VFW post namesakes served at Pearl Harbor, in Vietnam

Among the 58 sailors who died aboard the USS Utah in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 was Seaman 2nd Class Lloyd Dale Clippard of Cape Girardeau.

Months later, a newly constituted Veterans of Foreign Wars post in his hometown would bear his name. Today, the post is known as Clippard Wilson Taylor Post 3838. Its other namesakes are Cape Girardeans Richard Gene Wilson, Medal of Honor recipient who died in Korea, and Robert Lee Taylor, who died in Vietnam.

In 1941, the Utah was a training ship and was one of the first hit during the Japanese attack. It was moored at Ford Island but away from "battleship row."

In the first minutes of the Japanese attack, torpedoes struck the vessel, and fighters strafed it from above. Most of the crew made it off the ship safely, but it rolled over, trapping 59 men. Rescuers saved only one. The ship remains where it sank.

Taylor

USS Utah

Cpl. Robert Lee Taylor was 20 years old when he died March 8, 1968 in Dinh Tuong Province, South Vietnam.

Taylor was a member of Cape Girardeau Central High School Class of 1964. He attended then-Southeast Missouri State College in 1966 and 1967 and worked as a lineman before joining the military.

In Vietnam, he served with C Co., 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry Brigade, 9th Infantry Division.

Military records indicate he died from small arms fire.

The Army awarded him the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. The citation reads:

Through his untiring efforts and professional ability, he consistently obtained outstanding results. He was quick to grasp the implications of new problems with which he faced as a result of the ever changing situations inherent in a counterinsurgency operation and to find ways and means to solve those problems. The energetic application of his extensive knowledge has materially contributed to the efforts of the United States mission to the Republic of Vietnam to assist that country in ridding itself of the Communist threat to its freedom.

His initiative, zeal, sound judgment and devotion to duty have been in the highest tradition of the Unite States Army and reflect great credit on him and the military service.

His memory lives on at the Avenue of Flags. From a 1987 Southeast Missourian story:

Early response has been good for a Parade of Flags that will be on display near the war memorial in Cape County Park on Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day; the first burial flag turned in as part of the display honored Robert L. Taylor Jr., who was killed in the Vietnam War.