S1c James Austin Menefee
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S1c James Austin Menefee
James Austin Menefee was born Sept. 6, 1922 at Fairbury in southeast Nebraska. His mother, Ethel Palmer Menefee, was a homemaker and his father, Cecil Lafayette Menefee, a grocery store employee.
The parents divorced in 1926. The 1930 Census said James, his mother, and a younger brother lived with his widowed grandfather in Fairbury.
By the time he applied to enlist in the Navy in November 1939 he said he’d completed 9th grade at Technical High School in Memphis, Tennessee. His father lived in Memphis in 1940 and later in Jackson, Mississippi. James also said he served in the National Guard in Roanoke, Virginia. His mother lived in Roanoke in the late 1930s.
When James enlisted on Dec. 16, 1939 at Nashville, Tennessee, he was not old enough to serve without parental consent because he was under age 18. His enlistment papers show no such consent. But the Navy was non the wiser because James told them he was born Sept. 26, 1921.
Why he lied about his birth year is unknown, but he was hardly alone in doing so. Jobs were hard to come by in the Great Depression, especially for teens competing against experienced, older men. Entry-level sailors were paid $21 a month — not much — but the work was steady and came with room and board.
Mr. Menefee was a seaman first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
Mr. Menefee’s brother, Richard, was a radioman and petty officer second class in the Navy during World War II.
Sources: The Fairbury (Nebraska) Journal; the Lancaster (Ohio) Eagle-Gazette; U.S. Veterans Administration master index; Nebraska Birth Index; Census; Navy enlistment records and muster roll; Roanoke, Virginia, city directory; Ohio marriage licenses; grave marker; the Jackson (Mississippi) Daily News. Note: The Nebraska birth index says he was born Sept. 6, 1922, and his hometown newspaper reported it the next week. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.