DAVID W. TAYLOR, JR., LCDR, USN

David Taylor, Jr. '35

Date of birth: January 2, 1912

Date of death: May 16, 1944

Age: 32

Lucky Bag

From the 1935 Lucky Bag:

DAVID WOOSTER TAYLOR

San Francisco, California

"Woot" "Dave"

EVER since his arrival here, this native son has agitated to have the Academy moved to California's shores, the climate and a fair haired Navy Junior being responsible. Academics have been easy for Woot, his best grades often being made when he never cracked a book. Fencing has given him a long reach and an appetite for chow, but has not helped his dancing, which is terrible to behold. Woot is a great reader, especially of Wonder Stories and Weird Tales; and he takes great pleasure in arguing, as he can generally outshout his opponent. His unconscious grin and cherubic face have saved him from many a pap and successfully guarded a non-reg career.

Fencing 3, 2, 1, N. Class Football 4. Art Club 1. Log Staff 3, 2, 1. Ring Committee. 2 Stripes.

DAVID WOOSTER TAYLOR

San Francisco, California

"Woot" "Dave"

EVER since his arrival here, this native son has agitated to have the Academy moved to California's shores, the climate and a fair haired Navy Junior being responsible. Academics have been easy for Woot, his best grades often being made when he never cracked a book. Fencing has given him a long reach and an appetite for chow, but has not helped his dancing, which is terrible to behold. Woot is a great reader, especially of Wonder Stories and Weird Tales; and he takes great pleasure in arguing, as he can generally outshout his opponent. His unconscious grin and cherubic face have saved him from many a pap and successfully guarded a non-reg career.

Fencing 3, 2, 1, N. Class Football 4. Art Club 1. Log Staff 3, 2, 1. Ring Committee. 2 Stripes.

Loss

David was lost on May 16, 1944 when the F6F-3 Hellcat he was piloting crashed in East Greenwich, Rhode Island while on a training flight.

Other Information

From New England Aviation History:

On May 16, 1944, Lt. Cmdr. David Wooster Taylor, 32, took off from Quonset Point Naval Air Station in a F6F-3 Hellcat (Bu. No. 41944) for a routine training mission. He was killed when his aircraft crashed and burned at the Sunset Valley Reservation in East Greenwich. The cause of the crash was not stated in newspapers.
Taylor was survived by his wife Virginia, and two young children, Jean, 4, and David, 3.
A housing development now stands on the site where this accident took place.
Lt. Cmdr. Taylor was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross while assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) for his part in an attack against enemy shipping off Bodo, Norway, on October 4, 1943.
Sources:
Woonsocket Call, “Lt. Cmdr. D. W. Taylor Killed In Plane Crash”, May 17, 1944, Pg. 1
North Kingstown, Rhode Island, death records

He was the commanding officer of Fighting Squadron (VF) 7.

From researcher Kathy Franz:

David graduated from Lowell High School in December 1929. In June 1937, he married Miss Virginia Wood Feineman, daughter of Navy Comdr. W. M. Feineman. Best man was Ensign Slade Cutter (’35), star of the navy’s football eleven of three years earlier. Ushers were Ensigns D. Allen Harrell (’35), Henry Gearing III (’35), Martin Miller (’36) and R. A. Thacher (’36). The couple had two children, Jean, 4, and David III, 3.
David was also survived by his mother Alice. His late father was a former San Francisco newspaperman and secretary of the Board of Park Commissioners as well as secretary to Gov. James Rolph. David’s family were members of a pioneer family of Oakland, California, and were descendants of General David Wooster Taylor who won acclaim during the Revolutionary War.

David is buried in Massachusettss.

Photographs

From his high school yearbook

Distinguished Flying Cross

From Hall of Valor:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Commander David W. Taylor, Jr., United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight while leading his squadron from the U.S.S. RANGER (CV-4) against a well-defended merchant vessel during the attack on enemy shipping off Bodo, Norway, 4 October 1943. Lieutenant Commander Taylor scored three direct hits amidships and left the hostile vessel in flames. He pressed home this vigorous attack in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire.
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 326 (May 1944)
Action Date: October 4, 1943
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Division: U.S.S. Ranger (CV-4)

Note: though this citation says he was a member of the Naval Reserve, he is listed as LCDR in the regular Navy in both the 1943 and 1944 Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.