James Thompson Obituary

James T. Thompson July 6, 2024

James T. Thompson, 97, died on Saturday, July 6. James was a native of Johnson City and was the son of the late Charles Elmer and Ruby Blevins Thompson. James was preceded in death by four brothers and two sisters: Bill, Louise, Jack, Don, Luther, and Shirley.

Jim and his four brothers all served in the U.S. military, with the three oldest boys serving in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. Although they all saw a great deal of combat, James was the only one to have a career in the military.

Jim was too young to serve at the start of World War II, but he was able to enlist shortly before he turned 17 on Jan. 10, 1944. He may have missed the first years of the war, but he was in time to fight in two of the biggest naval battles in history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the Battle of Okinawa. The young and brand-new sailor was assigned to duty on a mine sweeper in both battles.

Somehow, Jim's older brother, Bill, found out that Jim was on a ship in Leyte Gulf and arranged for him to come aboard his ship, which was landing ship medium designed to transport Marines during an amphibious assault. Bill had been in the Navy since he turned 17 in 1939 and had been promoted to the rank of chief petty officer. Bill was in charge of the landing ship's galley. When Jim complained to him that he had nothing to eat but rice for weeks on end on the minesweeper, Bill cut off a big steak and cooked it for his hungry brother.

The brothers did not know it, but another brother, Jack, was also at Leyte Gulf. Jack was serving as the cook on the submarine Dace. Along with the submarine Darter, they were on patrol and expecting the Japanese Navy to attack the American forces in Leyte Gulf. No one in the American Navy knew where the Japanese Navy would attack, but Dace and Darter found the biggest and most powerful of the four Japanese Navy forces set to attack the American landings on the island of Leyte. They quickly alerted the American Navy of their discovery, but the two submarines were only starting.

They found the powerful force aligned in two columns going through the Palawan Passage shortly after midnight on Oct. 23, 1944. In the purest naval tradition, the two submarines began an attack on the entire force. Their spread of torpedoes ended in a brilliant Fourth of July show, with Admiral Kurita's flagship being sunk and the admiral having to be fished from the sea. That was not the end of the destruction, as the Dace then sunk the heavy cruiser, Maya.

The brothers were not able to have a reunion at Okinawa, where all ships were threatened by kamikaze attacks. Bill's ship was hit and had to limp across the broad Pacific to get repaired. Jim remained with his minesweeper. Only a few months later, his ship had a new assignment, proceeding the Missouri and sweeping for mines as it entered Tokyo Bay for the surrender of Japan.

The war was over, but it was just the first of three wars, as well as the Cold War, that Jim would serve in. He was trained by the Navy to be a boiler technician and served on cruiser in the Korean War. In the Vietnam War, Jim served on a destroyer and river boats.

Jim served in the Navy for 28 years. Among his awards was the World War II Victory Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal with Europe Clasp, the Vietnam Service Medal with four stars, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Jim was married twice. His first marriage was to Evelyn Williams. They had a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Jan. The marriage ended in divorce. Jim would marry again after his retirement from the Navy. He returned home shortly before his retirement to attend the funeral of his brother Bill in 1970. At the funeral, he had a conversation with Bill's first wife, Jeanette. The two continued talking and as Jim was retiring from the Navy, he grew closer to Jeanette. They married in 1973, and he became the stepfather to Bill and Jeanette's children: John, Karen and Kent.

Jeanette was a dietician at Mountain Home hospital. Jim's brother Jack worked in the hospital kitchen with Jeanette. Jim found employment after retiring from the Navy, using the skills he acquired in the Navy. He worked for the water department of the town of Jonesborough, then worked as a boiler technician for East Tennessee State University. Both Jim and Jeanette retired permanently and spent the next 40 years in Nokomas, Florida. When they weren't enjoying the beaches of Florida, they traveled to national parks across the nation and took cruises in the Caribbean.

They eventually returned to Johnson City, where they continued to enjoy their life together until Jeanette died on July 2, 2018.

In addition to his children and stepchildren, Jim is mourned by many nieces and nephews.

Graveside services for Jim Thompson will be held on Friday, August 16 at 10:45 a.m. in the original cemetery of the Mountain Home National Cemetery. Pastor Mike Abel of Guiding Light Bible Church will preside. The Honor Guard of the American Legion will perform final honors.