USS Dennis J. Buckley (DD-808)

Born 22 April 1920 in Holyoke, Mass., Dennis Joseph Buckley, Jr., enlisted in the Navy 30 September 1940. Fireman First Class Buckley was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for displaying exceptional courage in attempting to board and salvage a blockade runner which had been intercepted by his ship Eberle (DD-430) on 10 March 1943. The explosion of demolition charges planted by the blockade runner's crew took his life.

Dennis J. Buckley (DD-808) was launched 20 December 1944 by Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; sponsored by Mrs. D. J. Buckley, mother of Fireman First Class Buckley; and commissioned 2 March 1945, Commander K. C. Walpole in command. She was re-classified DDR-808, 18 March 1949.

Dennis J. Buckley sailed from Norfolk 7 November 1945 for occupation duty in the Western Pacific, arriving at Tokyo Bay 22 December. She operated in the Marianas and visited Manila, Philippine Islands, before returning to San Diego 13 April 1946. On her second tour of duty in the Far East, in 1947, she cruised off the coast of China providing services to the Fleet and joined in exercises off Okinawa. On 1 October 1948 she steamed for Tsingtao, China, where she patrolled during the evacuation of civilians from the threat of the Communist advance into northern China. She joined Tarawa (CV-40) and Hawkins (DD-873) and sailed by way of Hong Kong and Singapore; Colombo, Ceylon; Bahrein and Jidda, Saudi Arabia; and Port Said, Egypt, to Athens, Greece where the three ships joined others for a visit to Istanbul, Turkey. She returned to New York 22 February 1949, completing a round-the-world cruise.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Dennis J. Buckley (DD-808)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.