Although James was born in South Dakota and his older sister Martha was born in North Dakota, he was raised in Wauwatosa Wisconsin. His older brother, Baxter, named his first child "James" in 1946 to honor his sibling lost in the war.

James joined the Army Air corp and was part of the early flights of the B-29s from Kansas through South America to Africa and then to India. According to his name-sake "My Uncle Jim made it to South America OK, but their bomber crashed on takeoff for Africa. It hit a bulldozer. Not sure if the bulldozer was on the runway, or if the plane just failed to gain altitude. The pilot made it out alive (minus an arm), but everyone else died." This was March 15, 1943. During the B-29 initial deployments, major repairs were needed on each leg of the trip.

The Father of James ordered a granite commemoritive grave marker for the Fairview Cemetery in Bangor Wisconsin in 1948.

James M Newton