Freestone County, Texas
Military


The Fairfield Recorder
December 2, 2010 issue

First casualty of WWII . . .
VFW honoring namesake
WILBUR H. BAILEY 

 
The first Freestone county casualty of World War II, Wilbur H. Bailey, is to be 
honored Saturday when a new grave marker is dedicated at Dew Cemetery.

Bailey died Dec. 7, 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The ceremony, at 2 p.m., is being conducted by Wilbur H. Bailey VFW Post 5872 
of Fairfield, which was named after the sailor when it was chartered.

Capps Memorial Chapel director David Fox says that Bailey’s grave has been 
marked with a bronze Veteran’s Administration plaque.

The plaque is being relocated to the foot of the gravesite and a new 4-foottall 
marker will be at the head of the gravesite.

The new marker is engraved: “On December 7, 1941 during the attack on American 
forces at Pearl Harbor Hawaii Seaman First Class Wilbur H. Bailey was killed in
action aboard the Battleship USS California BB-44 becoming the first casualty 
of World War II from Freestone county.”

Dedication remarks are to be delivered by the Rev. Paul Kethley, pastor of 
First United Methodist Church of Fairfield. Taps is to be played by a bugler 
from the Naval Reserve Training Center in Waco.

Bailey was a 1939 graduate of Fairfield high school who joined the navy in 
December. At FHS he was a standout lineman on the Eagles football team.

He was born Dec. 19, 1922, to Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Bailey of Fairfield.

An article in the Dec. 18, 1941, edition of The Fairfield Recorder reported his 
death, noting that his parents received a telegram declaring that Bailey “died 
in action.”

A memorial service was held at FUMC on Sunday, Dec. 21, 1941.

The sailor was buried in Hawaii and his body was reinterred at Dew Cemetery 
after the war.

The USS California was moored on Battleship Row when the Japanese launched their 
attack, sustained damage from two torpedoes and a bomb, and sunk.

When the attack ended, 100 crewmen had been killed and 62 were wounded. Overall, 
2,409 military personnel and civilians were killed in the Pearl Harbor attack.

California was refloated in March 1942 and reconstructed, and served for the 
remainder of the war.

Wounded during the attack on Pearl Harbor was Tilden Childs of Fairfield, a 12-
year navy veteran serving on the USS Vestal, a maintenance ship moored alongside 
the USS Arizona which was sunk.

Simultaneously, the Japanese also attacked the Philippines where Lt. Jerry 
Steward of Fairfield was serving with the navy. For his actions during the 
attack, Steward was awarded the Navy Cross.

The new monument was designed through combined efforts of VFW Post Commander 
James Gunter, Fox and Phipps Memorial Company of Waco.