Robert Kenneth "Bobby" Willis, Jr. joined the Navy in August of 1939 after graduating from Natchitoches High School in Louisiana. He served for 16-months on the USS Arizona before it was sunk by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. He enlisted in the Navy in Rapides Parish, Louisiana and was the first casualty of that Parish in World War II. The American Legion Post in Pineville, Louisiana was named the Robert K. Willis Jr. Post in honor of his service and duty to his country. He was the first causality in WW II from Rapides Parish. He is entombed in the USS Arizona at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.

Two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bobby Willis' father (Robert Kenneth Willis, Sr.) received a message from the Rapides Parish Sheriff that he was trying too reach him. He rushed to the Sheriff's Department. Bobby's sister told me that when her father returned she knew the moment he walked into her front door that it had been confirmed Bobby had been killed from the expression on his their father's face. My father was Bobby's first cousin. He and many other of Bobby's cousins rushed too enlist and one of America's finest hours began.

I pray we never forget the cost of our precious freedom. ~ Randy Willis

For more on Robert Kenneth "Bobby" Willis, Jr. see Willis Home Page.

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