World War II, community hero to be laid to rest Thursday

Published 7:15 pm Tuesday, January 26, 2010

As a forward observer for an artillery unit in Gen. George Patton’s Third Army in World War II, Art Taylor was so adept at sneaking up on Nazi positions that he often called fire down almost on top of himself.

“The guys in his unit (the 276th Armored Field Artillery) called him the best shot in the battalion,” Taylor’s son, Tom, said on Tuesday. “He could call in a shot within 400 yards of where he was without getting hit. Forward observer was one of the most dangerous jobs in the Army, because if you got rid of him you got rid of the artillery.”

Art Henry Taylor Jr. passed away on Sunday. He was a native of Buffalo, N.Y., but made Dalton his home and became involved in numerous civic and church activities here. It was only while he was in his 70s, his sons said, that he began opening up about his war experiences, which included earning the Bronze Star for heroic achievement and the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, among others.

“His right leg was blown up at some time during the Battle of the Bulge (in Belgium), and his second Purple Heart came when he saw a bomb falling on a railroad track in Germany,” said Art Taylor III. “The track was raised and he was down below it, and it affected his hearing for the rest of his life.”

Taylor’s daughter Eileen said her father never shared the “gruesome” war stories with his children until they were older.

“They were too hard for him to tell when we were young,” she said. “His ears rang constantly, but he never complained about it. It would get to him sometimes and he would ask us to turn something down.”

His wife Mary Jane said her husband was once in a church steeple in Germany with a pair of binoculars and got the drop on a Nazi in another church steeple nearby.

“He saw the glint on that man’s glasses,” she said.

Art Taylor III said for his father to sight the round he had to shoot the bazooka once on each side of the steeple before zeroing in.

“He was able to knock the guy out of the steeple,” he said. “One of the last things he did in the Army was help liberate a prison camp in Czechoslovakia. It was mind-boggling for him to see the despair. Our father saw the Holocaust.”

Eileen Taylor said her father’s unit was involved in combat for 244 straight days soon after hitting Utah Beach six weeks after the D-Day invasion at Normandy.

“He talked about the cold, and how they could never get away from it,” she said. “When he got back from the war he never wanted to go hunting when his friends asked him to go, because he said he’d seen enough killing. And he never wanted to go camping.”

Taylor grew up in the family clothing business.

“Art’s father started the business in 1935 in New York, but it goes back to England. Art III is a seventh-generation clothier,” Mary Jane Taylor said, motioning at her son. “Art’s family actually made uniforms for Lord Byron’s army in England.”

Taylor’s father actually tailored his military uniforms, and some of them are on display during veteran-related holidays at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, she added.

“Art was a member of the National Association of Men’s Sportswear Buyers, and the man who did the displays in the museum was also a member,” she said. “Art asked him if they wanted the uniforms and they took them. They have some WAC (Womens Army Corps) uniforms in there also.”

Taylor was a Dalton Rotary Club member, served on the boards of directors at Dalton State College and Hamilton Medical Center, and at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church was a 4th Degree Knight with the Knights of Columbus. But one of his favorite activities was sharing his experiences with schoolchildren.

Tearfully, Eileen Taylor read a couple of the notes of thanks the children had written to him. One student said his “favorite item” was the Nazi flag Taylor had liberated somewhere on a battlefield, and another said she “liked the story of when you were stuck in the minefield.”

“I think they heard some stories that even we didn’t hear,” said his wife.

“He appreciated every person who was in his presence,” said Eileen Taylor.

Judy Alderman with the Prater’s Mill Foundation said Taylor had been interviewed and recorded his memories as part of the foundation’s oral history project at the mill.

“He was a fascinating man and a true American hero,” she said.

The family will receive friends at the Melrose Chapel of Ponders Funeral Home today from 2 until 4 p.m. and from 6 until 8:30 p.m. Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church at 11 a.m. on Thursday. Taylor will be laid to rest at the Chattanooga National Cemetery. American Legion Post 112 is in charge of graveside honors.