Willis Drummer was born on May 12, 1923, in Baltimore, Maryland. He worked as a sheet metal inspector for the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company in Baltimore before enlisting in the U.S. Navy on October 2, 1942. After completing basic training at Great Lakes, Illinois, and advanced training at the Electrician's Mate School at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, and the Electrical Interior Communication School in Washington, D.C., Drummer was assigned as an Aviation Electronics Technician aboard the escort aircraft carrier USS Card (CVE-11) from October 1943 until the war ended. During this time, the USS Card participated in several successful antisubmarine patrols in the Atlantic Ocean. EM2C Drummer then enrolled in the Navy V-12 commissioning program at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, but was discharged during the drawdown after World War II on December 7, 1945.