Joseph James enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941. He received basic training at Jefferson Barracks in Missouri and attended aircraft mechanics school at Chanute Field in Illinois.  He was assigned to the 8th Air Force, 56th Fighter Group, and deployed to the European Theater, landing at Prestwick, Scotland. James served as a crew chief with the 56th from February of 1943 until January of 1944 when he was rotated back to the U.S. He was preparing for assignment to the Pacific Theater when the war ended. James left the Army at the end of the war but remained in the Reserves.

Transcript Number 014 Title: Joseph James: Remembering World War II Interviewee: Joseph James Interviewer: Thor Ronningen Date of Interview: August 6, 1998 Location of Interview: Wilmington, N.C. Description: 1 VHS Cassette Tape (c. 93min) sd., col. Documentation: 1 Typed Transcript Series: World War II Veteran’s Oral History Preservation Project Series: Voices of Experience