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» Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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» Topic:
Another nice PT Boat Trivia Tidbit for you guys
http://www.ptboatforum.com/cgi-bin/MB2/netboardr.cgi?cid=101&fid=102&tid=3031
Gents FYI;
I think you will enjoy this read, and once again see how PT Boats made a difference, whether it be directly or indirectly.
Yesterday, while surfing the web, I was looking for another photo of Rumsey Ewing, to use for my diorama.
[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Ted%20Walther/farleyharleeewinghuntRON12.jpg[/image]
Pictured left to right is LTjg Ed Farley, LCDR John Harlee, Cigar chomping ENS. Rumsey Ewing, and Ens Robert R.Hunt, all from RON 12
While surfing I noticed Jack Crawford Taylor was linked to Rumsey Ewing (As a quick side note Rumsey Ewing was ’38 Dartmouth.), so I opened the link.
Jack Crawford Taylor was during WWII, an F6F Hellcat fighter pilot in VF-15(Fighting 15, the fabled “Fighting Aces” , who was commanded by Navy Ace CDR David McCambell) from the decks of the USS Essex (CV-9) and the USS Enterprise (CV-6). When interviewed in 2007 Jack said “In the last half of 1944, there was a lot of combat going on in the Pacific. MacArthur had landed in the Philippines, we had taken the Marianas, and the Essex had to go back off station to have some repairs and take on some armament or something, so it was going to be off-duty for a couple of weeks. And there was so much action going on that they didn’t want to lose the whole squadron. So they took about a dozen of us fighter pilots out of the fighter squadron on the Essex and sent us over on the Enterprise. So I served on the Enterprise.”
Well, Jack Taylor in 1946 returned to St. Louis and did several jobs, then he started a small delivery service. Then in the late 1940’s he got a job at Arthur Lindburg’s Cadillac Dealership as Sales Manager. He began leasing cars.
When he was asked in the 2007 interview, who his first customers were, he responded without missing a beat, “Doctors, business executives, one of my first customers was a guy by the name of Rumsey Ewing, a lovely man who had a suture company and he had three or four or five salesmen out selling sutures for surgical sutures. He came to me and he leased about five cars from me. And, just all sorts of people. Bankers that didn’t want to have to worry about going to dealers who at that time were pretty avaricious in the way they handled customers.”Rumsey Ewing remained a loyal and dedicated customer for his whole life.
Later, in 1957 With seven cars and a hunch that customers will embrace the novel concept of leasing automobiles, Jack Taylor founds Executive Leasing Company in St. Louis.
In 1969, Jack Taylor’s Office in Atlanta, Georgia was the first to bear the name ENTERPRISE, in 1978 all offices had their name changed to ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR.
As Jack's company grew, the Navy veteran expanded operations into new markets and named the company after an aircraft carrier on which he had served, the World War II USS Enterprise. The ship was the most decorated vessel in the U.S. Navy fleet before its decommissioning in 2012. The Secretary of the U.S. Navy has since announced the Enterprise name will live on as the official moniker for the CVN -80, the next nuclear aircraft carrier to be constructed. This marks the ninth time the U.S. Navy will have a ship called Enterprise in its fleet.
Today, Jack Taylor and his company is worth an estimated current net worth of around $7.4 billion (2011 total), he is ranked by Forbes as the 18th-richest American and the 40th-richest person in the world.
Isn’t it remarkable, how a PT Boat Skipper (PT 191 RON 12 and PT 599 RON 40) was his first real corporate customer! Rumsey launched an empire!!
Take care,
TED
Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Jan 29, 2013 - 5:15pm
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am
Cool, Ted.
Ewing and Hunt are definitely "grommetless!"
Posted By: Drew Cook | Posted on: Jan 30, 2013 - 1:19pm
Total Posts: 1306 | Joined: Oct 19, 2006 - 10:44am