Paul Cooper McCord (1908 - 1943)

Born 11 Mar 1908 in Erie, Kay, Oklahoma, United States

Ancestors

Died 7 Apr 1943 at age 35 in At Sea

Biography

Paul McCord served in the United States Army in World War II
Service started:
Unit(s):
Service ended:

Paul McCord is a Military Veteran.
Served in the United States Navy bef 1930-1943 (KIA)
WW II Purple Heart

Paul Cooper McCord, son of Daniel Leo McCord and Laura Shephard, was born in 1908 in Oklahoma. He was one of nine siblings - three girls, six boys - raised on a farm in Oklahoma. The family was farming in Mississippi by 1920.

Paul enlisted in the Navy sometime before 1930, when he is at Shields Township, Lake County, Illinois, at the U.S. Naval Training Station, Outgoing Unit. Paul is 22, single, did not attend school, can read and write, able-bodied seaman, U.S. Navy. Paul was in the Navy from about 1930 until his death at sea in 1943. He never married.

Paul was a Machinist's Mate 1st. Class aboard the USS Aaron Ward (DD-483), a Gleaves-class destroyer. She sank on 7 April 1943 in a shoal near Tinete Point of Nggela Sule, Solomon Islands, during Operation I-Go. Twenty men died, 59 were wounded, and seven went missing. ^[1]

"Aaron Ward received orders at about 1330 to leave her convoy to cover LST-449 off Togoma Point, Guadalcanal. (One of the passengers on LST-449 was then Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy, later to become President of the United States, on his way to take command of PT-109.^[2]

1910 United States Federal Census, Elixir, Boone, Arkansas
Daniel L Mccord 45, married 19 years, Tennessee, railroad labor
Laura Mccord 37, married 19 years; 8 children, 7 alive; Missouri
Leslie O Mccord 18, Tennessee, railroad labor
Bernar H Mccord 14, Tennessee
John W Mccord 11, Tennessee
Vida L Mccord 9, Missouri
Elsie Mccord 7, Missouri
Maggie L Mccord 4, Missouri
Paul C Mccord 2, Oklahoma

1920 United States Federal Census, Rienzi, Alcorn, Mississippi
Daniel L Mccord 56, farmer, Missouri
Laura Mccord 47, Missouri
Antha E Mccord 16, Missouri
Maggie Mccord 14, Missouri
Paul Mccord 11, Oklahoma, farm labor
Clyde Mccord 8, Arkansas
Colley Mccord 6, Tennessee

1930 United States Federal Census, Shields, Lake, Illinois, USA
Paul C McCord, 22, single, A.S., U.S. Navy, Mississippi

US NAVY WORLD WAR II Machinist's Mate 1st. Class, Paul C. McCord MIA/KIA Hometown: Mississippi Ship: USS Aaron Ward (DD 483) Service # 2951721 Awards: Purple Heart Captain: LtCdr. Frederick J. Becton

Mission: LCT Escort Mission Date: 7-Apr-43 Location: Tinete Point, Florida Island. Cause: Japanese dive bombers Crew: 7MIA/KIA 20KIA

USS Aaron Ward DD-483 had only been in commission for one year, one month and three days when on April 7, 1943 she became the target of a Japanese air attack. The ship was escorting USS Ward (APD-16), a Wickes-class Destroyer. She fired the first American shot in World War II.^[3]

Burial

Paul has two burial monuments: his home state of Mississippi and Manila American Cemetery, Philippine Islands.

Jumpertown Cemetery • Jumpertown, Prentiss County, Mississippi, USA

Tombstone Inscription:

MM 1 Navy WW II Purple Heart

Purple Heart

Dear Brother and Uncle

Manila American Cemetery and Memorial • Manila, Metro Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines. Paul Cooper McCord is memorialized at Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines.

The Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines occupies 152 acres on a prominent plateau, visible at a distance from the east, south and west. It contains the largest number of graves of our military dead of World War II, a total of 17,184, most of whom lost their lives in operations in New Guinea and the Philippines. The headstones are aligned in 11 plots forming a generally circular pattern, set among masses of a wide variety of tropical trees and shrubbery.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Aaron_Ward_(DD-483)
2. ↑ "Recollections of Captain Junius T. Jarman, USC&GS of the Wartime Experiences of the U.S.S. Pathfinder".
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ward_(DD-139)
4. ↑ https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/pacific/manila-american-cemetery#.Wlpn9Wfmo08

• Year: 1910; Census Place: Elixir, Boone, Arkansas; Roll: T624_43; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0042; FHL microfilm: 1374056. 1910 United States Federal Census for Paul C Mccord 21:04, 12 January 2018 (EST)

• Year: 1920; Census Place: Rienzi, Alcorn, Mississippi; Roll: T625_868; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 7. 1920 United States Federal Census for Paul Mccord 21:04, 12 January 2018 (EST)

• Year: 1930; Census Place: Shields, Lake, Illinois; Roll: 529; Page: 17A; Enumeration District: 0064; FHL microfilm: 2340264. 1930 United States Federal Census for Paul C Mccord 21:04, 12 January 2018 (EST)

• Ancestry.com. U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors. U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941 for Paul C Mc Cord 21:04, 12 January 2018 (EST)

• Paul Cooper McCord on Find A Grave: Memorial #26541618 retrieved 19:18, 12 January 2018 (EST)

• Paul Cooper McCord on Find A Grave: Memorial #56789701 retrieved 19:18, 12 January 2018 (EST)

see also:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Aaron_Ward_(DD-483)
• https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/pacific/manila-american-cemetery#.Wlpn9Wfmo08
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart