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| Lt. (jg) James Horton served on the training submarine USS R-12. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/94504150/james-ulysses-horton http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08089.htm |
James Ulysses Horton never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on September 1, 1919 in Milledgeville, Georgia. His parents Ulysses and Eunice were also both born in Georgia. His father worked as a public works plumber and later as a self-employed plumber in Florida. He died in 1931. James had two younger sisters and one younger brother.
He enlisted in the US Navy in May 1942. He volunteered for submarine duty and became a lieutenant, junior grade, posted to the submarine USS R-12. R-12 was a coastal and harbor defense submarine built in 1918. It did a few a Caribbean Sea patrols early in the war but in May 1943, she was designated as a training submarine.
On June 12, 1943 R-12 was conducting a torpedo training exercise off the coast of Florida when the forward battery room flooded after a dive command. Efforts to blow ballast to raise the boat failed and the submarine sank, taking the lives of forty-two men including Lt. Horton. The five men on the bridge survived.
The wreck was discovered in 2011. The cause of the sinking remains unknown.
His cenotaph grave is at Marietta National Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia.
Last year on this date I profiled B-24 gunner Nicholas Kish. You can read about Nick here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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