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| Water Tenderer Second Class Robert Taylor served on the destroy USS Cassin Young in 1945. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/135717820/robert-samuel-taylor/photo https://www.nashobavalleyvoice.com/2019/08/12/life-on-the-uss-cassin-young/ |
Robert Samuel Taylor never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on January 31, 1920 in Wray, Colorado. His parents John and Aphus were born in Nebraska and Missouri, respectively. His father worked as a farmer and later as a railroad laborer. Still later he was a farm laborer. Robert had one older brother, two older sisters, and a younger brother. By 1940 the family had moved to Missouri. Robert had completed eight years of education. He was still living at home and worked as a farm laborer.
He enlisted in the US Navy in April 1942. His final station was as a water tenderer second class on the destroyer USS Cassin Young. Cassin Young join the 5th Fleet in the Pacific in April 1944 and was regularly in harm's way for the balance of the war. Its final assignment was to be part of the fleet supporting the fighting on Okinawa. On April 6 it was hit by a kamikaze high up in the forecastle that killed one man and wounded 58 others.
On July 29 Cassin Young was hit by a low flying kamikaze plane that hit her on the starboard side, striking the fire control room. The crew managed to save the ship from sinking. WT2 Taylor was one of the casualties and died the next day on July 30, 1945. He was one of 22 men killed in the attack. This was the final successful kamikaze attack on a US Navy vessel in World War 2.
His grave is at New Cambria Cemetery in New Cambria, Missouri.
Cassin Young is now a floating memorial ship in the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts.
Last year on this date I profiled Battle of the Bulge fallen Fred Morgan, 4th Infantry Division. You can read about Fred 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
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