This timeline reconstructs Kenneth's World War II service from
the Navy's muster rolls, Reports of Changes and war diaries held by the National Archives, together with the other records cited below, searched
by service number. Each entry cites its source; items marked
Newly discovered were recovered from the records.
Map of Service
Route reconstructed from confirmed locations.
Service stops
San Pedrore-enlisted 1942; YMS-314 commissioned 1943
San DiegoSection Base 1942; sailed Sept 1943
Mid-Pacificat sea, 1 Oct 1943
Brisbane31 Oct 1943
Milne BayNew Guinea, 19 Nov 1943
Leyte Gulf21 Oct 1944
Route notes
1 → 2Recalled to the Section Base, Feb 1942
2 → 3Sailed late Sept 1943
3 → 4At Brisbane 31 Oct 1943
4 → 5North to New Guinea, Nov 1943
5 → 6New Guinea coast to Leyte, 1944
First time here?
How to read this service timeline
This page brings together records created for different purposes. The labels below tell you what kind of evidence supports each entry; open either guide when a record or military term is unfamiliar.
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Confirmed — Service record
A personal military record supports the entry.
Confirmed — Unit record
A record created by his unit names him or documents the unit’s activity.
Newly discovered
Information recovered during this research, rather than supplied at the start.
How to read a Navy muster roll
Every Navy ship kept two personnel records. The Muster Roll of the Crew, filed at the end of each quarter, lists every enlisted man aboard. The Report of Changes, filed each month and whenever the ship was commissioned or sailed, lists only the men whose status changed: arrivals, transfers, promotions. Officers, including warrant officers, were not carried on either form.
REPORT OF CHANGES · SAMPLE
1Ship U.S.S. Example
2Period Month ending 30 September 1943
3SMITH, John Allen 123 45 67 S1c 41 Jan 42 San Diego 5Rec. 18 Sept. 43 From Rec. Sta., San Diego
In plain English
Seaman First Class John Allen Smith, service number 123 45 67, who enlisted at San Diego on 1 January 1942, was received aboard on 18 September 1943 from the Receiving Station at San Diego.
1Ship: the vessel or station filing the report.
2Period: the month or quarter covered, or the date of commissioning or sailing.
3Sailor entry: surname first, then service number and rating. The top half of the form and the bottom half share line numbers, so line 1 above is continued on line 1 below.
4Enlistment: the date and place he enlisted.
5Change: what happened, the date, and the ship or station involved.
Rec.
received aboard
Tran.
transferred
C.R.
change of rating
Rec. Sta. / R/S
receiving station
USNR
U.S. Naval Reserve
(AA)
acting appointment
(T)
temporary
BuPers
Bureau of Naval Personnel
AUTH
authority for the change
Common military and research terms
Service number
The unique number the Navy gave each enlisted sailor, used to distinguish him from others with similar names.
Discharge or separation paper
The document issued when a service member left active service. For WWII sailors this is usually the Notice of Separation, NAVPERS 553. It summarizes service but is not a day-by-day history.
Muster roll and Report of Changes
A ship’s quarterly list of its enlisted crew, and the monthly report of arrivals, transfers and promotions.
Unit record
A document created by a military organization. It may name the service member directly or provide context about his unit; the timeline states which applies.
OMPF
The service member’s Official Military Personnel File, held at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. Navy files were not damaged in the 1973 fire there.
Unit and final unit
A unit is the organization in which someone served. The final unit is the organization shown at separation; it may not be the only unit in the service history.
Rank or grade
The service member’s level in the military hierarchy. A timeline may show changes in rank over time.
Rating and rate
A rating is a sailor’s trade, such as Electrician’s Mate. His rate adds the pay grade: EM1c is Electrician’s Mate First Class, and CEM is Chief Electrician’s Mate.
Assigned and attached
Assigned means formally placed in a unit. Attached usually means serving with a unit temporarily while belonging administratively elsewhere.
Special Orders and General Orders
Official directives used to authorize personnel actions, awards, organizational changes, and other decisions.
Campaign credit
Official recognition for service connected with a named campaign. It does not, by itself, describe a service member’s individual actions.
Station or location
The place from which a unit filed a report. It does not automatically prove that every member was physically present there.
Source citation
The note beneath a timeline entry identifying the record or records that support it.
