Remember...
James Leslie Meadows
1918-1944
"We will always remember those officers and men no longer with us whose sacrifices contributed so much to the great achievements of this division."
Major General Hugh J. Gaffey
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Remember...James Leslie Meadows
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Army Corporal James Leslie Meadows was born on July 1, 1918, to James Russell Meadows (1896-1964) and Irene Hazel Meadows of Winfield, Putnam County, West Virginia, and grew up in Scott Depot. He was the oldest child in a family that came to include Hazel M., Charles L., Edith F., and Thelma L. Meadows. The 1930 Federal Census lists, in addition to the parents, James (11), Hazel (9), Charles (7), and Edith (1), while the 1940 census includes Thelma (0), but not Edith. The father's 1964 death record in Putnam County states that he was a farmer.
On January 10, 1942, James Leslie Meadows married Evelyn Marie Wymer, daughter of John and Myrtle Taylor Wymer, of St. Albans; he was 23 years old, and she was 21. Like so many young couples of that era, their lives were about to change dramatically.
U. S. Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, indicate that James L. Meadows registered on February 14, 1942, at Fort Thomas, Newport, Kentucky, at which time he stated that he had received a grammar school education, was married, and had been a stock clerk in his civilian life. It is important to note that these records often provide information in broad categories and therefore are less useful that other data sources, such as family histories. A death notice in the January 21, 1945, Charleston Daily Mail states that Cpl. Meadows had been employed at the naval ordnance plant in South Charleston prior to his enlistment.
James was assigned to the 8th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division. This assignment and his date and place of death (December 26, 1944, Belgium) would seem to indicate that he was killed in action in the charge to take Bastogne, an operation commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge.
The movements of this division of Patton's Third Army are well chronicled. In The 4th Armored: From the Beach to Bastogne (accessed August 8, 2013, http://www.lonesentry.com/gi_stories_booklets/4tharmored; booklet reprinted online from the series G. I. Stories, published by the Stars & Stripes in Paris in 1944-1945). Major General Hugh J. Gaffey, Commanding, details the six-month long "brilliant campaign" of the 4th Armored beginning with Normandy, sweeping south cutting off the Brittany peninsula, wheeling east through France over the Moselle in Lorraine, and finally approaching the Maginot line and the German border. Despite their successes, Gaffey declares: "The last stretch to Bastogne was tough, covering the hardest 16 miles the division ever made. From Dec. 22, 1944, until Jan. 9, 1945, the 4th battled elements of nine German divisions and two brigades." It was on December 26 that the division took Bastogne; unfortunately, Cpl. Meadows of the tank battalion did not live to savor the victory. [The full account starts with the assault on Bastogne, flashes back to the division's movements after D-Day, and flashes back again to the 4th Armored's training leading up to their involvement in the European Theater, an account well worth reading for those interested in military history but not within the scope of this article.]
| A Purple Heart recipient, Cpl. Meadows is buried in the Luxembourg American Cemetery, Plot G, Row 7, Grave 13. A March 13, 2013, obituary in the Charleston Daily Mail states that Evelyn Wymer Meadows "served in the military as an Army nurse in the medical unit and traveled extensively in the southeast, caring for injured soldiers." Ironically, how sad, though fulfilling, it must have been for her to pursue this career. Evelyn married again, this time to Col. Stratton F. Callier Jr. She died on March 6, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. |  |
Article prepared by Patricia Richards McClure
July 2022
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.