Floyd M. Symonds – Captain, United States Navy

From a contemporary press report

Captain Floyd M. Symonds died May 30, 1998, in a Virginia Beach Hospital.

He was a 39-year veteran. He was born on April 9, 1915 in Slidell, Louisiana to Walter N. Symons and Arlinda Ceruti Symons. He entered the US Navy as an apprentice seaman in 1933, and retired in 1972 as a Captain.

His assignments, among others, included Commander Naval Special Warfare Group, Atlantic; command of the OGDEN (LPD5) and DE HAVEN (DD 727); staff Naval War College, Newport, RI. His final assignment was as Commanding Officer, Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois, from October 1969 to June 1972.

Symons was awarded the Navy Cross by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, for rescue and salvage work of the submarine Squalus, which went down May 23, 1939. He was awarded the Silver Star Medal for heroism in action at Cavite after the Japanese raided the Philippines Naval Base there on December 10, 1941.

In addition to many other medals, he holds World War II Submarine Combat Patrol Insignia and was a deep sea diver and a Navy-Marine parachutist. Upon his retirement, he was awarded the Legion of Merit.

Symons is survived by his wife of 53 years, the former Ethelyn Dorr of Rochester, New Hampshire; his children, Jane Symons Bergamin and her husband Lucio Bergamin, Peter Dorr Symons, Sue Lynda Symons and her husband James S. Moore, John Vernon Symons, James Nelburn Symons and his wife Deborah W. Symons; six grandchildren, six
great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

Burial will take place at Arlington National Cemetery, June 11, 1998 at 1 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Navy Marine Corp's Relief Society or Seamans House (Norfolk, VA).

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