Harold Carleton Taylor
Motor Machinist’s Mate First Class Harold Carleton Taylor was survived by his wife, Alice L. Taylor, of 933 Kimber Street in Camden, NJ. Taylor lost his life serving aboard the Sims-class destroyer USS Walke at the second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, on November 15, 1942. The Walke was sunk by Japanese torpedoes and gunfire. As he is listed as having died on December 2, 1942, it is probable that he died of wounds received in this action. He was awarded the Purple Heart. He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.
USS Walke (DD-416), 1940–1942
USS Walke, a 1,570-ton Sims-class destroyer built at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, was commissioned in April 1940. The following summer, she cruised to Brazil and Argentina, then spent the rest of 1940 and nearly all of 1941 in the Caribbean and North Atlantic, taking part in tests, making Neutrality Patrols and conducting “short of war” operations between the U.S. east coast and Iceland.
In December 1941, soon after the U.S. entered World War II, Walke went to the Pacific to join in the fight against Japan. She accompanied the aircraft carrier Yorktown during some of her early combat actions in the central and south Pacific. During the Battle of Coral Sea in early May, she operated with the Support Group of cruisers and destroyers that endured attacks by both Japanese and U.S. land-based bombers, fortunately without significant damage to the ships.
Following an overhaul, Walke returned to the south Pacific in September 1942 to support the ongoing Guadalcanal Campaign. Following two months of escort duties, she was attached to Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee’s battleship task force and sent on a mission to stop the Japanese from bombarding the U.S. airfield on Guadalcanal. In the resulting second major surface action of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, on 15 November 1942, USS Walke was sunk by Japanese torpedoes and gunfire, with the loss of more than a third of her crew.
USS Walke (DD-416). Top: photographed soon after completion, circa 1940. Official U.S. Navy Photograph from the Naval Historical Center.
USS Walke off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 24 August 1942. Note her camouflage. Official U.S. Navy Photograph from the Naval Historical Center.
USS Walke at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 24 October 1942, at the end of her last overhaul. Circles mark recent alterations to the ship. Note the anti-torpedo net in the upper right background. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
USS Walke at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 24 October 1942. Note the depth charge racks and smoke tanks on Walke’s stern, her after 5″/38 gun mounts, and busses in the distance. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.