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| Lt. James Pope served in the 4th Marine Division at Iwo Jima. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33956155/james-henry-pope https://www.pinterest.com/pin/316589048789255097/ |
James Henry Pope, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
James was born on June 29, 1920 in Villa Rica, Georgia. His parents James and Annie were also both born in Georgia. His father owned a cotton warehouse. He died in 1929 after which his oldest son took over the business. James was the younger son. By 1940 James was still living at home and had completed two years of high school.
He enlisted in US Marines in February 1942. He qualified to become an officer and eventually served as a first lieutenant in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division. The 4th Marine Division participated in the victories at Kwajalein, Saipan, and Tinian. Lt. Pope was likely there for some or all of these battles.
On February 19, 1945 the 25th Marines landed on the right end of the American assault on the Iwo Jima beach designated as BLUE. During the first few minutes the Japanese did not contest the landing, waiting for the beaches to become crowded. Lt. Pope and the 2nd Battalion was the regimental reserve while other two battalions landed first. By afternoon that 25th Marines had not reached their objective - the airfield 700 yards from the beach. In fact, it had still not captured the high ground overlooking the beach from the right. Japanese artillery fire was deadly and probably was what killed Lt. Pope that day.
His grave is at Hillcrest Cemetery in Villa Rica, Georgia.
RAY HARRYHAUSEN
Most people are not familiar with the name of Ray Harryhausen who was born on the same date as James Pope, but they are probably familiar with his work.
Ray was born in Los Angeles. He was greatly interested in the stop motion technique used in the 1933 movie King Kong. His work in stop motion animation was interrupted by World War II. He joined the army and was assigned to the Special Services Division, the entertainment branch of the military. He worked under famed director Frank Capra.
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| https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/features/ray-harryhausen-grandfather-stop-frame-animation |
After the war his stop motion work became the staple of many 1950 movies including The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. In the 1960s his work included 1 Million Years B.C. and in the 1970s The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.
He died in 2013.
This is one of the final 100 stories (66) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.
Last year on this date I profiled William McDonald, 92nd Infantry Division. You can read about William 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.
Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
This is one of the final 100 stories (66) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.
Last year on this date I profiled William McDonald, 92nd Infantry Division. You can read about William 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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