BAILIS M. BELL, ENS, USN
Bailis Bell '43
Lucky Bag
From the 1943 Lucky Bag:
Loss
Bailis was lost when USS Little (APD 4) was sunk near Guadalcanal by Japanese surface forces early in the morning of September 5, 1942.
He has a memory marker in West Virginia. His next of kin was listed as his mother, Mary Agnes Deberry Bell, of Washington, D.C.. His service number was O-165749.
From the Class of 1943 anniversary book "25 years later…":
BM was born in Sisterville, West Virginia on 5 January 1920. He was appointed from West Virginia and entered the Academy on 29 June 1939. Upon graduation in June 1942 he reported to duty aboard the destroyer USS LITTLE. It was on 5 September 1942 that BM died when the LITTLE was sunk by enemy gun fire off Guadalcanal in the Pacific. He was entitled to wear the Purple Heart, American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp and the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal. He was survived by his parents Mr. and Mrs. Thomas William Bell who at BM's death resided at Meridian Manor, Apartment 5, 1424 Chapin Street, N. W. Washington, D. C.
Class of 1943
Bailis is one of 84 members of the Class of 1943 on Virtual Memorial Hall.