Saylor, Paul Edd, F1c

Paul Edd Saylor was born February 20, 1920 in Bluff City, Sullivan county, Tennessee, son of Rev. Samuel Saul Brown and Mary L. (Shaver) Saylor. He had three brothers. One brother died as a child in 1926. His father was a Baptist minister, and the family moved to Unicoi and Carter counties and to Mitchell County, North Carolina where his father was born before settling down in Johnson City, Washington County, Tennessee.
 
Paul enlisted in the United States Navy in Nashville, Tennessee on July 3rd, 1940. From there Paul headed to the United States Navy Training School at the Naval Ordinance Base in Norfolk, Virginia for basic training. After boot camp, he was dispatched to San Pedro Naval Base near Los Angeles, California to join his ship the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) a Nevada-class Battleship. He reported aboard on October 9, 1940.
 
While on the USS Oklahoma, he wrote letters home, many of which were preserved by family members. They reveal much about his character and work ethic. He loved his family and was proud of his accomplishments and promotions with the Navy. He diligently sent money home as the country was still in the grip of the Great Depression and his contribution made a difference in the lives of those he left behind.
 
The Oklahoma, as part of the Pacific fleet, was home ported at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On Sunday, 7 December 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma was moored at Ford Island in berth Fox 5, on Battleship Row, in the outboard position alongside the battleship USS Maryland. She was immediately targeted by planes from the Imperial Japanese Navy's aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga, and was struck by three torpedoes. The first and second hit seconds apart at 0756 (7:56 am), striking her amidships (midway between bow and stern) below the waterline between the smokestack and the mainmast. The torpedoes blew away a large section of her anti-torpedo bulge and spilled oil from the adjacent fuel bunkers, but neither penetrated the hull. Around 80 men scrambled to man the AA guns on deck, but were unable to use them because the firing locks were still in the armory. Most of the men manned battle stations below the ship's waterline or sought shelter in the third deck as was protocol for an aerial attack. The third torpedo struck at 0800 (8am), near Frame 65, hitting close to where the first two did, this time penetrating the hull. It destroyed the adjacent fuel bunkers on the second platform deck and ruptured access trunks to the two forward boiler rooms. It also damaged the transverse bulkhead to the aft boiler room and the longitudinal bulkhead of the two forward firing rooms causing her to flood and to list to port.
 
As she began to capsize, two more torpedoes struck her. Her seamen were also being strafed by Japanese aircraft as they were trying to abandon the ship. In less than twelve minutes, she rolled over until halted when her masts touched bottom, her starboard side above water with part of her keel exposed. It's believed the ship absorbed as many as eight hits in all. Many of her crew were jumping from the decks 50 feet into the oil covered burning hot water, however, many remained in the fight, crawling across mooring lines to the Maryland to help man her AA guns. Many others were trapped within the capsized hull to include Paul.
 
In all, 429 men were listed as missing in action/unknowns since their remains could not be identified and interred in two cemeteries (Nu'uanu and Halawa) on Oahu near Honolulu in 1945 & 46. Paul was listed as Missing in Action on 30 December 1941 at the age of 21. His name is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial and in the Oklahoma Memorial, both in Hawaii.
 
In September 1947, they were disinterred, reexamined and 35 were identified. The estimated remaining 388-394 were reinterred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, commonly known as the Punch Bowl at 46 sites (graves) in 61 caskets and basically forgotten. In 2015, all were again disinterred to have dental records reexamined and DNA tests conducted on all the bones.
 
Fireman First Class Paul Edd Saylor was finally accounted for on Tuesday, 24 November 2020 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was laid to rest with his parents in Elizabethton, Carter County, Tennessee at the Happy Valley Memorial Park in the Laurels Section, Plot 23A, Grave 4 on Friday, 20 August 2021.
 
A rosette was added to his name at the Honolulu Memorial, indicating that he has been accounted for and is no longer missing.
 
References:
https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=112818
https://etvma.org/veterans/paul-e-saylor-11015/
https://www.appfh.net/obituaries/Paul-Saylor-4/#!/Obituary
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/223805612/paul-edd-saylor
 
SN: 2956907
 
This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and 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's name and read his/her story.
Service number: 2956907