The Navy Dispatch was founded in the early 1960s by William J. Hagerty after his retirement from a career in the U.S. Navy. Hagerty, a WWII Purple Heart Veteran, went into a public information billet after the war. Later, Hagerty served as Public Affairs Officer at Naval Station Long Beach, PAO at Commander 11th Naval District (now Commander Naval Region Southwest) and at Naval Training Center, San Diego. His newspaper experience during his Navy career set the stage for his second career -- the Navy Dispatch newspaper group published by Western States Weeklies, Inc.