Paul Edward Blackard was born in Huntington, Sebastian Co., Ar. June 15, 1921 to Delbert E. and Hazel Dell Fox Blackard. May 23, 1947 he married Betty Lou Chronister, both being residents of Mansfield, Sebastian Co., Ar. at that time. April 1, 1942 Paul registered for the military draft at Waldron, Scott Co., Ar. He enlisted in the US Navy on Aug 14, 1942 at Little Rock, Ar. and served on the USS Sheldrake. On the muster record of that ship June 30, 1943 his rank was EM3c or Eectrician's Mate Petty Officer 3rd Class. "After fitting out at Alameda, California, and making a short shakedown cruise in the San Francisco Bay area, Sheldrake departed to join a convoy bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She arrived there on the first anniversary of the Japanese sneak attack and remained for three weeks. On 28 December, she got underway for Suva Island, Fiji, where she stopped from 7 to 12 January 1943, before heading on to the Allied base at Noumea, New Caledonia. After a trip to Efate in the New Hebrides and back, from 17 to 27 January 1943, she departed Noumea to join the escort of the first of many convoys, this one bound for Espiritu Santo. For the next 15 months, the auxiliary minesweeper criss-crossed the South Pacific shepherding convoys between bases in the New Hebrides, Solomon Islands. New Caledonia; also making-occasional runs to New Zealand, Samoa, and Fiji. Sheldrake also participated intermittently in patrols off Guadalcanal." For more of the story of the Sheldrake while Paul served CLICK HERE. Paul Edward Blackard passed away June 17, 2006 at Huntington, Sebastian Co., Ar. with burial being at the Fairview Memorial Gardens at Fayetteville, Washington Co., Ar.