LAYTON THOMAS BANKS

After seeing PEARL HARBOR it inspired me
to start looking for websites about the USS OKLAHOMA.
There are very few out there!
So I decided to build this website
in honor of my Uncle Layton Thomas Banks that perished
along with 428 of his crewmates aboard
the OKLAHOMA on that horrible day in history.

I was borned in September, 1942 so my memories of
Uncle Layton comes from hearing stories about him,
for many years after his death.
My Dad, Layton's eldest brother, and my Mother passed on
many years ago, so letters, pictures and everything else
about Layton, they had, have been lost .... somewhere in time.

I am in the process of contacting as many family
members, as possible, and they are helping me with this project.
Until we, the family of Layton Banks, are able to collect
photographs, letters, and anything else
we can come up with, for this website,
we will share with you,
some of our emails, of our work in progress.
Thank you gang for ALL of your efforts!

Ellen Banks Pittser
Cousin
Turlock, California

Layton's memorial stone is in Rowlett Cemetery, Allen, Texas
It's between McKinney and Dallas, Texas. I think he was 19.
He had been married a few months, to a woman, I believe,
called Dorothy, but I may be entirely wrong on that.

Mary Banks
Cousin
London, England

I have several letters between him , Mother and Daddy in
Novermber 1941, a photo that he had sent to them on
Nov 25 and a coconut with a Hawaiian beach scene painted on it,
and it is postmarked from the U.S.S. Oklahoma.
Several of the letters are rather poignant, of course.
The last letters from Mother and Daddy trying to get him to respond
and let them know where he was, dated 10 Dec and later.
They did not know that he had been killed until Dec 25.
I have pictues of Layton, him and his wife Dot, and several
others that I will be sending to you, Ellen for you to use as you wish.
What I intend to do is to copy everything copiable for the family
to have and donate the originals to the new Pearl Harbor Museum
they are building in New Orleans.

Larry Banks
Cousin
Detroit, Texas

I remember Uncle Layton coming to live with us,
in Merced, California for a breif peroid of time,
just before he enlisted in the Navy. He was just a kid!
He was "only" eighteen or nineteen, when he died.
When Pearl Harbor was attacked, I was 8 years old.
I can vividly remember, December 8th, we sat glued around
the radio for any news about the OKLAHOMA,
at his Sister Elizabeth's home.
I also remember, for years, my Grandfather and Grandmother Banks
hoping that somehow they would receive word, that he had returned.
His body was never recovered. I have visited his memorial marker in
Texas, and I understand that there is a plaque on a wall at the
Punchbowl Cemetary in Hawaii with his name on it.

Vernon Banks
Cousin
Washington State

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