James Thomas Violette
T/5 in Signal Co, Special : Radio HQ
Military occupational specialty: 766 (radio operator, high speed, manual)
ASN#38180513
Born 1921 in OK, Died 1994
County of residence at enlistment: Comanche County, OK
Other residence(s): Oakdale, OK; Lawton, OK; Moore, OK; Carnegie, OK; Oklahoma City, OK
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: sales clerks
Jim or "J.T." Violette was born on January 7, 1921 in Oklahoma City, OK, the oldest of three sons. His father was a veteran of World War I, and was working as a cook in a café around the time Jim was born. But sometime before 1930 he was committed to the National Military Home in Leavenworth, KS, a residence for disabled soldiers, and he remained there until his death in 1939 at the age of 50.
Jim and his mother and siblings went to live on his grandfather's farm in Oakdale, OK. Sometime around 1940, possibly after his father's death, Jim's family returned to Oklahoma City. Jim's mother went to work in a laundry, and Jim, who had completed two years of high school, got a job as a clerk in the statistical department of the state Board of Health.
He registered for the draft on February 14, 1942; by this time the family had moved to Lawton, OK, and he was working as a salesclerk at the Post Field Exchange at Fort Sill.
He enlisted a few months later, on July 23, 1942, and was assigned to the Army Signal Corps as a radio operator. He was stationed at Camp Crowder, MO and at Camp Ellis, IL before being assigned to the Ghost Army's Signal Company Special. He served in Europe with the unit, was discharged in September, 1945 with the rank of T/5, and returned to Oklahoma City. He and Bessie Martin were married on December 22, 1945; at the time they were both working at Tinker Air Force Base. In 1950 he was still working there; his job in the census is described as "taking care of the card files."
Jim and Bessie became the parents of three children: Loretta, Jenora, and Thomas. At some point the couple divorced; later Jim was in a relationship with Darlene Clark. He continued to work at Tinker, retiring in 1981 after 36 years of service there.
He died on July 30, 1994 in Oklahoma City, and is buried at Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Wheatland, OK.
Sources:
1930 census
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/95463002:6224?ssrc=pt&tid=8558636&pid=1930881995
1940 census
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/94484538:2442?ssrc=pt&tid=8558636&pid=1930881995
1942 draft card
1942 enlistment record
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2070537:8939?ssrc=pt&tid=8558636&pid=1930881995
1943 article in The Carnegie Herald (OK) re his military career
https://www.newspapers.com/image/873395790/?terms=james%20t%20violette&match=1
1944 article in The Carnegie Herald (OK) re his military career
https://www.newspapers.com/image/873388042/?terms=james%20t%20violette&match=1
1945 article in The Carnegie Herald (OK) re his marriage
https://www.newspapers.com/image/873397421/?terms=james%20t%20violette&match=1
1945 marriage record
1945 article in The Carnegie Herald (OK) re his military career
https://www.newspapers.com/image/873394433/?terms=james%20t%20violette&match=1
1950 census
1994 Find a Grave record
1994 Social Security death index
1994 obituary in The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK)