Floyd James Pressley

Floyd James Pressley, Jr., 89, died Wednesday February 26, 2014. The son of Floyd James Pressley, Sr. and Mary Pauline Pearson Pressley, he was born in Asheville and attended the city's schools. He left Lee Edwards High School his senior year before graduating and joined the Navy in Norfolk, VA on December 1, 1941. After only days of training war was declared on Japan and Germany, and he and his fellow recruits were assigned to the converted merchant ship USS Algorab. This vessel carried cargo between the Caribbean and Baltimore, Maryland and troops to the Pacific. In November 1942 the ship took part in the landing in North Africa near Rabat. Floyd operated a "Mike boat", ferrying men and supplies ashore. In December the Algorab returned to the Pacific with cargo to New Caledonia and supported operations in Tulagi, Guadalcanal, and Espiritu Santo. On June 30, 1943, the ship took part in the landings on the Rendova Islands. When the Algorab returned to San Francisco in September 1944 for repairs Floyd took leave and married Eloise Cox on November2nd. The Algorab sailed with cargo in February 1945 to Leyte, the Phillipines to support the Ryuku Campaign. Then the ship returned to Hawaii. Floyd, by then a trained radioman, was transferred to the battleship USS Missouri, flagship of Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, to serve his staff as a radioman. His ship struck military and industrial targets on Japan's coast, and on September 2, 1945, Floyd witnessed the formal surrender of the Empire of Japan aboard the USS Missouri. During his naval career, Floyd spent three years eight months at sea. He served also on the battleship USS South Dakota, the destroyers USS James C. Owens and USS Robert A. Owens, and the destroyer tender USS Sierra among several other ships. His shore duty stations included several years as a training petty officer at the Naval Reserve Training Center in Asheville and with the Project Mercury and Project Gemini space programs at Cape Canaveral. He retired from the Navy at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1968. He is survived by Eloise, his wife of 69 years, son Gary J. Pressley of Robbinsville, NC, daughter Patricia and her husband Dr. Ed Hamlin of Asheville, their daughters Illysa Hamlin of Asheville and Jordan Hamlin of Decatur, GA, and son Kenneth Pressley and his wife Alison of Hazel Green, AL. His son, retired Army LTC Harvey Lee Pressley, died in 1993. He is survived by Harvey's daughter Leesa Raaum, her husband Bradley and their son Jake, of Ft. Worth, TX, and by Harvey's son Michael Pressley of Manchester, TN and his son Trent Pressley of Tullahoma, TN. His sister, Jean Carolyn Sparrow of Chapel Hill, NC and brother, William E. Pressley of Myrtle Beach, SC have provided Floyd with many nieces and nephews who also mourn his passing. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, 2014, at Merrimon Avenue Baptist Church, with the Rev. Daniel Dockery and Pastor Michael McFarland officiating. Burial will be the Western Carolina State Veteran's Cemetery in Black Mountain. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Merrimon Avenue Baptist Church, 283 Merrimon Ave., Asheville, NC 28801. Groce Funeral Home on Patton Ave. is assisting the family.