WWII Vet Remembered for Different Kind of War Time Heroics
Reported by Angela An
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When Jim May was laid to rest near Pataskala on Saturday, many people remembered him for the special efforts he made during World War II to bring comfort to fellow prisoners of war, and their worriedÊfamilies back home.
ÒHe was a wonderful officerÉ a smart man. Good to his friends and everybody,Ó friend and fellow veteran Chris Georgeff said through choked-back, remembering Jim.
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It was a difficult goodbye to his long-time friend, who joined the U.S. Armed Forces in 1942.
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Jim MayÕs four brothers also served during World War II.
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ÒThere were five of us. And they drafted all of us,Ó Roy May said.
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Roy was the best man at JimÕs wedding. He described how two years after they all were drafted, Lt. Col. Jim May was shot down over Munich, Germany. But after evading the enemy for 13 days, Jim was eventually captured and made a prisoner of war.
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ÒThey walked barefooted in the snow. And he weighed 70 pounds when he got out,Ó Roy said.
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While being held by the Germans, Jim May wrote letters home to his parents, assuring them he was ok. May also wrote letters to the families of other soldiers to tell them their sons and brothers and husbands were also surviving.
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Many of those families wrote back, thanking May for sharing the good news.
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But something else May did earned him even more praise and more honor than any medal could bestow.
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The eldest of MayÕs eight children explained what else it was that made her fatherÕs service special.
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ÒWhen he went to a 40th anniversary of POWs, some of the men still had the cup that he had given to them as a gift when they came into the POW camp,Ó recalled Mary Ann Thurkettle.
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Forty years after the war ended, May finally received his Purple Heart.
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Amidst the crackle of a 21-gun salute and the trumpeting of ÒTaps,Ó Jim May was buried.
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Friends and family noted a great, gentle man is gone. But his story... his legacy remains for generations to remember.
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