Willis "Duke" Davis

Willis was born in Nashville Tennessee. He grew up in Lake Guntersville, Alabama with the nickname Duke that has stuck with him his entire life. He graduated from Guntersville High School in 1991 and enlisted into the United States Marine Corps. 

After seven years in the Marine Corps, he decided to go home and work with his father as a building and remodeling contractor. He was completing the final touches on a house on September 11, 2001, when he made the decision to rejoin the ranks of the Marine Corps. Since then, he served multiple tours as a Marine Scout Sniper in support of Operation’s Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. 

In 2010 he was injured in Afghanistan. During his medivac he was given the full look-over from head to toe and was determined to have been suffering from a traumatic brain injury for some time. Now he was dealing with more than just a hand. This journey was rough for him as he suffered from severe headaches, insomnia, memory loss, vertigo, occupational, vestibular and speech therapy. Despite the injuries, and long road of recovery, his willingness to serve as a Marine, allowed him to recover and deploy downrange again. 

In 2014, while in attending the Warrant Officer Basic Course, he suffered a heart attack and had continued health problems leading to a stroke. In 2017 after some much-needed medical attention, Duke was medically retired after twenty-two years in the Marine Corps. 

Shortly after he served on the National Staff of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. as the National Programs Director where he served over 200 programs and managed their participants attending over 300 national destination outings. Duke’s knowledge of nonprofit planning and execution of operations led to him to work at Healing Towers, Inc. as the Chief Operations Officer for Healing Towers in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Duke and his wife Kara wanted to serve more veterans and help them through their transitioning phase. So, they started Restoration, Inc. located in Naples, Florida. Their vision is to mentor veterans and their supporters through the transitioning phase of service and help reintegrate them into their communities. 

Duke is the owner of Tango Down Fishing where he serves as a fly-fishing guide on Florida’s Paradise Coast. 

He is a Coast Guard certified Captain and enjoys tying flies, building fishing rods and hunting in his free time.