Edmund Battelle Taylor, Jr. – Captain, United States Navy

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Full Name: EDMUND BATTELLE JR TAYLOR
Date of Birth: 12 september 1931
Date of Casualty: 8 May 1972
Home of Record: LIMA, OHIO
Branch of Service: NAVY
Rank: CAPTAIN
Casualty Country: NORTH VIETNAM
Status: MIA

TAYLOR, EDMUND BATTELLE JR.

Name: Edmund Battelle Taylor, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O6/US Navy
Unit: Chief of Staff of Flotilla II
Date of Birth: 12 September 1931
Home City of Record: Lima Ohio
Date of Loss: 8 May 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 182105N 1075959E (AL170315)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: SH3G

Other Personnel In Incident: John M. Leaver, missing operations officer, Rear Admiral Rembrandt C. Robinson, Commander of the Cruiser-Destroyer
Flotilla II, KIA/BR.

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK May 1997

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Commander John M. Leaver was assigned as a staff officer to Commander Cruiser Destroyer Group 7th Fleet. On May 8, 1972, he and Captain Edmund B. Taylor were passengers aboard a helicopter attempting to make a night landing on the fantail of the USS PROVIDENCE (CLG-6). The helicopter crashed and fell overboard.

Leaver and Taylor were both lost in the crash and their remains were never located. They are listed with honor among the missing because no remains were found. Their cases seem quite clear.

Captain Edmund B. Taylor, Jr., United States Navy, at age 41, was Chief of Staff, Commander Cruiser Destroyer Flotilla 11 and Commander Cruiser Destroyer Force Vietnam (CTF 75). Captain Taylor was killed in a helicopter crash while returning to the flagship USS Providence (CLG-6) on May 8, 1972 while coordinating the cruiser destroyer attack on the Do Son Peninsula scheduled May 8-10 1972. Also killed in the crash were Rear Admiral Robinson and Commander John Leaver, Jr.

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Captain Taylor, Joan, Stephen, Cynthia, Leslie and Ted

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Captain Taylor attended high schools in Maryland and Virginia. Following high school he attended the University of Hawaii and the United States Naval Academy, graduating with the Class of 1953.  Captain Taylor was the son of Vice Admiral E. B. (Whitey) Taylor, USN (RET) and Mrs. Taylor of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Vice Admiral Taylor was a 1925 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Captain Taylor began his naval Career aboard USS MACON (CA-132) where he served as CIC Division Officer and 5”/38 battery officer.  As a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) he was the Gunnery Officer and later the Operations Officer of the destroyer USS BEALE (DDE-471).  Completing his tour in BEALE in 1956, Lieutenant Taylor next served as Aide and Flag Secretary to Commander Cruiser Division TWO.  Departing Norfolk, Virginia in later 1958, Lieutenant Taylor reported to the U.S. Naval Ordnance Missile Test Facility, White Sands, New Mexico and assumed the duties of Fire Control Officer for the Talos Missile Project.  In the Spring of 1961 Lieutenant Taylor was the Weapons Officer in the commissioning crew of the Mayport, Florida homeported guided missile frigate USS LUCE (DLG-7) where he served until ordered to Norfolk once more as Executive Officer of USS SAMPSON (DDG-10). In mid 1965, as a Lieutenant Commander, he began a two year tour in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and became the Assistant Head of the Special Weapons Branch, Strategic Plans Division.  For his work in Nuclear Weapons development Lieutenant Commander Taylor was awarded the Secretary of the Navy Achievement Medal. He was promoted to the rank of Commander in April 1966, and in July departed Washington to attend the Resident Naval Warfare Course at the Naval War College. Commander Taylor assumed command of the guided missile destroyer USS BENJAMIN STODDERT (DDG-22) on July 21, 1967, in the Gulf of Tonkin while the ship was employed in “Operation Sea Dragon.”  Commander Taylor was relieved in October 1969. Captain Taylor reported to Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Group ELEVEN as Chief of Staff to Rear Admiral Robinson in 1971.

Captain Taylor was married to the late Joan Pefley Taylor, daughter of Brigadier General A. R. Pefley, USMC (RET) and Mrs. Pefley of Fall Church, Virginia. He is survived by four children, Stephen D., Edmund B. (Ted) III, Cynthia R. and Leslie V. Taylor.

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