Floyd Huston "Skipper" Matthews (February 3, 1903 – February 24, 2008) was, at age 105, an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, in which he served for thirty years. Matthews was the oldest living United States military veteran in

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

as well as the oldest living

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

r at the time of his death at the age of 105. He was also one of the oldest surviving

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

veterans and one of the few surviving

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

era veterans, according to the Alabama

Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and ...

. Matthews was one of the first people to use the

Momsen Lung The Momsen lung was a primitive underwater rebreather used before and during World War II by American submariners as emergency escape gear. It was invented by Charles Momsen (nicknamed "Swede"). Submariners trained with this apparatus in an dee ...

rebreathing system, and used it to rescue 33 colleagues from a sunken submarine in 1939.

Early life

Matthews was born in 1903 in

Westpoint, Tennessee Westpoint (also West Point) is an unincorporated community in Lawrence County, Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the U ...

,F.L. Looney,
Lt. Cmdr. Floyd Matthews: battleships to submarines
'' 2003, US Navy later living in

Loretto, Tennessee Loretto is a city in Lawrence County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,714 at the 2010 census, and 1,739 at the 2020 census. History Loretto began as a stagecoach station known as "Glen Rock" in the early 19th century. In 1870, a ...

. When he was 16, he ran away from home to join the navy.

Career

Matthews first enlisted in the United States Navy in 1919 in the months following the end of

, when Matthews was aged 16 but pretending to be 19. He received two months of training at the U.S. Naval Training Center in Gulfport, Mississippi before being assigned to a USS Pueblo and later to a USS Kansas. Altogether he served on 7 different submarines before World War II. Between the wars, he was involved in testing the

, a rubber bag that used soda lime to recycle exhaled air that was used to rescue trapped submariners, both in swimming pool trials in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

and in

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

, where it was tested at a depth of 100 feet. In 1939, he used the device to rescue 33 colleagues from the

USS Squalus USS ''Sailfish'' (SS-192), was a US , originally named ''Squalus''. As the ''Squalus'', the submarine sank off the coast of New Hampshire during test dives on 23 May 1939. The sinking drowned 26 crew members, but an ensuing rescue operation, us ...

, a sunken submarine. After WWI, Matthews served a tour as a military recruiter in Knoxville, and as a submarine escape instructor. During WWII, Matthews served as an executive officer aboard a salvage vessel during

Normandy Landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

before serving in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. By that time, he had risen through the ranks of the Navy to the level of

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

, commending the ocean tug USS Chickasaw before retiring in 1949. He portrayed himself in the documentary ''Hanging by a thread'', which was aired on BBC show Voyages of Discovery on April 11, 2021, 7 days after the death of his son Floyd in Loretto, Tennessee.Paul Rose (presenter), Sean Smith (producer and director) ''Hanging by a Thread'' (documentary), ''

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

, 11 April 2021
21 minute mark
'

Personal life

Matthews was a resident of

Florence, Alabama Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner. It is situated along the Tennessee River and is home to the University of North Alabama, the oldest college in the st ...

. He was married to Vena Yocom Matthews. He had three sons, Floyd, William, and John and two daughters, Sondra and Priscilla.

Death

Floyd Matthews died at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital. He was survived by his sons, Bill and John.

References

External links

TimesDaily: Floyd H. Matthews obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Floyd 1903 births 2008 deaths American men centenarians United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy officers People from Florence, Alabama United States Navy personnel of World War I People from Lawrence County, Tennessee