Ensign (ENS) Eldon Paul Wyman, United States Navy Reserve. Service Number: O-102130

Early Life

Eldon Paul Wyman was born on 11 January 1917 in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon. His father Paul H. Wyman, born 12 March 1883 in Washington County, Oregon, died 15 April 1944 in Portland, Oregon, was a Public School Principal. His mother Lilly P. (surname unknown) was born about 1890 in Illinois and died on 3 June 1955 in Multnomah, County, Oregon. Eldon’s parents were married in about 1913. Eldon was the younger of two children in the family; he had an older sister. He was a graduate of Grant High School and attended the University of Oregon from 1936-1940.

Military

Eldon Paul Wyman enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 22 August 1940 in Oregon. He accepted an appointment as midshipman in the Naval Reserve on 17 March 1941. Attending the Naval Reserve Midshipman's School at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, Wyman was commissioned as an Ensign on 12 June 1941. Afterwards, he was assigned to the Battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) which was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii when the Japanese attack occurred. He reported aboard USS Oklahoma (BB-37) on 19 July 1941.

On the morning of 7 December 1941, a fleet of Japanese carriers launched an air strike against the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The attack decimated the ships and personnel of the fleet and thrust the United States into World War II. At the onset of the 7 December 1941 attack, the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37), being moored at berth Fox 5 on “Battleship Row.” Just before 8 am, the Oklahoma was among the first of the ships struck in the attack. A torpedo struck on her port side and she capsized quickly. After the Arizona, she was the largest loss of life, at 429 sailors and marines. The Oklahoma was salvaged in 1942, but it was determined she could not be repaired. In May of 1947, she was sold for scrap and while under tow to California, she sank in a storm. Her exact location remains unknown to this day.

Death and Burial

Eldon Paul Wyman was Declared Dead while Missing in Action or Lost at Sea on 7 December 1941 aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He was memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial, Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, located inside Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is also memorialized at the USS Oklahoma Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After his remains were identified, he was buried at the Wilhelm's Portland Memorial Mausoleum in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon.

On August 12, 2008, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Ensign Eldon P. Wyman, missing from World War II.

Ensign Wyman, who joined the U.S. Navy from Oregon, served on the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and was aboard the ship during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. He was killed in the incident, and while his remains were recovered from the ship following the attack, they could not be individually identified at the time. ENS Wyman was then buried as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2003, advances in forensic techniques prompted the reexamination and eventual identification of ENS Wyman’s remains.

Ensign Wyman is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

USS Wyman (DE-38) was an Evarts-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy during World War II. The ship was named in honor of Eldon Paul Wyman. She was originally laid down as BDE-38 on 7 September 1942 at Bremerton, Washington, by the Puget Sound Navy Yard for the Royal Navy; launched on 3 June 1943; and sponsored by Mrs. Joe L. April. However, the ship's transfer to the United Kingdom was canceled. The destroyer escort was designated DE-38 on 16 June; named Wyman on the 23rd; and was commissioned at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 1 September 1943.

She was promptly sent off into the Pacific Ocean to protect convoys and other ships from Japanese submarines and fighter aircraft. She performed dangerous work, including participating in the sinking of two Japanese submarines, and sailed home proudly with six battle stars.

Sources

https://pearlharbor.org/history-uss-oklahoma/

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor-raid/battleship-row-during-the-pearl-harbor-attack/uss-oklahoma-and-uss-maryland-during-the-pearl-harbor-attack.html

https://www.fold3.com/page/530010108/eldon-p-wyman

https://www.fold3.com/memorial/636322278/eldon-wyman

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31164068/eldon-paul-wyman

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=104981

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000148w1AEAQ

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86906248/the-eugene-guard/

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2238/images/44032_11_00014-01701?usePUB=true&_phsrc=5ru475051&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=36721683

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2324/images/32456_1220705235_0011-00587?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.177646758.2086527151.1633910039-1128903496.1596401247&pId=63904

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wyman_(DE-38)

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author by clicking on this link:
https://navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=Profile&type=Person&ID=148728 (Mulvanny, Robert (Red) (SBTS Historian), CDR)

Wyman, Eldon Paul, ENS