Stanley Wdowiak (1925-1988) served in World War II as a Radioman Second Class on board the destroyer excort U.S.S. Pillsbury. He received the Navy Cross from the President of the United States for his extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty when the U.S.S. Pillsbury captured the German Submarine U-505, on June 4, 1944, off Cape Blanco in French West Africa. The submarine was running on the surface with enemy personnel below setting demolition charges and scuttling. Stanley Wdowiak, with two other crew members of the U.S.S. Pillsbury, plunged down the conning tower of the enemy submarine and captured the German crewman. Eventually, the enemy submarine was towed to Bermuda. In later years, Stanley Wdowiak lived in Maspeth with his wife and children.