Paul Nutter Ross was born June 21, 1923 on O'Brions Creek, Clay County, West Virginia. He is the son of Phil McKinley (McK) and Cora Friend Ross. Paul attended Elementary school in Clay County. Later the Ross Family moved to Hutchinson, West Virginia where Paul attended Monongah High School. Paul left high school prior to graduation in December 1940. Since there was very little employment in the area, Paul took advantage of the federal program put forth by the government and joined the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC)

      After a brief indoctrination program Paul was sent to La Pine, Oregon. Here he was put to work in the crews working on the Wickiup #3 water shed project in conjunction with the U. S. Army of Engineers. The Army Engineers were in the process of building a dam near La Pine. Paul lived on the encampment and worked daily on jobs assigned to him until December 1941. He had completed his tour with the Civilian Conservation Corp and returned to West Virginia where he lived with an uncle in Charleston. While living with his uncle in Charleston he attended classes for training to be a machinist.

      The war had started and Paul, along with other machinist trainees were sent to Grouton, Connecticut to work in a defense plant. Paul worked in Groton, Connecticut for approximately one year when he received his draft notice. He returned to his uncle’s home in Charleston, West Virginia to await call up to active duty.

      Paul decided he would much rather be in the U.S. Navy so he enlisted prior to his induction into the Army. He was inducted into the U.S. Navy and classified as a prospective member of the Navy Construction Battalion (Sea Bee’s) He was sent by train to Boot Camp and training at Camp Perry located in Williamsburg, Virginia. Here Paul received Sea Bee training and was assigned to a Naval Construction Mobile Unit (CBNU).

      Upon completion of his basic training and training as a Sea Bee he was sent to the west coast awaiting assignment with a Sea Bee unit somewhere in the Pacific Campaign.

Paul crossed the Equator and became a Shell Back

---

      His first destination after leaving the States was American Samoa. After a short time in American Samoa his Sea Bee unit was transferred to Wallis Island, a French Possession. Wallis Island was being built into a supply depot for a later invasion of the Pacific Islands, such as Guadalcanal and others with final invasion of Okinawa and the Japanese mainland. Wallis Island, situated 340km east of Samoa and 3,000 km north west of Tahiti. On May 7, 1942 Marines and Seabees occupy Wallis Island, South Pacific Ocean started to build supply depots.

      Large tank farms for fuel and warehouses for ammunition and military supplies to aid in the war in the Pacific were being built for storage on Wallis Island in anticipation of further invasions through out the Pacific campaign.

      When the Guadalcanal campaign began, it was the first land offensive in the United States against any Axis power. It continued to be the only land offensive by the United States until the major Allied invasion of North Africa in November of 1942. Under the “Europe first” doctrine of the Allied leadership, the material for Guadalcanal was assigned grudgingly. This made it “Operation Shoestring” to those involved. The future of the operation was also immediately put in doubt by the disaster of the Battle of Savo Island, nevertheless, the American public was far more incensed about Japan than about Germany and was egger for news of American attacks, after many months of American Forces being defeated and captured in the Philippines, and on Wake and Guam.

      In the six months between August 1942 and February 1943, the United States and its Pacific Allies fought a brutally hard air-sea-land campaign against the Japanese for possession of the previously obscure Pacific War; the contest began as a risky enterprise since Japan still maintained a significant naval superiority in the Pacific Ocean.

      Nevertheless, the U.S. First Marine Division landed on August 7, 1942 to seize a nearly complete airfield at Guadalcanal’s Lunga Point and an anchorage at nearby Tulagi, bounding a picturesque body of water that would soon be named “Iron Bottom Sound”.

      The Marines landed on Florida, Tulagi, Gavutu, Tanambogo and Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, in the first American land offensive of the war. Just one day later on August 8th the Marines win control of Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo, Solomon Islands. An unfinished enemy air strip on Guadalcanal is captured the renamed Henderson Field.

      Action ashore went well, and Japan’s initial aerial response was costly and unproductive. However, only two days after the landings, the U.S. and Australian navies were handed a serious defeat in the Battle of Savo Island.

