CAPT JAMES J. OWENS, USMC
Lucky Bag Yearbook
From the 1938 Lucky Bag:
JAMES JOSEPH JOHN OWENS
Wrestling 4, 3, 2, 1; Golf 2, 1, Manager; Lucky Bag; Log 2, 1; Reef Points; Boat Club; Lieutenant (j.g.).
Loss
James was lost when the SNJ trainer aircraft he was aboard crashed near Santa Barbara, California, on September 18, 1942. Another Marine Corps Captain also perished; they were searching for a missing plane and two other officers.
Other Information
From naval aviation historian Richard Leonard via email on February 9, 2018:
He had an earlier crash in which he was not injured. NAS San Diego war diary entry for 6 July 1942:
“1516 * J2F-5 #00733 attached to Marine Air Wing TWO, crashed making a rough water landing, two (2) miles north of Prisoner’s Harbor, Santa Cruz Island. PBY-1, #0138, plane enroute Alameda to San Diego diverted to scene to search for plane and personnel. Captain James J Owens, USMC, pilot, and his passenger Lt. Col. Utterbach, USA, rescued by Naval section base boat ‘PACIFICO’”.
From researcher Kathy Franz:
James graduated from Washburn high school in 1934. “He overcomes all obstacles.” Library Board; National Honor Society; Harlequin (dramatics club); Protege; Wahian Staff, Business Manager; S. T. O. Hi-Y; Football.
With Capt. Thomas J. Ahern as escort, his body arrived and lied at the home of his aunt Miss Marie Owens before burial.
He is buried in Minnesota and was survived by his father, William.
Navy Directories & Officer Registers
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together, or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
July 1938
January 1939
October 1939
June 1940
November 1940
April 1941
James is one of 72 members of the Class of 1938 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
