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Casualty Info
Home Town Mount Vernon, NY
Casualty Date Jun 25, 1944
Cause KIA-Died of Wounds
Reason Burns
Location Pacific
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Manila American Cemetery - Taguig City, Philippines
Wall/Plot Coordinates F 7 88
Military Service Number 122 496
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
On June 24, 1944 at 4:30pm PT-193 under the command of Taylor with PT-331 under the command of Capitan Lt. Montz departed Mios Woendi PT Boat Base on a mission to Noemfoor Island. After completing their mission, both PT Boats hunted Japanese barges and became grounded on a coral reef.
While preparing to abandoned ship, gas was poured over all compartments. Taylor went below deck to his quarters for a final check of the ship. While below decks, the gas ignited and exploded, severely wounding Taylor and blowing four of the crew members overboard onto the reef and all sustained injuries. Taylor was severely burned and went into shock. Afterwards, transported to hospital ship AHS Maetsuycker, but at 9:45pm died from his wounds.
Comments/Citation:
Silver Star
"The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Cyrus R. Taylor (NSN: 0-122496), United States Naval Reserve, for gallantry in action when Motor Torpedo Boat ONE HUNDRED NINETY-THREE (PT-193), was bombed by an enemy float plane while patrolling with another torpedo boat on 13 March 1944. Lieutenant Taylor directed highly effective evasive tactics and enabled his crew to destroy the Japanese plane and bring the torpedo boat through without casualties among personnel or damage to the vessel. His gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service."
US Navy Action Report, PT 193 24/25 June 1944
Bronze Star
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS DURING World War II
Service: Navy
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 333 (December 1944)
Citation:
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Cyrus R. Taylor (NSN: 0-122496), United States Naval Reserve, for gallantry in action when Motor Torpedo Boat ONE HUNDRED NINETY-THREE (PT-193), was bombed by an enemy float plane while patrolling with another torpedo boat on 13 March 1944. Lieutenant Taylor directed highly effective evasive tactics and enabled his crew to destroy the Japanese plane and bring the torpedo boat through without casualties among personnel or damage to the vessel. His gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service.
LT Taylor was the Officer in Charge
PT-193 "Bitchin' Witch" Laid down 30 November 1942 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
Launched 11 February 1943
Completed 27 February 1943 Placed in service under the command of LT Cyrus R. Taylor, USNR
New Georgia Campaign (1943)/Battle of Vella Gulf
From Month/Year
August / 1943
To Month/Year
August / 1943
Description The Battle of Vella Gulf was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought on the night of 6–7 August 1943, in Vella Gulf between Vella Lavella Island and Kolombangara Island in the Solomon Islands of the Southwest Pacific.
This engagement was the first time that destroyers were allowed to operate independent of the cruiser force during the Pacific campaign. In the battle, six American destroyers—Dunlap, Craven, Maury, Lang, Sterett, and Stack—engaged a group of four enemy destroyers attempting to reinforce Japanese troops on Kolombangara. The American warships closed the enemy undetected with the aid of radar and fired torpedoes, which sank Hagikaze, Arashi, and Kawakaze with no damage to American ships.
Background
The American forces were in a campaign of island hopping their way towards Japan. They had taken Guadalcanal the past year. After their victory in the Battle of Kolombangara on 13 July, the Japanese had established a powerful garrison of 12,400 around Vila at the southern tip of the island. This was the principal port on that island, and it supplied at night using fast destroyers as transports known as the "Tokyo Express". Three supply runs on 19 July, 29 July, and 1 August were successful deliveries. However, by 1 August the Americans were driving the Japanese out of the airfield on New Georgia Island just south of Kolombangara.
Battle
On the night of 6 August, the Imperial Japanese Navy sent a force of four destroyers under Captain Kaju Sugiura—Hagikaze, Arashi, Shigure, and Kawakaze—carrying about 950 soldiers and their supplies. The Japanese airfield at Munda on New Georgia, which the force at Vila was assigned to reinforce, was on the verge of being captured; it would actually fall later that day. The Imperial commanders expected that Vila would become the center of their next line of defense.
The U.S. Navy Task Group 31.2 (TG 31.2) of six destroyers—USS Dunlap, Craven, Maury, Lang, Sterett, and Stack—commanded by Captain Frederick Moosbrugger was lying in wait, and it made radar contact with the Japanese force at 23:33. Having learned the harsh lessons of naval combat at night after the Battle of Tassafaronga, the Battle of Kula Gulf, and a previous PT boat skirmish, the American destroyers did not give away their position with gunfire, but rather, they waited until they had all their torpedoes in the water. The U.S. Navy destroyers fired a total of 36 torpedoes in the space of 63 seconds. Four American ships—including Craven—used the mountains of the main island to their east to help camouflage their position. The radar possessed by the Japanese was not as advanced as the American radar, and it could not differentiate between the surface ships and the island. All four Japanese destroyers were hit by American torpedoes. Hagikaze, Arashi, and Kawakaze burst into flames and were quickly sunk by naval gunfire. The torpedo that hit Shigure was a dud that did not explode, damaging her rudder only, and she escaped into the darkness.
Many of the Imperial soldiers and sailors left floating in the water after their ships sank refused rescue by American ships. Over 1,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors were lost, mostly by drowning. 300 of them reached Vella Lavella and they were later transferred to Kolombangara Island.
During this entire battle, not one U.S. ship was struck by so much as a single bullet or shell. Moosbrugger's wise usage of radar resulted in the battle being nearly a "clean sweep" of Vella Gulf by the U.S. Navy.
Aftermath
The battle—coming less than one month after the night action at the Battle of Kolombangara—was the first U.S. Navy victory in World War II in a torpedo duel. The six destroyers had accomplished what a squadron of 15 American PT boats could not shortly before: sink the Tokyo Express with torpedoes with no American or friendly navy losses. The Empire of Japan could no longer supply their garrison on Kolombangara Island, and the Allies bypassed it, landing instead on Vella Lavella to the west. The Japanese Army soon abandoned Kolombangara.
