Watsonville lost two of its residents, William M. Weeks and Eugene V. Upton Jr. when the USS Franklin was bombed.

On November 24, 1921, William Michael Weeks was born in Watsonville to Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Weeks. The Weeks family also included a daughter, Mildred. His namesake uncle, William J. Weeks, had died in the Argonne in World War I. William attended local schools and graduated from Watsonville High School in 1941.

Weeks enlisted in the US Navy In April 1942 and completed boot camp in San Diego, California, before being sent to radio schools at Oxford, Ohio, and Memphis, Tennessee. Early in 1943 he joined the USS Franklin in the Pacific fleet. During Christmas of 1944, he returned home on leave before his ship departed to attack the Japanese homeland.

“Before dawn on 19 March 1945 the USS Franklin, who had maneuvered closer to the Japanese mainland than had any other US carrier during the war, launched a fighter sweep against Honshu and later a strike against shipping in Kobe Harbor. Suddenly, a single enemy plane pierced the cloud cover and made a low-level run on the gallant ship to drop two semi-armor piercing bombs. One struck the flight deck centerline, penetrating to the hangar deck, effecting destruction and igniting fires through the second and third decks, and knocking out the combat information center and airport. The second hit aft, tearing through two decks and fanning fires, which triggered ammunition, bombs and rockets. The Franklin, within 50 miles of the Japanese mainland, lay dead in the water, took a 13° starboard list, lost all radio communications, and broiled under the heat from enveloping fires. Many of the crew were blown overboard, driven off by fire, killed or wounded, but the 106 officers and 604 enlisted who voluntarily remained saved their ship through sheer valor and tenacity. The casualties totaled 724 killed and 265 wounded, and would have far exceeded this number except for the heroic work of many survivors.”

Aircraft Radioman Second Class William M. Weeks was one of those sailors killed aboard the USS Franklin on March 19, 1945. He was declared missing in action or buried at sea. He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial; his awards include the Purple Heart.

(CBR; ABMC, WRP April 6, 1945 1:3; USS Franklin Association, The Ship that Wouldn't Die; http://www.ussfranklin.org/main.htm, [16 September 2008])