for ASW maneuvers. During one such evolution in 1955, Witek exercised with the fleet carrier Leyte (CVS-32) and the atomic submarine Nautilus; other carriers with which Witek operated included Antietam and Randolph. Besides carrying out operational tests of ASW electronics equipment, Witek served as the test-bed for the "pump jet" propulsion system. On July 2,1958, Witek entered Drydock No. 4 at the Boston Naval Shipyard for an "extensive overhaul and installation of the pump jet system." The destroyer remained in drydock at Boston until a little over a week before Christmas, when she emerged with the new system installed. Walter attained the rank of Seaman 1st Class before his honorable discharge in 1959. Walt worked for Rohm & Haas in Bristol, PA as a Lab Technician, retiring after 34 years and moving to Ormand Beach, Florida. He enjoyed the company of his shipmates and frequently attended reunions of the Witek crew. He was also a member of Council 13018 of the Knights of Columbus in Ormond Beach. Walter died August 25, 2013 at age 76. Betty died April 3, 2020 at age 81. Both are buried in Volusia Memorial Park in Ormand Beach. | US Navy, Seaman 1st C | USS Witek (EDD)-848 Boilerman | US East Coast, Carribean | 1936 - 2013 |
Updated October 30, 2023