Heyliger (DE-510) was named in honor of George Heyliger who was awarded the Navy Cross for his brave actions during an overwhelming attack by the enemy during the Guadalcanal Campaign.
On 9 October 1942, his platoon's position was attacked by approximately 150 Japanese. The fighting swiftly changed from automatic weapons to bayonets and then hand-to-hand combat. He refused to be dislodged from his position by the enemy and was killed at his post. For his actions he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
Heyliger reached Guam 30 August and then continued on to Rota Island in the Marianas, where. Colonel H. H. Stent, USMC, accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrison 2 September. From 19 September to 21 October Heyliger searched through the Carolines to find Allied survivors and Japanese soldiers, as well as examining conditions in the islands. After a stint of patrol and air-sea rescue operations, Heyliger returned to the States 22 January 1946 and decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Florida, 20 June.
Reactivation during Korean War
Heyliger recommissioned at Green Cove Springs 28 March 1951 and reported to her new home port, Brooklyn, New York. From there she participated in tactical exercises and fleet maneuvers along the American coast and in Caribbean waters. Antisubmarine warfare, her main mission, took Heyliger to European waters 13 June-10 July 1953 and again 17 June-15 July 1955.
During my time as the Disbursing Clerk on Heyliger, her duty was to provide opportunity for Navy reservists to perform their required active duty for training in a sea-going environment. She went out-bound for 2 weeks, spent a week-end visiting a port (often Caribbean, sometimes Canada) and returned to Brooklyn the next week. The crew was 5 officers and about 100 enlisted with anywhere from 20 to 40 or so reservists along on the cruise. The June–July cruise permitted reservists the opportunity to meet their requirements for two fiscal years with one cruise. There was also a 6-week refresher training cruise operating mostly out of Guantanamo Bay for just the regular crew. There were five other DEs doing the same thing out of Brooklyn including Osberg, Kyne and Allen. More of the same operations were carried out from other ports.