This is an article from the Montrose Daily News in Montrose, CO, about a man named James McGinley on the occasion of his 100th birthday this past June. He's my great uncle, and has always been known to me in family stories as Uncle Jimmy. He fought in WWII and took a piece of shrapnel to the lung during the Battle of the Bulge. They weren't able to extract the shrapnel, and he's been getting along fine with just one lung since then.
I've never had the chance to meet Uncle Jimmy, but I feel like I've come to know him through stories told and retold. And this article just reinforces something I already knew: I'm very proud to call this man part of my family.
By Katie Langford, Daily Press Staff Writer
Thursday, June 11, 2015
James McGinley 's earliest memories are not of birthday parties or favorite toys. What sticks in his mind is soldiers coming home from World War I when he was 4.
McGinley celebrated his 100th birthday this month, and while he's lived through the invention of the short-wave radio and television, bubblegum and penicillin, he's also lived through what millions did not -McGinley is a veteran of World War II, one of 850,000 still alive in the United States today.
He is one of the reminders of what was accomplished by the greatest generation, but McGinley remains humble about his life and his service in the military.
McGinley was drafted in the height of the war and served for a short time in the 82nd Airborne division before being transferred to the 4th Armored Division to fight in the Battle of the Bulge.
"We were assigned to spearhead the drive into Bastogne (Belgium) to save the 101st Airborne," McGinley said. "(Gen. George) Patton took no nonsense from anyone, and we took off and fought our way through several towns."
McGinley was wounded on Dec. 24, 1944, eight days into the battle.
"Mortar shells took off the front of the tank that we were following and the one at the back of us, so we knew the third one would pretty well target us," he said. "They dropped it in and it landed right behind me. I don't know how far it flew me, but I was pretty well incapacitated."
McGinley landed in a ditch next to his lieutenant, mortar shrapnel embedded in his arm and shoulder, and watched his platoon forge ahead.
"One guy went on with a tank, and about 100 feet up the road got a direct hit with an 88 (anti-tank gun) and everyone was killed. We were kind of in (the middle) of everything, and we could see Bastogne from where we were," he said.
McGinley bounced between hospitals and was eventually discharged from Walter Reed Army Hospital six months later.
McGinley received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service, as well as numerous other awards.
While McGinley is reticent when it comes to the details of combat, he is blunt about his perception of war.
"(Civil War Gen.) Sherman said war is hell, and so right he is. War is hell, and there's no other way to describe an all-out war," McGinley said. "I hope that kids today never experience the horrors of war, because it's terrible, killing people or anticipating whether or not you're going to be killed. I pray that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren never experience a war."
After the war, McGinley returned to his job at Liggett & Myers Tobacco, Co., where he eventually became director of government sales. When the company was moved from New York to North Carolina, McGinley retired at 57 and began volunteering at a prison hospital with his wife, Grace.
After she passed away, McGinley moved to Montrose to be closer to his children, where he continued to volunteer at Montrose Memorial Hospital in radiology for 12 years.
These days, McGinley said he enjoys crossword puzzles, watching TV, exercising and spending time with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
For a man who met J. Edgar Hoover and Richard Nixon and paid 89 cents to watch Babe Ruth play at Yankee Stadium, his complaints about slowing down in life are few.
"My kids don't let me drive anymore," he said.
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