William H. Bates

Who was William H. Bates?

William Henry Bates was a member of the United States House of Representatives notable for his staunch support of the United States Navy.

Born in Salem, Massachusetts, he attended local schools and graduated from Worcester Academy in 1936. He received his undergraduate education at Brown University, Providence, R.I., graduating in 1940. Following graduation from Brown, he enlisted in the United States Navy in July 1940 and was commissioned as ensign in the Naval Reserve on 30 January 1941. Bates then received instruction at the Naval Reserve Supply Officer's School at the Naval Medical Center, Washington, DC, before serving successive tours of duty at the Washington Navy Yard and in Constellation.

Bates remained in the Supply Corps through the end of World War II, participating in the Iwo Jima campaign in the spring of 1945. After the war he returned to Massachusetts and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in Boston, graduating in 1947.

He remained a naval reservist, and by 1949 had become the supply officer for the 4th Naval District. While Bates was stationed there, his father, Representative George J. Bates of the 6th Massachusetts Congressional District, was killed in a plane crash at the Washington National Airport on 1 November 1949.