James "Jim" NcNear: Member of "The Old Breed"

    Born in Tattnall County, Georgia, James "Jim" McNear was your typical country boy. When he was 7, his family moved to Savannah. When Jim completed the 10th grade at Savannah Commerical High School in 1944, America had been involved in the Second World War for two and a half years. Pearl Harbor had been bombed and our country was dedicated to helping defeat both the Japanese and the Nazi's. Jim was drafted  in April of that year at the age of 18.
    The Marines offered several draftees the opportunity to enlist and young Jim took their offer. He was sent to boot camp at Parris Island, SC. From there he headed to Camp Lejeune in N.C. and then on to Camp Pendleton, Ca. Jim was a proud member of the 1st Marine Division, better known as "The Old Breed". He was only at Pendleton for a week when his battalion was ordered to pack and board the U.S.S. Monroe, an assault troop carrier on November 6, 1944. Jim learned how to handle several different machine guns and his job would be to set up a defensive perimeter and protect the larger guns like the Howitzers.
    The carrier traveled for fifteen days, finally reaching Guadalcanal on November 21st. Guadalcanal, having been taken from the Japanese by the Marines in '42, was now a staging area for the Marines and the Army. From there, units would head on to Japan. Jim joined the ranks of Charlie Battery, 3rd .55 mm Gun Battalion, 3rd Amphibious Corps. He spent four months in familiarization training with all their weapons and on March 6, 1945 he boarded a tank landing ship (LST class) along with his crew.Most didn't know where they were heading until later on....it was Okinawa.
    On invasion day, the fog limited visibility and caused one LST to ram the one Jim was on. The hit caused no major damage but coupled with the lack of visibility, the Skipper of Jim's LST headed in the wrong direction. This resulted in Jim and the other men being a day late disembarking. That night on the LST wasn't a pleasant one. Jim was in the middle of his first air raid. Tracer bullets lit up the night sky as they aimed for the kamikaze's. Upon arriving at the proper location, the LST hit a corral reef roughly 500 feet from shore. There was no more time to waste so the Marines hit the water. Thankfully it was low tide and the water was only three feet deep, allowing the Caterpillars and trucks that carried weapons, troops, and supplies, to safely get ashore.
    Oddly enough there was little resistance as the Marine's climbed onto the beaches of Okinawa. It was after they began advancing and getting near the Shuri line and the city of Naha that combat became intense. Minefields and Japanese night raids were two of the biggest threats to Jim and his buddies. He remembers being on his hands and knees, probing the ground gently with his bayonet and inching ever so slowly forward. Clearing the minefields was a part of the perimeter defense guys duties. It was a job that would make the most combat experienced man sweat.
    Eighty one days after disembarking from his LST craft, the battle of Okinawa officially ended. More than 12,500 Americans, ~100,000 Japanese, and roughly 150,000 Okinawan's were killed in this.....the last major battle of the Pacific. The surrender of Japan came on August 15th of 1945. Many Marines, including Jim, didn't head home immediately. He was among the 1st and 6th Marine Division men sent in to occupied parts of China to disarm and repatriate the Japanese forces present.
    In late September of 1945, Jim's regiment sailed to Tsingtao, China and then boarded a train for Tientsin City. The men were billeted in an old British Tobacco factory warehouse. He remained in China until he was sent home on the point rotation system in May of 1946. Once back in the states, he made his way to Camp Lejeune, was promoted to Corporal and discharged.
    Jim returned to Savannah, joined the local Marine Corps Reserve unit (Dog Company) and began working at Savannah Electric and Power Company. In 1950, with the outbreak of the Korean War, Dog Company was activated and Jim found himself back in the service full time once again. This time however he didn't see the battlefield. Instead, his combat experience and expertise with machine guns was used to train new recruits at Camp Pendleton. Before being discharged Jim was promoted to Staff Sergeant.
    Jim still lives in Savannah, where he now serves as a Deacon at Bull Street Baptist Church and is very involved with military/veteran affairs. He was even selected to be the 2009 Grand Marshall of the City's Veterans Day Parade.