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Edmund Battelle Taylor, Jr.
Captain,
United States Navy | Full
Name: EDMUND BATTELLE JR TAYLOR
Date of Birth: 12 september 1931
Date of Casualty: 8 May 1972
Home
of Record: LIMA, OHIO
Branch of Service: NAVY
Rank: CAPTAIN
Casualty Country: NORTH VIETNAM
Status: MIA
TAYLOR, EDMUND BATTELLE JR. Name: Edmund Battelle Taylor, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O6/US Navy
Unit: Chief of Staff of Flotilla II
Date
of Birth: 12 September 1931
Home City of Record: Lima Ohio
Date of Loss: 8 May 1972
Country of
Loss: North Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 182105N 1075959E (AL170315)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:
SH3G Other Personnel In Incident: John M. Leaver, missing operations
officer, Rear Admiral Rembrandt C. Robinson, Commander of the Cruiser-Destroyer
Flotilla
II, KIA/BR. Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1990 from
one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated
by the P.O.W.
NETWORK May 1997 REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Commander John M. Leaver was assigned as a staff officer to Commander Cruiser
Destroyer Group 7th Fleet. On May 8, 1972, he and Captain Edmund B. Taylor were passengers aboard a helicopter attempting
to make a night landing on the fantail of the USS PROVIDENCE (CLG-6). The helicopter crashed and fell overboard.
Leaver and Taylor were both lost in the crash and their remains were never located. They
are listed with honor among the missing because no remains were found. Their cases seem quite clear.
Captain Edmund B. Taylor, Jr., United States Navy, at age 41, was Chief
of Staff, Commander Cruiser Destroyer Flotilla 11 and Commander Cruiser Destroyer Force Vietnam (CTF 75). Captain Taylor was
killed in a helicopter crash while returning to the flagship USS Providence (CLG-6) on May 8, 1972 while coordinating the
cruiser destroyer attack on the Do Son Peninsula scheduled May 8-10 1972. Also killed in the crash were Rear Admiral Robinson
and Commander John Leaver, Jr. |
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| Captain Taylor, Joan, Stephen, Cynthia, Leslie and Ted |
Born
in Baltimore, Maryland, Captain Taylor attended high schools in Maryland and Virginia. Following high school he attended the
University of Hawaii and the United States Naval Academy, graduating with the Class of 1953. Captain Taylor was the
son of Vice Admiral E. B. (Whitey) Taylor, USN (RET) and Mrs. Taylor of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Vice Admiral Taylor was
a 1925 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Captain Taylor began his naval Career aboard USS MACON (CA-132) where he served as CIC Division Officer and
5”/38 battery officer. As a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) he was the Gunnery Officer and later the Operations Officer
of the destroyer USS BEALE (DDE-471). Completing his tour in BEALE in 1956, Lieutenant Taylor next served as Aide and
Flag Secretary to Commander Cruiser Division TWO. Departing Norfolk, Virginia in later 1958, Lieutenant Taylor reported
to the U.S. Naval Ordnance Missile Test Facility, White Sands, New Mexico and assumed the duties of Fire Control Officer for
the Talos Missile Project. In the Spring of 1961 Lieutenant Taylor was the Weapons Officer in the commissioning crew
of the Mayport, Florida homeported guided missile frigate USS LUCE (DLG-7) where he served until ordered to Norfolk once more
as Executive Officer of USS SAMPSON (DDG-10). In mid 1965, as a Lieutenant Commander, he began a two year tour in the Office
of the Chief of Naval Operations and became the Assistant Head of the Special Weapons Branch, Strategic Plans Division.
For his work in Nuclear Weapons development Lieutenant Commander Taylor was awarded the Secretary of the Navy Achievement
Medal. He was promoted to the rank of Commander in April 1966, and in July departed Washington to attend the Resident Naval
Warfare Course at the Naval War College. Commander Taylor assumed command of the guided missile destroyer USS BENJAMIN STODDERT
(DDG-22) on July 21, 1967, in the Gulf of Tonkin while the ship was employed in “Operation Sea Dragon.”
Commander Taylor was relieved in October 1969. Captain Taylor reported to Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Group ELEVEN as Chief
of Staff to Rear Admiral Robinson in 1971. Captain
Taylor was married to the late Joan Pefley Taylor, daughter of Brigadier General A. R. Pefley, USMC (RET) and Mrs. Pefley
of Fall Church, Virginia. He is survived by four children, Stephen D., Edmund B. (Ted) III, Cynthia R. and Leslie V. Taylor.
Posted: 6 May 2004 Updated: 27 August 2006
Posted: 6 May 2004 Updated: 27 August 2006 |
Photo By M. R. Patterson, 24 April 2004
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| Photo By M. R. Patterson, 24 April 2004 |
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