James "JIMMY" had completed serving Country in the US Calvary and was Honorably Discharged. He re-joined after Pearl Harbor. He is thought to have been a Radio/Aerial GUnner in the B-25's out of England/ WWII. (Probably B-26 ETO)

Born May 2, 1915 and died Aug 1, 2003 in Longview, TX, It is believed that he was born in McKinney, TX. He was a Dallas, TX firefighter and lived in Dallas, Irving, Longview and Fairfield, TX. Jimmy re-joined the Army in 1942, having been in the Calvary prior to WWII and had served his term in the military.

Jimmy was out when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He was working as a DFD firefighter on 12/7/41 (Dallas Fire Fighter, Dallas Fire Deptartment)

Jimmy's Find a Grave;

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=O'dell&GSiman=1&GScid=4768&GRid=113673612&

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ His son said that he radioed back to Eisenhower that the D-day invasion had begun. If that is true, and thats a big IF, that would mean that he was grounded by June of '44. He joined in '42 so that's about 2 years time frame that he would have been on the 25s.

Grandson Terry Beckman; I remember him telling me that he was wounded by flakk and had a ruptured ear drum. He was grounded after that and I remember him telling me that he landed in France on D-day +3 which would be June 9, '44.

Operation FLAX; 18 April, '43 Palm Sunday Massacre………. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OperationFlax_

Allied plan

James H. Doolittle commanding Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) was ordered to formulate an air interdiction campaign. He named it Operation Flax. Operation Flax called for Allied fighters to intercept the aerial convoys over the Sicily—Tunisia strait. Allied units were also briefed to carry out major offensive operations against Axis airfields in Tunisia and the overcrowded staging fields in Sicily. They were also ordered to carry out anti—shipping sweeps. Flax was an operation which was unlikely to work more than a few times, as shown by the relative impunity with which the surviving Axis air transports operated at night after the operation had begun. The flight time across the Strait of Sicily was so short that aerial interception could be made only with precise intelligence. The Germans understood this but did not know that their communications had been compromised and were being read by Allied intelligence. Ignorant of their intelligence leaks, they operated by day. Since their enemy had the option of flying by night, and the weather conditions were not ideal for interception operations, the Allies delayed the implementation of Operation Flax until the most German transport aircraft were in operation so that the blow would be as decisive as possible. Allied intelligence listened in to the Y-stations until they were sure they could strike.
The tactical plan included coordinated strikes on Axis airfields carried out by Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress groups to tie down Axis fighter groups. Medium bomber units operating the North American B-25 Mitchell would fly sweeps over the Gulf of Tunis. They were to be joined by Lockheed P-38 Lightning heavy fighters which were also detailed to sweep the area. The presence of the B-25s would allow the P-38s to operate in the area without raising the Axis suspicions. It would seem as if they were there to escort the B-25s, rather than their actual intention, to interdict Axis air transports. Supermarine Spitfire units would sweep the straits further north, catching any enemy aircraft that evaded the P-38s. More B-25 and B-17 units were detailed to strike at Sicilian airfields to catch transports on the ground. The USAAF 9th Air Force was detailed to send its Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomb groups against airfields in and around Naples in this capacity as well. On 2 April Doolittle's superiors, supreme commander of all Allied Air Forces in the Mediterranean, Arthur Tedder and commander of Allied Air Forces in Western North Arica Carl Spaatz decided to wait for the next suitable window to launch the offensive.

=Captains of Combat= 'Palm Sunday Massacre' (YOU TUBE) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o6r882Ahmw

http://ww2timelines.com/1943/april/04181943.htm (Time-line, 18 April,'43)

http://www.museumofflight.org/event/2013/apr/20/70th-year-commemoration-world-war-ii-palm-sunday-%E2%80%93-cape-bon-tunisia-%E2%80%9Cgoose-shoot%E2%80%9D

James "JIMMY" Richard O'Dell