Service Timeline
15 min
Confirmed — Record
October 26, 1919
Born in Rock Island, Illinois
Kenneth Olin Bissell was born on 26 October 1919 in Rock Island, Illinois, on the Mississippi River. He gave the town as his birthplace when he registered for the draft in 1941. The same date of birth appears on that card, in the Department of Veterans Affairs burial record, and on his headstone.
Source: His Selective Service registration card (D.S.S. Form 1), 5 July 1941; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration, Nationwide Gravesite Locator; headstone inscription, Riverside National Cemetery, Find A Grave memorial #226447646
Confirmed — Service record
July 5, 1941
Registers for the draft in Gardena, California
At twenty-one, Kenneth was living at 133 W. 165th Street in Gardena, south of Los Angeles, and working as an electrician for the Southern California Telephone Company at its Angelus exchange in Los Angeles. He signed his registration card at Local Board 253 on 5 July 1941, five months before Pearl Harbor. The registrar described him as five foot eleven and a half, 144 pounds, with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion, and noted a scar on the shin of his left leg. As the person who would always know his address he named Leslie S. Bissell, who lived at the same house. The numbers on this card, serial S-122 and order number 53891, are Selective Service numbers. His Navy service number, 321 13 59, comes from the Navy's own muster rolls below.Newly discovered.
The front of his registration card, signed in his own hand. It gives his birthplace as Rock Island, Illinois.The registrar's description of him, and the stamp of Local Board 253, Los Angeles.
Source: His Selective Service registration card, D.S.S. Form 1 (revised 6-9-41), Local Board 253, Los Angeles, California, registered 5 July 1941
Confirmed — Unit record
January 1, 1942
Re-enlists in the Naval Reserve at San Pedro
On New Year's Day 1942, three weeks after Pearl Harbor, Kenneth signed on with the U.S. Naval Reserve at San Pedro, the harbor district of Los Angeles, a few miles from the house on 165th Street. The Eleventh Naval District recorded it as “Reen. at San Pedro, Calif., for 4 years”. The word is re-enlisted: he had served in the Navy before. The Navy's later officer registers, shown further down this page, count his service for pay from 30 April 1938, when he was eighteen. He came back in as an Electrician's Mate First Class, a senior petty officer, under service number 321 13 59, the number that identifies him on every Navy record that follows. On 5 February 1942 the Navy recalled him to active duty. The line under his on the same page belongs to Leslie S. Bissell, the man who shared his address on the draft card, who re-enlisted at San Pedro seven weeks later as a radioman. Newly discovered.
Eleventh Naval District, 1942. Lines 27 and 28 are BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, 321-13-59, EM1c: re-enlisted 1 January 1942, recalled to active duty 5 February 1942. Line 29 is Leslie S. Bissell. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Source: Eleventh Naval District, Report of Changes, Reserves on Inactive Duty, quarter ending April 1942, page 269, lines 27 to 29; National Archives NAID 190797580 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), image 1214
Confirmed — Unit record
February 8, 1942
Reports to the Section Base at San Diego
His recall orders sent him to the Section Base at San Diego “for active duty in connection with Off-Shore Patrol”, the small craft that guarded the California coast and harbor approaches in the first months of the war. The base logged him aboard on 8 February 1942, and he was still serving there in October. Newly discovered.
Section Base, San Diego, February 1942. Line 12, top and bottom: BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, 321-13-59, EM1c, received 2/8/42 from the Commandant, 11th Naval District. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Source: Section Base, San Diego, California, Report of Changes for the month ending 28 February 1942, line 12; National Archives NAID 185109451 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), image 191. The recall order is quoted from National Archives NAID 190797580, image 1214, shown above
Confirmed — Unit record
October 14, 1942
Transferred to the Western Sea Frontier for duty on El Cano
After eight months at the base, Kenneth was assigned to one of the vessels patrolling the California coast. The Section Base transferred him on 14 October 1942 to the Western Sea Frontier “for duty on EL CANO”, and the Surface Task Group, Southern California Sector, Western Sea Frontier received him the same day. He served with the task group until 27 January 1943, when it sent him to the Receiving Station at San Diego for a new assignment. Newly discovered.
