Jasper Davis Pulley

Seaman First Class Jasper Davis Pulley was killed in action on April 23, 1945 when the USS Eagle 56 was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat off the coast of Portland, Maine during World War II. He was 21 years old.

Jasper Davis Pulley was born on March 25, 1924 in Vance County, North Carolina, the son of Charles Walker Pulley and Bessie Maiden Davis Pulley.  

S1 Pulley enlisted in the U. S. Navy and was assigned to USS Eagle 56 (PE-56), a United States Navy World War I–era patrol boat that remained in service through World War II.

On April 23, 1945, while towing targets for U.S. Navy bomber exercises off the coast of Maine, Eagle 56 was sunk by the German submarine U-853. Only 13 of the 62 crew survived. S1 Pulley was killed in the explosion of the ship.

Seaman First Class Jasper Davis Pulley’s name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing in the East Coast Memorial, Manhattan, New York. 

Last edited: 8 June 2026