He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on 24 June 1941 and, after being trained as a pharmacist's mate, reported to the oiler USS Neosho on 15 January 1942.

The destroyer also participated in shore bombardment and landed several raiding and intelligence parties on the western coast of the war-torn peninsula.

Two men were injured and extensive damage was done to her radar gear, but the destroyer's return fire effectively silenced enemy shore batteries.

Henry W. Tucker entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard for installation of the newest radar equipment in September, emerging 14 April 1953.

Her new duties, centered primarily on the detection of enemy attack through extensive radar coverage, were to take her on eight more Western Pacific cruises in the next 10 years.

Streaming her homeward bound pennant at Yokosuka 2 November 1962, Henry W. Tucker sailed for Boston via Pearl Harbor, San Diego, Acapulco, and the Panama Canal.

Following the FRAM overhaul, Henry W. Tucker began a program of intensive training, until 26 May, when she departed for the western Pacific and a station on the Taiwan Patrol.

On 16 May the destroyer pounded Viet Cong coastal concentrations southeast of Saigon and thus became the first U.S. ship to provide naval gunfire support against enemy targets in South Vietnam.

Henry W. Tucker provided gunfire support for ground operations dozens of times; and during a 40-day period in August and September fired over 5,000 rounds from her 12.7 cm guns, destroying or damaging numerous enemy positions.

This vital duty sent her close to enemy-controlled shores; however, joined by daring CSAR helicopters which refueled and replenished from the destroyer while in flight, she provided maximum protection for planes returning from strikes over North Vietnam.

While in port at Yokosuka on 14 April 1970, the crew was ordered to return to the ship and prepare to sail as part of the Apollo 13 emergency recovery team.

Henry W. Tucker was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 3 December 1973, transferred to Brazil, renamed Marcilio Dias, and placed in service with the Brazilian Navy.

From September until October 1978, she participated in the 2nd Phase of Operation UNITAS XXI, carried out in the area between Rio de Janeiro and Recife (PE), as part of the Brazilian Task Group.

[1] On May 11, 1982, she left Rio de Janeiro as part of a task force, formed by Marcílio Dias and Mato Grosso, Soares Dutra, Garcia D'Ávila, and Tambaú and Camboriú to participate in the ANFIBIEX-I exercise on the coast of the Espírito Santo.

In January 1984, the ship participated in Operation ASPIRANTEX 84/TROPICALEX I/84, carried out in the waters of the Northeast, as part of the FT-10, which was composed of the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais.

On December 3, 1993, he completed 20 years of service in the Brazilian Navy, having participated in this period of several Commissions, such as: DRAGÃO, UNITAS, READEX, ANFIBIEX, SINAL VERMELHO, CATRAPO, COSTEIREX, INSUP, OCEANEX, TEMPEREX, TROPICALEX, FRA TERNO, GDBEX, VENBRAS, SA TCON, CONFRONTEX, ADEREX, FORTEX, INCURSEX and PRESIDENTEX, among others.

[1] After her service with the Brazilian Navy, Marcilio Dias (D-25) was decommissioned on 31 August 1994 and was sunk by the submarine Tamoio, in a Mk 24 Tigerfish torpedo firing exercise, on March 26, 1996.