William Perry Kephart, born Meyersdale, Pennsylvania

Meyersdale, Pennsylvania

Meyersdale is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on the Casselman River, southeast of Pittsburgh. In the past, its chief industry was the mining of coal. Meyersdale was first settled as early as 1776, but the growth of the town dates from the advent of the first railroad in 1871. Coal...

, 9 September 1915, enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve 15 August 1937 and was appointed Aviation Cadet 3 months later. After flight training at Pensacola, Fla.

Naval Air Station Pensacola

Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola , "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits...

, he was commissioned Ensign

Ensign (rank)

Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....

 1 December 1938.

Kephart served with air groups in Saratoga

USS Saratoga (CV-3)

USS Saratoga was the second aircraft carrier of the United States Navy and the fifth ship to bear her name. She was commissioned one month earlier than her sister and class leader, , which is the third actually commissioned after and Saratoga...

 (CV-3) and Wasp

USS Wasp (CV-7)

USS Wasp was a United States Navy aircraft carrier. The eighth Navy ship of that name, she was the sole ship of her class. Built to use up the remaining tonnage allowed to the U.S. for aircraft carriers under the treaties of the time, she was built on a reduced-size version of the Yorktown-class...

 (CV-7), and in May 1940 returned to Pensacola as a flight instructor. Six months later he rejoined Scouting Squadron 71 (VS-71) on board Wasp. Promoted to Lieutenant (j.g.) 15 June 1942 and Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 (temporary) 1 October, Lt. Kephart was killed in action 14 October while engaging the enemy over Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

.

Namesake

In 1943, the destroyer escort

Destroyer escort

A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...

 USS Kephart

USS Kephart (DE-207)

USS Kephart was a in the United States Navy. She was named in honor of naval aviator Lieutenant William P. Kephart .-Launch and initial operations:...

(DE-207) was named in Lt. Kephart's honor, sponsored by his mother.