Last Update 14:05 pm cdt 07 June 2008
James Wesley Mincy
22 July 1918 to 5 July 1979
James "Jim" Wesley Mincy was born 22 July 1918 in Waynesboro County, Wayesboro,
Mississippi. He arrived in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas,
on "...one cold and rainy night in October [1920], at the old Sante Fe Railroad
station downtown [in Fort Worth]."
He came here as a child with his father Robert Paine Mincy (1880-1955),
his mother Lillian Beatrice Monroe Mincy, and his two sisters, Lillian
Irene Mincy [1916-1993], and an older brother, Robert Paine Mincy [1912-1993], Jr.
His younger sister Mary Louise Mincy [still living]was born in Fort Worth, in 1922,
and his younger brother Jack Mincy was born in 1925 in Fort Worth [1925-2006].
James Wesley Mincy attended Fort Worth's Diamond Hill's Elementary School [ca. 1926];
the Diamond Hills Junior High School [ca .1932]; and then transferred to Fort Worth's
Technical High School, from which he graduated in ca. 1935. James Mincy had studied
in Machine School, and eventually became a master machinist.
Sometime between his graduation ca. in 1935, and 1940, James Wesley Mincy had joined
the US Army Air Corps. Jim attained the rank of Sergent by 1940, when he was assigned
to an air base in Jan Juan, Puerto Rico, where he was the "crew chief" of a Douglas
B-18 flying "boat" bomber plane. And like many American military personel of today,
Jim augmented his pay with income he earned, as a "distributor" of Puerto Rican Rum.
Jim came to like and respect the Latin people and their life-style, most especially
the Puerto Rican life-style very much, that even near his death in 1979, his favorite
song was "Blue Spanish Eyes".
A tale he told often in the late 1970's, was that in May 1940, immediately after the fall
of France to Germany in WWII, their crews (about 100 B-18's in all ) were awakened to a
"mission briefing". Here they were told the US State Department had requested the War
Department, to lanuch a "pre-emptive" air-strike against the French naval facilities on the
island of Martinique. They were afraid that the Germans would use these bases to attack
American and allied sa vessels. This is what the Germans did, later, in fact do. But, after
waiting for 30 minutes on the flight-line, with engines running, the crews were ordered to
return to their hangers, and be de-briefed about the mission. The mission had been
called-off. They were told, during this de-briefing, to "forget" the mission had ever been
called. No explaination was ever given to these men for calling-off the "mission".
In March 1979, with his nephew Michael, Jim finally did arrive in Martinique. Jim
and Michael tour the island, and located the 17th century fortress Jim was originally
supposed to destroy. It was still filled with French warships, as it still is today.
After a very enjoyable time of three days there, Jim and Michael returned home.
Shortly after America's entry into WWII, Jim and his life-long friend from Diamond Hills,
Fort Worth, decided they wanted to become officers in the Army. So they enlisted in the
US Army's officer school in Fort Benning, Georgia, ca. 1942. From other Army "candidates",
they soon learned, that the life-span of an infantry officer was very, very short, so they
began to do things to purposely flunk out of officer school. One day, after reviewing Jim's
now failing performance, the commanding officer at Fort Benning, a General, called Jim into
his office, and told him point-blank, "Mincy...I get the feeling you don't won't to be an officer
in the United States Army!", to which "Jim" said, "No Sir !" "Get the 'hell' out of my office!"
Immediately after this, Jim and his friend were both ordered to troop ships on the Gulf coast,
then shipped straight to Karachi, British West India (modern day Pakistan). From there, they were placed on a cargo plane
and flown to Burma, from which they had to fly the "Burma Hump" (Himalayan Mountains) into China,
loaded with men and supplies. Jim stayed there untill the end of the War. By the end of WWII,
he attained the rank of Sergent First Class , and as an American serving in this theater of War, he wore
along with all Allied soldiers, the offical "Republic of China" patch on his uniform, to let
the Chinese soldiers and citizens know, that these were "allies" of China, during WWII.
After the end of the war, Jim worked as a master Machinist for the CAA (US Civil Aviation
Agency. It was Jim who helped his younger brother Jack Mincy, gain employment with the CAA
(now FAA - Federal Aviation Administration).
By the 1950's, Jim worked as a master machinist for the Manasco Manufacturing Company, in far
east Fort Worth. Jim eventually became the superintendant for this plant, but he suffered
a major heart-attack in 1967. Jim did not return to work at Manasco again untill ca. 1974.
Jim continued to work at Manasco as a third-shift manager, untill his death by heart attack,
while sitting at his desk at his job, at mid-night on July 4, 1979. He died at Harris Methodist
Hospital, HEB (Bedford, Texas) the next day. He is buried at the Mount Olivet Cemetery, on
North Sylvania Street, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas.
James "Jim" Wesley Mincy married Dorothy Marie Smith, before he was sent to Burma during WWII. His children are:
1. Janis Dian Mincy - Born 6 January 1947
2. Dennis James Mincy - Born 1 June 1948
3. David Wesley Mincy - Born 9 July 1959
James "Jim" Wesley Mincy has been, and always will be, Greatly missed by his Loving
immediate Family, and by his Loving extended family, as well as by all the many, many
friends he has left behind. "Jim", you left three and more generations behind who
love and miss you.