| James
Jackson Chatham was born on June 16, 1920 to sharecroppers, Claude
and Nancy Caroline Chatham, in Duluth, Georgia. At an early age, he
always wanted to go and see what was down the road. He hitchhiked in his
early teens in the days when it was safe to do so. At seventeen he
hopped a freight train and found himself in California. He became a
laborer in the CCC Camp and soon became homesick for Georgia. He
arranged to be transferred to Georgia and was assigned to Camp Ruthledge,
when he decided to join the Army. He was eighteen when he joined the US
Army on September 1, 1938. He
spent the next twenty-two years as a defender of his country in the
armed forces. He departed for the Panama Canal on June 20, 1940 and
served there until June 7, 1943. On September 21, 1943, he volunteered
to serve under Brigadier General Frank D. Merrill during WWII. The
Marauders were tough jungle fighters who acquired fame in the
China-Burma-India campaign. They became known as "Merrill Marauders,"
and he was always proud of this.
 He was issued orders January 30, 1945,
and fought in the Korean Conflict. On leave, he married Lillie Cash,
March 17, 1945. He was married for thirty-two years and fathered six
children ; Jane, Trish, Tom, Brenda, Jim, and Larry, who he fondly
referred to as his "half dozen." Later in life, he promised a friend to
look after his sons and Paul Raines became another son.
 After the war, his service continued at
Georgia Tech and Georgia Military. He was stationed in Fairbanks,
Alaska, from 1954-1956. His last assignment was a Decatur High School as
an ROTC instructor, teaching young men marksmanship, survival, and
leadership.
During the war he started cutting
soldier's hair at the camps and realized he had talent in this area. He
took the State Board while serving at Decatur High School and began
barbering in the evenings part-time. Upon retirement from the Army, this
became his full-time occupation. He still found time to garden and
stayed busy raising his family in Doraville, Georgia.
He was widowed in 1977 and in 1982, he
married Helen Dispain and they moved to the country - a fourteen acre
site in Canon, Georgia. They enjoyed a wonderful life of twenty-four
years. He was now a full-time farmer, one of his passions; he loved to
make things grow and to share with others.
He firmly believed that to have a
friend, you had to be a friend. He never met a stranger, and enjoyed
many friends throughout his life.
Upon moving to Canon, he began going to
church. They were in need of a minister and offered him the position. He
was the pastor of Old Canon Baptist Church for 19 years.
Of all his accomplishments, he was
proud to be a soldier for the Lord of his country. He was proud to be
part of the 100 mile march with the Marauders that surprised the enemy
by blocking the only Japanese supply line in the Hukwang Valley.
On May 5, 2006, he was marching in
death, marching through the gates of Heaven.
General MacArthur said it best, "Old
soldiers never die, they just fade way." |
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