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Lee Braswell (SBTS Writer)-Historian
to remember
Boynton, Raymond Devere, S2c.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Grand Rapids, MI
Casualty Date Dec 07, 1941
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Hawaii
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
Seaman Apprentice/2c Raymond Boynton was Killed in Action on December 7, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was stationed aboard the USS Oklahoma BB37.
Comments/Citation:
Raymond Devere Boynton was born on 3 May 1922 in Granville, Kent county, Michigan to Matthew Silas and Mary Ellen (Frain) Boynton. He had one younger sister. The 1930 Census has him living with his father, Grandmother Boynton and Uncle Charles. His parents had divorced and his father remarried in 1932 to Priscilla Lucy Kaufman. At age 17, he was in Wyoming, Kent, Michigan working as a farm hand. He enlisted in the Navy on 12 June 1940. By September 1940, Raymond was received aboard the USS Oklahoma.
On the morning of 7 December 1941, a fleet of Japanese carriers helped launch an air strike against the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The attack decimated the ships and personnel of the fleet and thrust the United States into World War II. At the onset of the attack, the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was moored at berth Fox 5 on “Battleship Row.” Just before 8:00 am that Sunday morning, the Oklahoma was among the first ships struck. She was stuck by eight torpedoes within the first ten minutes. One struck her port side, opening the hull almost completely from below the forward gun turret back to the third turret – over 250 feet - and she capsized within 20 minutes. After the USS Arizona, she had the largest loss of life; 429 sailors and marines. Rescue efforts were intense but only 32 sailors were recovered alive. The USS Oklahoma was salvaged in 1942, but it was determined she could not be repaired. In May of 1947, she was sold for scrap. While under tow to San Francisco, California, she sank in a storm. Her exact location remains unknown to this day.
Seaman 2nd Class Raymond Devere Boynton (Service Number 3114596) was listed as Missing in Action. He is listed on the Honolulu Memorial (#56116068) and the USS Oklahoma (#77271808). He received the following commendations: A Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the American Defense Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the WW II Victory Medal.
DPAA Addendum – Unknown Accounted For
Seaman Second Class Raymond Devere Boynton was aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when it came under attack by Japanese aircraft. He was killed in the attack, and while his remains were recovered from the ship following the incident, Boynton could not be individually identified at the time. As such, his remains were initially interred in a local cemetery in Honolulu and then later reinterred as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In 2015, advances in forensic techniques prompted the re-examination of the unidentified sailors from the USS Oklahoma. On 22 December 2020, the DPAA officially accounted for S2c Boynton. His remains were buried with full military honors on 08 September 2021 in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. A rosette was placed next to Boynton’s name on the American Battle Monuments Commission's Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl and at the USS Oklahoma Memorial, indicating he has been accounted for.
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This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Together We Served and on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen person’s name and read his/her story.
Lee Braswell - Contributing Author, Stories Behind the Stars
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Lee Braswell (SBTS Writer)-Historian
to remember
Boynton, Raymond Devere, S2c.
