Fleet Hamby

Fleet Albert Hamby was born May 5, 1920. Zach Hamby named him after Fleet Watkins, the son of his Aunt Martha and Jesse Watkins of Buncombe County. The middle name, Albert, came from Zach’s father.

His first wife was Florence Elizabeth Anglin. They married in Greenville, SC, April 7, 1944 and were divorced in Madison County, NC, in April 1946.

After high school Fleet and Pearson Riddle worked in a CCC Camp near Marion, NC. Fleet enlisted in the Navy as soon as he was old enough. He started out as a Seaman and moved up to Gunner’s Mate Senior Chief. He was stationed on the USS Maryland during the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was the only ship that could still move under its own power after the attack.

While stationed in Guam after the war, he met Maria Agualo. Fleet proposed to her, but she declined. She had to stay in Guam to support her family. She never married. Before she died in Guam in 2008, she said Fleet was her first love.

Fleet never knew they had a son. Bill Agualo was born May 18, 1948 and passed away October 23, 2017.

Until 1954, he was Chief Gunner’s Mate for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay and trained junior officers. It was there that he met and married Doris Cobb 1952 in Hyannis, Massachusetts. They were divorced in 1996.

Fleet is a registered honoree with the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC.

Children of Fleet Hamby and Doris Cobb Hamby are:
Nadine Anne Hamby, born October 1, 1953.
Fleet Curtis Hamby, born August 23, 1955.

Fleet’s story