Robert Lee Rayburn, retired owner of Chattanooga Heating & Air and a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II’s Battle of Leyte Gulf, died Sunday at age 95.
Rayburn served in the Navy from 1943-45, mostly aboard the destroyer escort USS John C. Butler as a ship’s gunner. He was involved in a number of battles, including Morotia, Lingayen Gulf, Iwo Jima and Leyte Gulf.
“It’s the largest Navy battle in history,” Rayburn told the Times Free Press about Leyte Gulf. “There was 13 of us little ships, and we were outgunned – could only shoot about seven miles – and we were up against Japanese battleships that had a range of about 15 miles.”
The battle lasted about two-and-a-half hours, and out of the 13 ships his was the only one not sunk or damaged, he said.
After the war Rayburn met his wife, Virginia. They had three children, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.