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NAME Paul Walker |
NICKNAME — |
SERVICE NUMBER 338871 |
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| UNIT VMSB-144 Radioman / Gunner |
HOME OF RECORD Marshall, MO |
NEXT OF KIN Parents, Mr & Mrs John M. Walker |
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| DATE OF BIRTH July 19, 1921 at Marshall, MO |
ENTERED SERVICE January 2, 1942 at Kansas City, MO |
DATE OF LOSS May 25, 1943 |
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| REGION Vanuatu (New Hebrides) |
CAMPAIGN / AREA Efate |
CASUALTY TYPE Non-battle death |
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CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS The twenty-fifth of May 1943 was a training day for VMSB-144, with crews making practice dives near Monument Rock. Corporal Paul Walker and his pilot, 1Lt. George W. Huffman, Jr., were flying a Dauntless SBD-4 (BuNo 10535). Everything was routine until about 1330 hours, when the division led by 1Lt. Samuel V. Taylor, Jr. began their attack run. Huffman and Taylor collided in mid-air; one plane was cut in two, and the other apparently disintegrated. |
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| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS — |
LAST KNOWN RANK Corporal |
STATUS OF REMAINS Not recovered. |
MEMORIALS Honolulu Memorial |
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Biography:
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According to the other pilots and radio gunners on the flight, none of them actually saw or even heard the collision of the two planes. Lieutenant D. O. Jones saw both Lt. Taylor and Lt. Huffman split their flaps and go into their dives with normal and adequate interval. After going into his dive, Lt. Jones, concentrating on the target, lost sight of the preceding planes and was unaware of any mishap until he began going through debris flying through the air. Looking up, he saw that the air was filled with parts of planes…. He saw the front part of [a] fuselage with one wing off corkscrewing down to [the] sea and the tail of a plane was likewise dropping. The other plane was apparently burst into fragments and pieces of it seemed to be raining down.
None of the four occupants of the two planes were ever seen. Two parachutes, however, were seen. One was falling in falling-leaf style, unbillowed and with nothing or no-one hanging from it. The other was billowed out and all three planes dived toward it at once, but the shrouds were settling over the water as the first plane reached it and had settled in the water as the second and third reached it.
A crash boat dispatched to the scene from Havanah Harbor reported reaching Monument Rock at 1540 where it picked up a rubber boat in container and part of a wing gas tank and saw first oil slick in the water. At 1600 a second oil slick was sighted about one half mile from the first slick. [The boat] secured the search at 1615 finding no trace of [the] four occupants of [the] planes….– excerpt from the war diary of VMSB-144, 25 May 1943.
