Louisiana Pearl Harbor Survivor Honored

As the nation remembered the 68th Anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Attack, Trinity CME Church in Lafayette, Louisiana honored their member, Mr. Alex Taylor, a Pearl Harbor Survivor. Local Lay Leader and grandson of the honoree, Mr. Kevin Green, made the presentation along with Rev. Leslie Dugas, Jr., pastor.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was an unannounced military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. It resulted in the United States' entry into World War II.

Mr. Taylor was on the USS Dobbin, a Navy destroyer ship. At the time of the attack the ship was moored northeast of Ford Island with five destroyers, the Phelps, Macdonough, Worden, Dewey and Hull. At the time of the attack, Mr. Taylor was on deck having a conversation about one of his favorite subjects, baseball. The crew members were discussing the baseball game later that day with hopes of beating the other team and winning the Hawai

ian Championship.

The crew of the USS Dobbin watched helpless as Japanese planes targeted Battleship Row, but as the battleships each took heavy damage the Japanese pilots looked for other targets. The aircraft seeing that the ship had admiral flags tried to bomb the Dobbin but the ship only took shrapnel damage.

At eighty-eight years of age, Mr. Taylor remains active in his church. He has served Trinity as a steward and trustee. He still serves as an usher and is a trustee emeritus mentoring the younger trustees. He is an at home political analyst, an avid viewer of CNN and a dire hard fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Team. Mr. Taylor is a retiree of Bell South/AT&T with 331/2 years of service.

He is married to Mrs. Hazel M. Taylor, has two daughters, Patricia T. Green (Charles A. Green) of Lafayette, LA and Gail T. Anders (Rev, Larry D. Anders) of Shreveport, LA, a grandson, Kevin V. Green; a granddaughter, Jamie A. Webb (Darrell) and a great-grandson, Drayden Alexander Webb.

Mr. Taylor was presented with a plaque and given much applause for his bravery in serving our country in the time of war and in the U.S. Navy.

Submitted by Patricia T. Green and Gail T. Anders