| Jim was named after
his maternal grandfather, James Reeves. His middle name was after
his father. Family members remember Jim as a sort of rebel in his
early life. He quit high school as soon as he could and took a job
his father procured for him as a lineman for the C & P Telephone Company,
where the elder Wannall had started working in 1917. As a lineman
Jim helped string the cable between Washington and Annapolis along the
old Defense Highway.
At the age of 18,
Jim married Alice, a woman some say was about six years his senior, although
her official birth is registered as June 17, 1907. In the early 1930's,
after the birth of his first daughter, Jim enlisted in the army for one
complete hitch, but, as was the custom in those days, he bought his way
out. Later, as a civilian Jim went to Hawaii to help install the
telephone system at Hickim Field, Pearl Harbor. He was working there
on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked. Jim reportedly had to
work four straight days trying to get the system back on line. For
that reason and probably others, Jim rejoined the Army and went into the
signal corps. He and a group of other untrained troops were shipped to
Australia to be combat trained, but on the way from Hawaii, their ship
was diverted to Guadalcanal to assist the Marines, who were taking a beating
there. From that time on, trained or not, Jim was a combat soldier.
He attained the rank of Sergeant and continued fighting throughout the
Pacific. At one point Jim was part of an operation trying to establish
a beachhead. He was riding in an armed jeep with two privates when
a Japanese war plane flew over them at a low altitude. One of the
privates began shooting at the plane, and the plane turned back and dropped
a 500-pound bomb on them. It is unclear what happened to the other
two soldiers, but Jim managed to flee on foot from the direct hit.
Unfortunately he did not escape injury. Later at a base hospital,
doctors discovered shrapnel from the bomb in the form of a piece of Model-T
hubcap embedded in Jim's ankle. Jim was sent to Fort Sam Houston, Texas,
where he underwent treatment and rehabilitation. After months of walking
first with crutches then a cane, Jim was left with a permanent limp.
As a result, he received a medical discharge from the army.
It is unclear whether
Jim later rejoined the army, but he eventually became an Electronics Inspector
for the 4th (later 5th) Army at Ft. Sam Houston, covering a territory in
Southeast Texas and Louisiana. He remained at that job until diabetes and
the amputation of both legs forced him to retire. From then until
his death, his second wife, Bess, took care of him. He and Bess are buried
in San Antonio.
Jim's portrait photo
above was taken from a group of photographs recently contributed by his
granddaughter, Rebecca Collins. Click on Gallery Links below to view the
set along with previously obtained pictures..
Last updated: February
15, 2004 |
