Skip to main content

James Sallee

T/5 in 23rd Headquarters Co

Military occupational specialty: 675

ASN#36064137

Born 1921 in MO, Died 2003

County of residence at enlistment: Jefferson County, IL
Other residence(s): Mt Vernon, IL; St. Petersburg, FL
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: unskilled occupations in production of petroleum
Notes: His name may have been Orall James Sallee
Source: Unit Shipment 10143-A, 23d HQ, from le Havre 23 June 1945

NOTE: I am confident that the data below matches the ASN in the first record with this name in the GA roster. (VA death record enlistment date matches enlistment record and birth date in the VA record matches the draft card.)

James Sallee was born on January 18, 1921 in Springfield, Missouri; he was an only child. His family moved to Mount Vernon, Illinois in 1938 when his father took a job as an engineer at Swift & Co.

NOTE: His name may actually have been Orall James Sallee. At one point he appears as "O James" but he lost the "O" somewhere along the line. The ancestry family tree record for him lists him as Orall James.

James was working at Swift & Co. himself in 1941.

He filled out his draft card on February 16, 1942, at which time he was working for Paul Hardy in Mt. Vernon. A few months later, on July 25, 1942 he enlisted. At that time, he was an unskilled worker in the petroleum industry. (This may have been the same job.) He was released from the Army on October 22, 1945.

He returned to Mount Vernon after the war; he was living there at the time of his father's death in 1952, and in 1960, when he was working as a driver.

He was living in St. Petersburg, Florida by the mid 1980s, and died there on September 20, 2003. He is buried at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida.

NOTE: His tombstone actually has an incorrect birthdate on it (11/18/21 vs 01/18/21). This appears to be an error, and not a different person. If he was single and childless at the time of his death, who knows who provided the info for his gravestone, and it would certainly be easy to read "1" as "11". His VA death record and his social security death record carry the January birth date, but the same death date as is on the tombstone.

Sources:

1940 census (listed as Orall, but these are correct names for parents and job for father and birthplace for James)

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2442&h=142417976&ssrc=pt&tid=40215859&pid=232091690137&usePUB=true

1941 Mount Vernon city directory (matches street address on his draft card; shows name as "O James"

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2469&h=342481992&ssrc=pt&tid=40215859&pid=232091690137&usePUB=true

1942 enlistment record

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=871323&tid=&pid=&queryId=b733ea10dc3de40f18e6076154c40636&usePUB=true&_phsrc=qxF128&_phstart=successSource

1952 father's obituary from Mt. Vernon Register-News (confirms 1952 residence of James, and their move from MO to IL in 1938)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/3847392/?terms=jacen%2Bsallee

1960 Mount Vernon city directory

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2469&h=344177220&tid=&pid=&queryId=68237f556e31df6e88150c05309911ec&usePUB=true&_phsrc=qxF176&_phstart=successSource

1986, US Public Records Index

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1788&h=398115219&tid=&pid=&queryId=d68faa7dd4bb5fd7c215a9098b9650bd&usePUB=true&_phsrc=qxF135&_phstart=successSource

1986 mother's obituary in Southern Illinoisan (matches St. Petersburg residence)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/83748613/?terms=james%2Bsallee

1993 and earlier, St. Petersburg City Directory

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1732&h=340568540&tid=&pid=&queryId=d68faa7dd4bb5fd7c215a9098b9650bd&usePUB=true&_phsrc=qxF134&_phstart=successSource

2003 VA death record

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2441&h=8296954&tid=&pid=&queryId=b733ea10dc3de40f18e6076154c40636&usePUB=true&_phsrc=qxF127&_phstart=successSource

2003 Social Security death record (shows last residence)

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=3693&h=71694174&tid=&pid=&queryId=172363fcbb4df371a379955293cfc9d2&usePUB=true&_phsrc=qxF131&_phstart=successSource

2003 US Veterans Gravesites

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8750&h=2672274&tid=&pid=&queryId=895d0cb39a8a46082624a3a3ee09efd9&usePUB=true&_phsrc=qxF157&_phstart=successSource

2003 Find a Grave Record

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49668064/orall-james-sallee

Please Support Our Ongoing Efforts

The soldiers of The Ghost Army used inflatable tanks, sound effects, and imagination to fool the Germans on the battlefields of Europe. The Ghost Army Legacy Project is ensuring that these men and their accomplishments are never forgotten.

Give via credit card by clicking the yellow “Donate” button.

Or, send a check to:

Ghost Army Legacy Project
1305 S. Michigan Ave. #1104
Chicago, IL 60605

All donations are tax-deductible!