David L. Floyd - Dallas, TX - Maritime Monuments and Memorials on Waymarking.com

The cenotaph is a government-issued bronze plaque, mounted on a slab of granite. It reads:

David L Floyd
S1 US Navy
World War II
Aug 6 1920 Jul 3 1945
Purple Heart

He is listed on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines. His Findagrave page notes that he served aboard the S.S. Jean Nicolet, and it provides some background as to his fate, filled in with details from the Armed Guard site (see below).

The Jean Nicolet, with a complement of 41 merchant crew, 28 Naval Armed Guard, and 31 passengers (including four civilians), left Fremantle, Australia on June 21, 1944, headed to Ceylon with a cargo of war materials. On July 2, about seven hundred miles south of Ceylon, the ship was struck by two torpedoes fired by the Japanese sub, I-8. As the Jean Nicolet listed, the captain issued an order to abandon ship, and all hands departed safely in lifeboats and rafts.

I-8 surfaced and ordered the survivors to swim to the submarine, and five of the crew managed to slip away and evade what awaited the others. Once taken about I-8, they were separated and then shot, beaten, and forced to run a gauntlet where survival was greeted by a bayonet. Some were washed overboard, and I-8 submerged after spotting an aircraft that was likely responding to the Jean Nicolet's distress call. Some managed to survive the long hours despite bound hands -- one crewman had hidden a knife that he used to free his crewmates -- while others were victims of sharks or the elements. Of the initial complement, only 24 survived -- one was found later in a POW camp -- and David L. Floyd was not among them. He was he was not officially declared by the military as being dead until July 3, 1945.

Relevent website: [Web Link] List if there are any visiting hours: None, but daylight hours are best. Entrance fees (if any): None Parking coordinates: N 32° 40.022 W 096° 36.157 Sponsor(s): Floyd family Date dedicated: Not listed

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