Page 15 - Gold Star Sons of Georgetown Prep

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UNITED STATES NAVY AVIATION
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ENSIGN JAMES L. “JIM” OLIVER, JR. ’40
JUNE 9, 1940
18 MILES NORTH OF SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA
James Lee Oliver, Jr., of Chevy Chase, Maryland, was a day student who, like four of the five previous alumni discussed, chose to serve in military aviation. But unlike them, he did so in the United States Navy. Thin as a senior at Prep (5’10” and 143 lbs.) with arched eyebrows, intense eyes, a high forehead, and combed back blonde hair, Jim appeared cerebral – which he was.
The Little Hoya highlighted him under its “Prep Personalities” column in December 1939 and congratulated him on being named editor-in-chief of the paper. It observed that Jim had “distinguished himself by his many honor cards.” It also noted that after graduation, he expected to enter the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. On a lighter note, it listed Gene Autry – a singing cowboy — as Jim’s favorite actor; Hedy Lamarr as his favorite actress; Glenn Miller’s band as his favorite orchestra, and Patricia Norman as his favorite singer. Clearly, Jim loved swing music. Tongue-in-cheek, the article also listed his favorite pastimes as “Studying hard to get honors, and The Little Hoya,” and
his favorite subject as History. It concluded with a wry observation that “like most students, he dislikes Latin above all classes.”
Following graduation in June 1940, Jim did indeed
enroll in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, but later left to join the U. S. Navy as an aviator. In the fall
of 1942, he received his pilot’s wings at Pensacola, Florida, and became the flight officer of his squadron. Stationed near Santa Rosa, California, an outlying airfield of Naval Air Station Alameda, Jim helped to train pilots in the Navy’s new F6F Hellcat fighter. On Friday, June 9, 1944, during a solo training exercise, Jim’s plane crashed into a wooded area about 18 miles north of Santa Rosa, California. (15,000 airmen died in training during WWII.) The accident report could not establish the cause of the crash. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery and was survived by his two parents, a sister, and two brothers. The nemesis of air accidents had claimed another Prep alumnus. H
GOLD STAR SONS OF GEORGETOWN PREP | winter 2021 15
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