2LT James R. Watson
Today we honor and remember 2LT James R. Watson of the 101st Airborne Division.
Second Lieutenant (2LT) James Richard Watson Jr. of Charlie Company, 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion (AEB), was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, to Mark H. and Hester A. (Bobbit) Watson on May 30, 1922. James was their firstborn. He had two brothers, Thomas W., and Matthew C. Watson. His father passed away due to pneumonia on March 17, 1932, at age 51.
His brother Thomas served as a private first class with Dog Company, 320th Infantry Regiment, during WWII.
James graduated from Indiana High School in the Class of 1940. He was mustered into the service with the Pennsylvania National Guard in February 1941 as a corporal in Fox Company, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division.
On October 13, 1942, James graduated from the Engineer Officer Candidate School, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, and assigned to duty with the 328th Engineer Combat Battalion, 103rd Infantry Division (“Cactus Division”), stationed at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana.
From July to September 1943, Lieutenant Watson was on special duty as adjutant with the special training battalion, Third Army, stationed at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He was then assigned to the 202nd Engineers Combat Battalion, 101st Airborne Engineer Combat Group — the organization he sailed overseas with in October of that year. He was first stationed in Northern Ireland and later in England.
Halfway through August 1944, having qualified and received his wings as a paratrooper, Lieutenant Watson was assigned to duty with Charlie Company, 326th AEB. About a month later, on September 18, 1944, he was killed in action in the Netherlands, the day after he had made his first combat jump.
Another Screaming Eagle had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅
On October 6, 1944, the day after the telegram from the War Department reached the family announcing his death, Lieutenant Watson’s grandmother, Juliet Watson, passed away following a long illness.
Lieutenant James Watson died at the age of 22. He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart Medal. After his initial internment in the temporary military cemetery of Son, the Netherlands, at Plot A, Row 8, Grave 152, he was later reburied in the American War Cemetery Margraten, the Netherlands. Since the spring of 1949, Lieutenant Watson has rested eternally at Plot J, Row 10, Grave 22 in Margraten. May he rest in peace.
Happy Birthday in Heaven, James.
Lest we forget. 🇺🇸
The sources used for this article are known to the author and available on request.
Dear James,Operation Market Garden,september 17th 1944 DZ A Sonniuswijk,Son The Netherlands!
A bright sunny Sunday the sky was full of Parachutes! Liberators on their way to bring us Freedom!
You where among these Paratroopers......The Germans blow the bridge across the Wilhelmina Canal,you as a engineer,you were probably on the 18 of September on the canaldike to restore the bridge to bring a Bailey bridge across the canal when you got killed by enemy fire!
What can I say....🫡🇺🇸🫡 thank you for Your Service,your not forgotten.