Name and Rank, Mess Attendant Second Class Robert Lee Pyles.
Unit/Placed in, USS Vincennes (CA-44) Cruiser, United States Naval Reserve.
Robert was born approx. in 1921 in Kentucky.
Father, Douglas Pyles.
Mother, Pearl Pyles.
Sister, Winnie L. Pyles.
Robert entered the service from Kentucky with service number # 6340363.
Robert L. Pyles was a Mess Attendant 2nd Class in the United States Navy.
Robert was Killed in Action when the USS Vincennes was shot in the vulnerable places and sunk in the Battle of Savo Island, 9 Aug. and he is honored with the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, Expeditionary Medal, American Campaign Medal, Navy & Marine Presidential Unit Citation, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, WW II Victory Medal.
Robert is buried at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Metro Manila,
National Capital Region, Philippines.
Thanks to http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/cruisers/pages/uss_vincennes_ca44_roll_of_honor.htmhttps://www.navsource.org/archives/04/044/04044.htm
Jean Louis Vijgen, WW2-Pacific Website.
Air Force Info, Rolland Swank.
ABMC Website, https://abmc.gov
Marines Info, https://missingmarines.com/ Geoffrey Roecker
Seabees History Bob Smith https://seabeehf.org/
Navy Info, http://navylog.navymemorial.org
POW Info, http://www.mansell.com Dwight Rider and Wes injerd.
Philippine Info, http://www.philippine-scouts.org/ Robert Capistrano
National Historian
Navy Seal Memorial, http://www.navysealmemorials.com
Family Info, https://www.familysearch.org
Info, https://www.pacificwrecks.com/
Medals Info, https://www.honorstates.org
Website, https://hendrikswebdesign.nl/
Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com
Robert Lee Pyles was a African-American, it was not usual that the position he had for that African-Americans did such jobs in the United States Army – all kinds of Job’s but rather no fighting allowed.
In this moment it was possible that a Navy mess attendant earned the Medal of Honor for ignoring his job and trying to shot down the Japanese enemy at Pearl Harbor.