Frederick T. Weber

In 1943, the destroyer escort USS Weber (DE-675) was named in his honor.

In January 1942, Weber's ship guarded reinforcement convoys on their way to the southern Pacific. In February, he participated in the carrier raids on Japanese-held islands in the Central Pacific. In April, his ship served as an escort for Hornet (CV-8) during the Halsey–Doolittle bomber raid on Tokyo and returned to Oahu on 25 April. Dispatched too late to join in the Battle of the Coral Sea, his ship returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 May to prepare for what would be an even more important strategic battle — the first real defeat of Japanese naval airpower during the struggle over Midway Island.

At the end of the first week in December 1941, he was at sea with Enterprise which was returning from Wake Island where she had just delivered Marine Fighting Squadron 211 (VMF-211). On the morning of 7 December, Weber was paired with Ensign Manuel Gonzalez as part of the scheduled morning search flight into Pearl Harbor. The two SBDs encountered Aichi D3A dive bombers from the Japanese attack, and Weber was separated from Gonzalez, who was shot down. After evading the Japanese, he joined the surviving Enterprise searchers at Ford Island, and later took off again as part of an unsuccessful attempt to find the Japanese carriers. On 8 December, Enterprise arrived at Pearl and Weber rejoined his ship.

Enterprise and VB-6 proved to be Ens. Weber's only assignment during his brief naval career. During the remainder of 1940 and for 11 of the 12 months of 1941, he served with his ship and squadron operating out of San Diego, Calif., and later out of Pearl Harbor. His duties consisted entirely of training in aerial warfare in preparation for the conflict with Japan expected to erupt at any time.

Frederick Thomas Weber (4 February 1916 – 4 June 1942) was a naval aviator in the United States Navy during World War II.

Weber was born on 4 February 1916 at Des Moines, Iowa. He attended college at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1933 and 1934 before transferring to Drake University in Des Moines in 1935. He graduated from the latter school during the summer of 1938 and enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on 30 August of that year. During the ensuing winter, Seaman 2d Class Weber successfully completed elimination flight training at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Kansas City, Kansas; and, on 27 July 1939, he was appointed an aviation cadet in the Naval Reserve. After 10 months of training at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., Weber was appointed a naval aviator on 10 May 1940. A little over a month later, he concluded his training and, on 12 June 1940, received his commission as an ensign in the Naval Reserve. That same day, he received orders to report for duty with Bombing Squadron 6 (VB-6) attached to the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CV-6).