James F. Taylor

Born in Virginia in March, 1923; the youngest of three children belonging to Elzie and Edith Taylor. Grew up in Louisa County, Virginia, where his father and older brother worked as laborers in a saw mill. James followed in their footsteps, finding a job at the H. H. Walton Lumber Company in nearby Pendleton.

James joined the Marine Corps on October 18, 1943, and received his boot training at Parris Island, South Carolina. He crossed the country as a member of a replacement draft, and attained the rank of Private First Class before joining Company B, 24th Marines at Camp Maui on September 18, 1944.

PFC Taylor fought in the battle of Iwo Jima as a rifleman in the front lines. He lasted until March 8, 1945, when he was seriously wounded in action. James was transported to the newly captured airstrip and flown off of Iwo by a medical evacuation flight. After evaluation and treatment at a base hospital on Guam, the young Virginian was shipped back to the United States to recover – his days of combat were over. He was treated at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland until his honorable discharge on February 8, 1946.

After the war, James Taylor found work as a truck driver. Early in the morning on January 4, 1951, as he crossed a bridge over Isaacs Creek near the town of Gainesboro, Virginia, Taylor’s tractor trailer crashed and caught fire. The former Marine was trapped in the wreckage and died before help could reach him. He was twenty-seven years old.