William Franklin Blau was born October 28, 1915 in Fresno, California. No information has been found about his parents. He was married to Harriet Sorenson of Yankton, SD. She was living there in 1945. He entered the service on June 23, 1942 in Fresno, California. He was assigned to the USS Pillsbury DE-133 upon its commissioning in 1943. Blau had been temporarily transferred from the USS Pillsbury on April 19 to the USS Frederick C. Davis, DE-136, just 6 days before its sinking. The Davis was sunk by German submarine U-546, with the loss of 115 men on April 24. The torpedo struck her port side at 8:40 in the morning and the ship broke in two, sinking swiftly. At that time, they were in the company of the Pillsbury and several other destroyer escorts. The remaining DE's searched and attacked and ultimately sank the U-546 by 6:44 that evening. Thirty-three of the U boat crew survived including the Captain Paul Just.
This group consists of RT1C Blau's officially engraved posthumous solid brooch Type 2 Purple Heart plus his Individual Deceased Personnel File and quantities of internet research.