      Guadalcanal was expensive for both sides, though much more so for Japan’s soldiers than for U. S. ground forces. The opponents suffered high losses in aircraft and ships, but those of the United States were soon replaced, while those of Japan were not. Strategically, this campaign built a strong foundation on the footing laid a few months earlier in the Battle of Midway, which had brought Japan’s Pacific offensive to an abrupt halt.

      At Guadalcanal, the Japanese were harshly shoved into a long and costly retreat, one that continued virtually unchecked until their August 1945 capitulation.

      With the taking of more strategically locations nearer to Okinawa and the Japanese mainland the need to keep Wallis Island as a supply depot for the invasion became less as time passed. American forces were setting up staging areas for supplies closer to the need of the troops in the Pacific campaign. Wallis Island was being by passed and was slowly being dismantled.

      On April 1, 1945, the American vessels arrived at northern Hagushi beaches of Okinawa and launched the troops of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regt., 6th Marine Division, amphibious. Fortunately, resistance on the beach was light and the 1st Battalion did not meet serious enemy resistance until their second day ashore, as they moved toward the town of Iskikawa on the Easter coast.

      With the battle raging, Paul found himself and his Sea Bee unit sitting off the coast of Okinawa waiting to go ashore to repair and rebuild air strips to bring the in the bombers for the invasion of the Japanese mainland

      Paul’s Sea Bee unit never disembarked at Okinawa due to less damage than expected was made on the local airstrips which their unit was there to repair and replace for the ultimate invasion of the of the Japanese mainland.

      After a few days the Navy reevaluated the situation and decided to transfer the Sea Bee units to Guam. They remained on Guam rebuilding and installing huts. Later Paul was transferred to Pearl Harbor where he unloaded supplies. After a short stay in Pearl Harbor he was transferred to Treasure Island near San Francisco, California awaiting transportation to Bainbridge, Maryland. Paul was discharged at Bainbridge on January 16, 1946.

      Upon his discharge Paul returned to Murphytown, West Virginia to live for a short time with his parents.

      He was looking for a job so he went to Charleston, West Virginia where he had lived prior to going into the Navy. While in Charleston he applied for a job with West Virginia Tractor Company. The job was located in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

      While working in Clarksburg he married Edith May Sirk, the daughter of Rex and Blanch Sirk. They were married on December 24, 1946. Paul continued at his job at West Virginia Tractor until June of 1951 when and Edith moved to Akron, Ohio. Paul obtained a job in Goodyear Aircraft and worked for Goodyear for approximately two years when he got a job with Fritag Molding Shop making casts for many items including castings for parts for the Navy on Atomic Submarines.

      During this period Paul and Edith had two sons, the oldest Kenneth Philip Ross Born October 23, 1953 and Paul Clayton Ross born April 11, 1957. they also bought a house in the Ellett section of Akron, Ohio in 1960.

      Paul was laid off work for a short time and during that time worked for Otis Elevators due to a shortage of contracts at Fritag. He later returned to Fritag Molding Shop and worked there until they sold out and until the mid 1980s. R. W. Tool closed and Paul went to work for Dow Chemical Corporation until his retirement June 21, 1988.

      In 1988 after retirement Paul and Edith bought a Travel Trailer and after selling their home in Akron, Ohio they bought a lot at Big Bear Camp Lands in Preston County, West Virginia and began traveling back and forth staying the summers at Big Bear and the winter months in Florida.

      In 1990 they sold their travel trailer and bought a Park Model Home and placed it on the lot a Big Bear. While in Florida, in 1990 they bought a home in Wildwood, Florida and continued spending the summers a Big Bear and winters in Wildwood until 2003 when the traveling became difficult and they decided to sell their holdings a Big Bear Camp Lands.

      Paul and Edith continued to live at Rails End, Wildwood, Florida and only returned to West Virginia for short family visits.

      Edith died on July 13, 2012 and Paul remained in their home in Wildwood until Paul’s death on April 19, 2013