EARLY LIFE

Clyde Westly Sutton was born in Prairie, Arkansas on February 5, 1897. His father was Samuel David Sutton (b. 1874-1953) and his mother was Anettie Phelan Sutton (b. 1874-1953), both were born in Arkansas. Samuel was a mill worker and Anettie was a homemaker. Their children were Gladys, Clyde, Gertrude, Mary Rae, May Etta and Daisy. Clyde was the only boy. The family moved from Arkansas to Seattle, Washington sometime before 1920. Samuel and Anettie were later divorced and both remarried.

Clyde married Ruby Mae Floyd (b.1891-1976), born in Boston Massachusetts, on November 12, 1922. In 1930, they were living in Long Beach, California where Clyde was a sailor and Ruby worked as a book keeper.

MILITARY

Clyde Westly Sutton enlisted in the Navy on May 7, 1917 in Seattle, Washington. His service number was #1949593. He served in WWI and WWII and made the Navy his career. His first military occupation was Fireman 1st Class, next, he was a ship’s cook 1st class. His final military occupation was Chief Commissary Steward. A Chief Steward supervises and coordinates activities of pantry, storeroom, and non-cooking kitchen workers as well as purchases, kitchen supplies, and equipment. He or she inspects kitchens, workrooms, storerooms and equipment for cleanliness and order. His last assignment was on the USS Arizona stationed in Hawaii. His wife lived in Long Beach, California. He would go there on his leave from the Navy.

DEATH

The following is an account of the Japanese attack on the USS Arizona:

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 Arizona (BB-39) was moored at berth Fox 7 on “Battleship Row.” The repair ship Vestal (AR-4) was on the port side; and the starboard side faced the northeastern shore of Ford Island. Just before 8 am, the ship’s air raid alarm was sounded and the crew was ordered to general quarters. During the attack the battleship was struck by as many as eight aerial bombs, including one 1,700-lb armor-piercing shell which penetrated the deck near the Number 2 Turret and detonated in the smokeless powder magazine, causing a “cataclysmic” explosion “which destroyed the ship forward” and ignited a fire which burned for two days. Most of the Arizona crewmen who perished in the attack died instantly during the explosion. The ship quickly sank to the bottom of the harbor along with 1,177 of the 1,512 personnel on board, representing about half the total number of Americans killed that day.

CCStdP Clyde Westly Sutton was among the 1,177 people who were killed in action aboard the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

POST DEATH EVENTS

CCSTDP Clyde Westly Sutton is memorialized at Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location. Sutton’s name is found on the Arizona Memorial Wall in Hawaii. His name is in the S section of the memorial, commemorating more than one thousand seamen who died in the early morning Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which triggered US entry into World War II. Sutton’s body has not been recovered.

Thank you for your service and sacrifice! You will not be forgotten!

COMMENDATIONS

World War II Victory Medal

Purple Heart

Combat Action Ribbon

American Campaign Medal

Navy Presidential Unit Citation

Navy Good Conduct Medal

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal

Navy Expeditionary Medal

SOURCES

Findagrave.com

Fold3.com

Ancestry.com

Honorstates.org

Familysearch.org

https://pearlharbor.org/facts-uss-arizona-bb-39/

http://www.ibiblio.org/phha/arizona/history.html#pearlharbor

Wikipedia.com

Newspapers.com

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. This story was written

by Kathleen Reber, a Stories Behind the Stars contributor.