Second Lieutenant Ray Cabble Taylor was born on June 8, 1924 in Lewisville, Jefferson, Idaho. His parents, Riley John Taylor and Pearl Elizabeth Cabble, were born in Harrisville, Weber, Utah and Rexburg, Madison, Idaho respectively. His grandparents were from Utah and Norway. He had an older brother and sister. His father worked as the manager of a grocery store.

Ray graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, and subsequently attended LDS Business College. He then worked as an office employee for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.

On October 28, 1942, Ray enlisted in the Army Air Corps in Salt Lake City. After training in California, Arizona, Texas, and Washington, he was assigned overseas to the 1337th Army Air Force Base Unit. He eventually rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant, and became a C-46 transport pilot. His missions were primarily supply flights from India over the treacherous eastern Himalayas (known to pilots as “The Hump”), transporting provisions to the American and Chinese forces fighting the Japanese in China. The risk of these missions was compounded by the unreliability of the C-46, which was known in some circles as the “Flying Coffin” and had a reputation for inexplicably catching fire or even exploding mid-flight.

In spite of these risks, Lt. Taylor’s skill as a pilot earned him the Air Medal as he completed 150 hours of flying time over “The Hump”. However, during a mission on January 6, 1945, he was reported as missing in action when his plane was lost along the route. On September 12, 1946, the War Department officially declared him killed in action. His remains have never been recovered, but he is listed on a memorial in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

He was survived by his parents, brother, and sister.

Thank you, Lt. Taylor, for your courageous service and sacrifice.

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 here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Ray C Taylor