SF2c James Mitchell Lindsay

James Mitchell Lindsay is the namesake of both American Legion Post 164 in his family’s hometown of Citronelle, Alabama 30 miles north of Mobile, and of the Zeiler-Owens-Lindsay VFW Post 6482 in his wife’s hometown of Holyoke in Colorado’s northeast corner.

Mr. Lindsay, born June 12, 1918 in Alabama, was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.  He was a shipfitter and petty officer second class.

He was the son of John Lindsay, a cotton farmer, and Carrie Drummond Lindsay, a homemaker and saleswoman at a dry goods store. The  father died in 1935. Mr. Lindsay enlisted in September 1937.

In 1939 he married Winifred Ana Martha Lindsay in California and their son, Terril, was born the next year. At the time of her husband’s death, Mrs. Lindsay and Terril were living in Holyoke.

Two other men with Holyoke ties died on the Arizona, Richard Allen Owens and John Virgel Zeiler. It is likely they knew each other even before they were assigned to the ship. Holyoke was small — population 1,150 in 1940. They grew up there. Owens was born in 1917 and Zeiler in 1923. Both men were remembered at a joint memorial service in 1942. Owens was a storekeeper and petty officer second class at the time of his death. Zeiler was a seaman first class.

Within two weeks of Mr. Lindsay’s death his younger brother, Fletcher, enlisted in the Navy. He served until September 1945.

Sources: US Census, California marriage record, The Denver Post, Social Security death index; Veterans Affairs Administration; Defense Department. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.