Section Base, San Diego, October 1942. Line 30, top and bottom: BISSELL, Kenneth O., transferred 10/14/42 to WestSeaFron, Com11, for duty on EL CANO. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.Surface Task Group, Southern Sector, Western Sea Frontier, October 1942. Line 7: BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, received 10/14/42 from Section Base, San Diego. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.The same task group, January 1943. Line 7: BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, transferred 1/27/43 to Receiving Station, San Diego. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Source: Section Base, San Diego, Report of Changes for October 1942, line 30; National Archives NAID 185140840 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), image 452. Surface Task Group, Southern Sector, Western Sea Frontier, Reports of Changes for October 1942 and January 1943, line 7; National Archives NAID 190549104 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), images 57 and 107
Confirmed — Unit record
March 16, 1943
Ordered to a minesweeper still being built
On 16 March 1943 the Receiving Station at San Diego sent Kenneth north to the Receiving Station at San Pedro “fft YMS-314”, Navy shorthand for for further transfer to. The ship did not exist yet as a commissioned vessel. She was a 136-foot wooden-hulled minesweeper being finished at the Harbor Boat Building Company on Terminal Island, launched the day after his orders were written. Four months later she was ready for her crew. Newly discovered.
Receiving Station, San Diego, March 1943. Line 24, top and bottom: BISSELL, Kenneth O., 321 13 59, EM1c, transferred on the 16th to RS, San Pedro, Calif., fft YMS-314. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Source: Receiving Station, San Diego, California, Report of Changes for the month ending 31 March 1943, line 24; National Archives NAID 184949395 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), image 560. Builder and launch date (17 March 1943): NavSource Naval History, YMS-314, https://www.navsource.net/archives/11/19314.htm
Confirmed — Unit record
July 15, 1943
Joins the commissioning crew of U.S.S. YMS-314
On 15 July 1943 the Navy placed U.S.S. YMS-314 in commission, and Kenneth was one of the 29 enlisted men who went aboard that day from the Receiving Station at Terminal Island. A sailor in a ship's first crew is called a plank owner. His name is the first line of the ship's first muster roll, and he was the senior of her two electrician's mates. Newly discovered.
Report of Changes on commissioning, 15 July 1943. Line 1, top and bottom: BISSELL, Kenneth O., 321 13 59, EM1c, received 15 Jul 1943 from Rec. Sta., Terminal Island, Calif. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.Muster Roll of the Crew upon commissioning, 15 July 1943. His is the first name of 29. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Source: U.S.S. YMS-314, Report of Changes and Muster Roll of the Crew upon commissioning, 15 July 1943; National Archives NAID 193031369 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), images 6 and 8
Confirmed — Unit record
September 1, 1943
Advanced to Chief Electrician's Mate
Seven weeks after the ship went into commission, the Navy advanced Kenneth from Electrician's Mate First Class to Chief Electrician's Mate, the highest enlisted rate in his trade. The ship's report records the change as “Fm. EM1c to CEM(AA)”, effective 1 September 1943. The letters AA stand for acting appointment, the normal first step for a new chief petty officer. He was twenty-three. Newly discovered.
Report of Changes for September 1943. Line 1, top and bottom: BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, 321 13 59, changed 1 Sept. 43 from EM1c to CEM(AA). The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Source: U.S.S. YMS-314, Report of Changes for the month ending 30 September 1943, line 1; National Archives NAID 193031369 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), image 16
Confirmed — Unit record
Late September 1943
Sails from San Diego for the Southwest Pacific
YMS-314 filed a sailing report on leaving San Diego, and Kenneth's name is the first on it. The report is undated, but it lists men who joined the ship on 18 September 1943, and by 1 October the ship's war diary has her in the middle of the Pacific, steering southwest at ten knots and taking fuel, water and fresh provisions at sea from the repair ship Amycus. The crossing took the little wooden ship more than a month. Newly discovered.
The sailing report from San Diego. Line 1: BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, 321 13 59, EM1c, enlisted 1 Jan 42 at San Pedro. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.The ship's war diary for 1 October 1943: noon position 8 degrees north, 150 degrees west, course 214, speed 10 knots.
Source: U.S.S. YMS-314, Report of Changes on sailing from San Diego, California, line 1; National Archives NAID 193031369 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), image 14. U.S.S. YMS-314 War Diary, 1 October 1943; National Archives NAID 134321192 (Record Group 38), image 1
Confirmed — Unit record
October 31, 1943
At Brisbane, Australia
On 31 October 1943 the ship's war diary records YMS-314 moving up the Brisbane River and mooring alongside her sister ship YMS-313 at the sugar refinery dock, Bulimba Reach, Brisbane, Queensland. Kenneth was aboard: the ship's muster roll for the quarter ending 31 December 1943 carries him as present since commissioning day, now as Chief Electrician's Mate.
The ship's war diary for 31 October 1943: moored at the sugar refinery dock, Bulimba Reach, Brisbane, Australia.Muster Roll of the Crew, 31 December 1943. First line: BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, 321 13 59, CEM(AA), first received on board 15 July 1943. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Source: U.S.S. YMS-314 War Diary, 31 October 1943; National Archives NAID 134321192 (Record Group 38), image 31. U.S.S. YMS-314, Muster Roll of the Crew for the quarter ending 31 December 1943; National Archives NAID 193031369 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), image 30
Confirmed — Unit record
November 19, 1943
Into the war zone: Milne Bay, New Guinea
In November 1943 YMS-314 went north to New Guinea. Her war diary for 19 November opens with the ship moored at Milne Bay, then heading out before dawn to escort the Liberty ship Thomas Corwin up the coast. She now belonged to the Seventh Fleet, General MacArthur's navy: her own personnel reports show men moving to and from the fleet's Escort and Minecraft Squadrons. Ships like her swept harbors for mines, escorted convoys and hunted submarines along the New Guinea coast through 1944. Kenneth is on every quarterly muster roll of the ship for that year.
The ship's war diary for 19 November 1943: moored at Milne Bay, New Guinea, then underway escorting the S.S. Thomas Corwin.The ship's Report of Changes for February 1944 records transfers to and from ComEsMineRons, Service Force, 7th Fleet. Kenneth is not named on this page; it shows the command his ship served under.Muster Roll of the Crew, 30 September 1944. First line: BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, 321 13 59, CEM, aboard since 15 July 1943. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Source: U.S.S. YMS-314 War Diary, 19 November 1943; National Archives NAID 78228802 (Record Group 38), image 21. U.S.S. YMS-314, Report of Changes for February 1944, and Muster Rolls of the Crew for the quarters ending 31 March, 30 June and 30 September 1944; National Archives NAID 193031369 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), images 40, 44, 56 and 68
Confirmed — Unit record
October 21, 1944
At Leyte Gulf for the return to the Philippines
American forces landed on Leyte on 20 October 1944. The next day the landing ship LST-125, anchored off the beaches, recorded in her war diary: “1425 USS YMS 314 moored to our port side for fuel and provisions”, and fifty minutes later, “away from alongside having received 3,000 gallons fuel”. The same page logs Japanese bombing raids in the transport area that morning and again at dusk. Kenneth was the ship's chief electrician. Her muster roll of 30 September and her report for November both carry him aboard, and no record shows him away from the ship in between.
War diary of U.S.S. LST-125 at Leyte, 21 October 1944. The entries at 1425 and 1515 record YMS-314 alongside for fuel and provisions. The next morning LST-125 beached on Blue Beach, Leyte Island.
Source: U.S.S. LST-125 War Diary, 21 October 1944, page 8; National Archives NAID 78681256 (Record Group 38), image 8. U.S.S. YMS-314 muster rolls; National Archives NAID 193031369 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), images 68 and 76
Confirmed — Unit record
November 9, 1944
Appointed a Warrant Officer, Electrician
After sixteen months aboard, the Navy appointed Kenneth Electrician, U.S. Naval Reserve, a warrant officer. The ship entered the appointment on 9 November 1944, “for temporary service to rank from 15 Aug. 44”. A warrant officer was a specialist promoted from the enlisted ranks to officer status on the strength of his trade, and wartime appointments like his were made for temporary service. The same report records a routine change in his Naval Reserve classification on 1 November. He had gone from first class petty officer to chief to warrant officer in fourteen months. Newly discovered.
Report of Changes for November 1944. He is lines 1 and 2, top and bottom: BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, 321 13 59, CEM(AA); appointed Elect., E-V(S), USNR. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Source: U.S.S. YMS-314, Report of Changes for the month ending 30 November 1944, lines 1 and 2; National Archives NAID 193031369 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), image 76
Confirmed — Unit record
December 31, 1944
An officer now, he leaves the enlisted muster roll
Navy muster rolls list enlisted men only. Once Kenneth's warrant took effect his name came off them, and the ship's roll for the quarter ending 31 December 1944 opens with the next man in the alphabet. This is the expected result of his promotion, and it is why the muster rolls, which follow him month by month from 1942, do not record his assignments as an officer in 1945.
Muster Roll of the Crew, 31 December 1944. The roll now begins with BLOMS; the line that had been Kenneth's since July 1943 is gone.
