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Brief Description
James L. Cummings was a Private, 1st Class
of the Army. He occupied troops after World War II. He policed troops and
guarded prisoners.
Pre War
In 1927, James Leslie Cummings, A.K.A. Jim, was born
in Grove City, PA to Thomas Parquette and
Mildred Cummings. He was originally named Robert William Parquette, but
shortly after his birth, his parents divorced and his mother changed his
name to James Leslie Cummings and had a second birth certificate created.
His father remarried and had a son named Ralph Parquette, who was Jim's
half brother. His mother remarried William Cook and they had five more
children, giving Jim three half-brothers and two half-sisters with the Cook
name. He was raised by his maternal grandparents. A warm man with lots of
stories, Jim was never very talkative about his childhood, nor did he talk
much about his time in the Korean War. He attended Grove City public schools and then went
straight to Indian Town Gap, Pennsylvania. Even though he was a good
student he never went to college. He grew up on a farm and helped his
family, so he never really time for had hobbies or fun for himself.
Military
James was enlisted and accepted for active duty on August 28, 1945. He was just a little over 18 years when he joined
the military. In high school, with World War II going on, he did think
about going to the army. World War II had been going on for four years
before he enter the military. James received his basic training at Indian
Town Gap, Pennsylvania, then
he went to Camp Craft, South Carolina for seventeen weeks. He
trained for weapon wielding, automatic weapons, being a marksmen, rifles,
and launching attachment grenades. After his basic training they shipped
him right out to Korea, having no more advanced or
specific job training.
Wartime Military
James
traveled to the war zone by ship in August, 1945. He first landed and was
stationed in Korea. His tour began in 1954. His job
duties included warehousing and military prisoner guard, in which he
assisted military police. He wasn't in the front lines because his group were sent to clean up after the war. He did see
the enemy, which led him to his most frightening and most interesting war
experience of getting shot by an escaped prisoner. He was especially good
with rifles and automatic weapons. James did meet POWs because he was in
charge of them. They most impressive weapon use by an ally was an M1 rifle.
Jim met a lot of civilians and he found them to be nice and grateful for
all his help. He never attended a USO show because he was only in the
military for a little more then a year. He regularly wrote to other friends
who were simultaneously serving in the Iraq war. The highest rank Jim
received was private, first class. He didn't get any promotions because
that's where he started. He received many medals, but one important one was
Expert Marksmen. He was shipped home from the war zone because his
grandfather, who was like a father to Jim, was sick. He got honorably
discharged from Camp Lee, Virginia on November
24, 1946,
after all the prisoners were shipped to jails.
Post War
James
L. Cummings didn't wait for his tour to end because when he was discharged,
he went right home to help his family with the farm and to get a new job.
His first job was at Cooper Bessamer, a manufacturing business in Pennsylvania. James met his spouse,
Bernice Hancox through his friends and married in 1949. One of James'
children, Larry, went to the Navy for nine years form 1969 to 1978. Jim's
career was working at Cooper Bessamer for forty years. He always lived in Grove City, Pennsylvania. James belonged to
organizations, including Pennsylvania State Grange, in which members farmed
and met to keep up with what went on in agriculture. James' hobbies were
hunting, boating, fishing, and camping. Jim belonged to the Masons. He died
young in his early fifties of a rapidly spreading lung cancer, shortly
after his retirement from Cooper Bessamer. In addition to his wife and three sons, Jim
left this world with two grandsons and two granddaughters whom he loved
very much.
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