textsaylorrichardwarren1946.html

North High School Wall of Honor
Richard Warren Saylor
Class of June, 1946

Research done by Claradell Shedd, class of 1953. PAGE IN PROGRESS

Richard Warren Saylor

Dick graduated from North High in June, 1946. At the time, his next of kin was Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence C. Saylor, 3304 8th Street, Des Moines, IA. His service number was _________.

Richard Warren Saylor

Year		Rank		Status

June, 1946		Graduated	x	Graduated from North High, Des Moines, IA
July 11, 1946	x	Enlisted/ US Navy	x	Enlisted in the US Navy, *Des Moines, IA.
1946	x	Basic Training/ Apprentice Seaman	x	**San Diego Naval Training Center. Twelve weeks.
date	x	US Navy	x	USS Boxer (CV-21) Honolulu and return.
June 25, 1948	x	US Navy/ Storekeeper 3C	x	Rank?; Discharged on June 25, 1948 in San Diego.
date	x	Enroute	x	Hitchhiked back to Des Moines, IA
1949	x	Family	x	Married Barbara Meyer
date	x		x	Where and when? One year.
date	x		x	Employed at Bruce Motor Freight.
February 21, 1959	x	Family	x	Married Ethel King in St. Louis, MO.
date	x	Civilian	x	Living in MO.
Deceased	x	x	x	12/25/01


*Des Moines Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station (AFEES at KRNT)		**Naval Training Center, San Diego	****Norfolk, VA

(2) USS Boxer (CV-21)

		Flat Hoist/Radio Call Sign: N - X - O- P

USS Boxer; CV-21Awards, Citations, and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: Navy Unit Commendation; Navy Expeditionary Medal (10-Cuba)
Second Rpw: American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; World War II Victory Medal
Third Row: National Defense Service Medal (2); Korean Service Medal (8); Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Cuba, 1-Dominican Republic)
Fourth Row: Vietnam Service Medal (2); United Nations Service Medal; Republic of Korea War Service Medal (retroactive)

****USS Boxer (CV-21)
USS Boxer (CV/CVA/CVS-21, LPH-4) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She was the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a British ship captured by the Americans during the War of 1812. Boxer was commissioned in April 1945, too late to serve in World War II, but saw extensive service in the Korean War, for which she received eight battle stars.

Completed too late to take part in World War II, Boxer joined the Pacific Fleet at San Diego in August 1945. From September 1945-23 August 1946, she operated out of Guam as flagship of TF 77 in the Western Pacific. During this tour, she visited Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines and China. She returned to San Francisco on 10 September 1946 and operated off the West Coast engaged in normal peacetime duty. Flying the North American FJ-1 Fury, squadron VF-5A conducted the Navy's first all-jet operations at sea aboard Boxer on 10 March 1948.[1][N 1] After service with the 7th Fleet in the Far East during the first half of 1950, she returned to San Diego, arriving on 25 June.

She was reclassified in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), then to an antisubmarine carrier (CVS), and finally to an amphibious assault ship (LPH), carrying helicopters and marines. Unlike most of her sister ships, she received no major modernization, and thus throughout her career retained the classic appearance of a World War II Essex-class aircraft carrier ship. As an LPH she served the Atlantic/Caribbean and in the Pacific, sometimes serving as an aircraft transport. She was the prime recovery vessel for the early Apollo AS-201 mission, and would have been the prime recovery vessel for Gemini 8, had the spacecraft not made an emergency landing in the Pacific instead.

She was decommissioned in 1969, and sold for scrap in 1971.

	Richard Warren Saylor Storekeeper 3rd Class Which Group? US Navy
WWII Victory Medal; Good Conduct Medal

References

The comprehensive list of names from North High's 1893-2018 graduation classes are from Claradell Shedd's North Des Moines High School website. The names of all North High School graduates can be found online at http://www. ndmhs.com/. Richard Warren Saylor's class page can be viewed at
http://www.ndmhs.com/pages/yearclass1946(2006.60).html.

08/26/11: Died 12/25/01.

Music: "Anchors Aweigh" by the U.S Navy Band