Source: U.S.S. YMS-314, Muster Roll of the Crew for the quarter ending 31 December 1944; National Archives NAID 193031369 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), image 80
Confirmed — Unit record
December 1945
Released from active duty at Los Angeles
The war ended in September 1945, and Kenneth came home through the Navy's Officer Separation Center at Los Angeles. On 10 December 1945 the inactive rolls of the Eighth Naval District received him from that center, and a later roll notes that his enlisted record was closed as of 5 December 1945. He had been on active duty for three years and ten months. Newly discovered.
Eighth Naval District inactive rolls, December 1945. Line 7, top and bottom: BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, 321 13 59, CEM(AA), received 10 Dec 1945 from OffSepCen, Los Angeles, Calif. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.The top of the same district's roll of 1 July 1946. First line: BISSELL, Kenneth Olin, CEM(AA), records closed as of 12/5/45. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Source: Headquarters, Eighth Naval District, Report of Changes (Inactive) for the month ending 31 December 1945, line 7, and Muster Roll (Inactive) for the period ending 1 July 1946; National Archives NAID 190766727 (Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), images 1324 and 1601
Confirmed — Service record
April 1, 1946
Promoted to Chief Warrant Officer in the Naval Reserve
Kenneth stayed in the Naval Reserve after the war. The Navy's official register of reserve officers for 1949 lists him under officer file number 416607 as a Warrant Officer, Electrician, with date of rank 15 August 1944, the same date his ship recorded in 1944. The 1951 register shows him promoted to Chief Warrant Officer, with date of rank 1 April 1946. Both give his year of birth as 1919. Newly discovered.
The Naval Reserve officer register of 1 April 1949, page 80, left column: 416607, BISSELL KENNETH O, W O, EEL, date of rank 8-15-44, born 19, pay entry base date 4-30-38. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.The register of 1 April 1951, page 81, left column: 416607, BISSELL KENNETH O, CWO, designator 7546 (Electrician), date of rank 4-01-46. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
Kenneth served in the Navy a second time. The Department of Veterans Affairs burial record lists his branch twice, as “US NAVY, US NAVY”, which is how the VA records two separate periods of service, and it names his wars as “WORLD WAR II, KOREA”. His headstone carries both wars. The Navy recalled thousands of experienced reservists when the Korean War began in 1950, and its register of 1 April 1951, shown above, lists him as a Chief Warrant Officer at that time. The ships and dates of his second period are in his Navy personnel file, filed under officer number 416607 and enlisted number 321 13 59, which is held at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis and is available to his next of kin.
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration, Nationwide Gravesite Locator, interment record for Kenneth Olin Bissell (Riverside National Cemetery, Section 59B, Site 166); headstone inscription, Find A Grave memorial #226447646
Confirmed — Service record
July 1, 1959
Still a Chief Warrant Officer in the Naval Reserve
The Naval Reserve register of 1 July 1959 still carries Kenneth, now thirty-nine, as Chief Warrant Officer, CWO-2, Electrician, under the same file number and the same dates. It is the latest register found that lists him, twenty-one years after the date the Navy counted his service from.
The Naval Reserve officer register of 1 July 1959, left column: 416607, BISSELL KENNETH O, CWO2, designator 7545, date of rank 4-01-46, born 19, pay entry base date 4-30-38. The yellow is ours — it marks his name and service number on the sheet.
He rests in Section 59B, Site 166 at Riverside National Cemetery. His government headstone reads EM1, US NAVY, WORLD WAR II, KOREA. EM1 is Electrician's Mate First Class, the rate he held when he went back to the Navy in 1942 and the trade he followed in civilian life. The Navy's own records show that he rose above it: chief petty officer in 1943, warrant officer in 1944, and Chief Warrant Officer from 1946 through at least 1959. Below his name and his two wars, his family chose the words “Like brilliant stars his virtues glowed”. Leslie S. Bissell, who shared his Gardena address in 1941 and re-enlisted at San Pedro a few weeks after him in 1942, is buried in the same cemetery.
His headstone at Riverside National Cemetery, Section 59B, Site 166. The second line reads EM1 US NAVY.
Source: Inscription on his government-issued headstone, Riverside National Cemetery, Section 59B, Site 166, photographed 3 August 2020; Find A Grave memorial #226447646. Leslie Scott Bissell: Find A Grave memorial #82458219 (Riverside National Cemetery, Section 45, Site 301)
