 |
| Larus Payton served on the USS Birmingham during the Battle of Leyte Gulf https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48874216/larus-elmer-payton http://www.historyofwar.org/Pictures/pictures_USS_Princeton_on_fire.html |
Larus Elmer Payton never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on January 25, 1919 in Arkansas. His parents Lucien and Eunice were born in Kentucky and Illinois. His father worked as a farmer. Larus had three older sisters and four older brothers,. By 1940 Larus had completed three years of high school and was the last of the Payton children still living at home.
He was drafted into the navy on November 1, 1940. His mother died in 1942. By 1944 he was a shipfitter second class on the light cruiser USS Birmingham.
During the Battle of Leyte Gulf the light carrier USS Princeton was hit by a bomb dropped by a Japanese dive-bomber at 0930 on October 24, 1944. Burning badly, it fell out of formation. Birmingham was sent back to provide aid, along with four destroyers. By 1030 sailors were abandoning Princeton. Birmingham pulled alongside to play hoses on the carrier's fire. The captain of Princeton believed the fires were under control by 1300. A false sub sighting delayed further fire control as the other ships deployed for a sub search. Birmingham returned by 1430. The two ships were separated by fifty feet when at 1522 Princeton's aft magazines exploded, wrecking havoc on Birmingham.
Casualties on Birmingham were 239 dead, 408 wounded, and 4 missing. Larus Payton was one of those killed. It was triple the casualties from Princeton. The Princeton hulk was sunk by destroyers after survivors were removed. It took three days for Birmingham to consign its dead to the sea. It made it safely back to San Francisco where it was repaired in time to return for the Iwo Jima invasion.
His cenotaph grave is at Center Chapel Cemetery in Cleburne County, Arkansas.
EDWIN NEWMAN
Born on the same day as Larus Payton was long time NBC newsman Edwin Newman. Newman was born in New York. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Newman became a journalist for United Press. On December 7, 1941 he spent 12 hours taking dictation as reporters phoned in their stories.
Newman served in the navy from 1942 to 1945 and was stationed in the Caribbean and stateside.
 |
| https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-edwin-newman-20100916-story.html |
Last year on this date I profiled Joseph Kapustka, 1st Infantry Division. You can read about Joseph here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
No comments:
Post a Comment