Colonel James Taylor Jr.

Colonel James Taylor Jr. Colonel James Taylor Jr. of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, died on June 3, 2010. Visitation will be held on Tuesday June 8, 4-6pm at The Island Funeral Home. A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 12:30pm at St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Interment will follow immediately at Beaufort National Cemetery with full military honors. There will be a reception in Parish Hall, St. Luke's Church following the burial. Colonel Taylor was born on August 25, 1915 in Temple, Texas, the son of the late James Taylor IX and Caroline Elizabeth Crawford. He spent his early years in La Junta, Colorado and attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. where he was graduated in June of 1938 and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery. Colonel Taylorës first assignment was Fort Bragg, N.C. In March of 1942 his Pack Artillery unit was moved to New Caledonia in the South Pacific. In February 1943 he was transferred to the Americal Infantry Divison and served a total of 44 months in the Pacific with assignments in Guadalcanal, Fiji, Bougainville and the Philippines before being stationed in Japan with occupation forces. His military awards include the Silver Star, Legion of Merit w/cluster, Soldier's Medal, Bronze Star w/ cluster, Air Medal and Commendation Ribbon w/cluster. On his return to the United States, Colonel Taylor was assigned to 4th Army Headquarters at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. There he met and married his wife, Charlotte M. Roehm. Subsequent assignments took him to the Command & General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KN., Fort Monroe Va., Fort Sill, Okla., Nuclear Weapons School, Sandia Base, N.M., Far East Command, Tokyo and Naval War College, Newport, R.I. He took parachute training with 11th Airborne Divison at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and then gyroscoped with the Division to Augsburg, Germany. He subsequently was assigned to the 7th Army Headquarters in Stuttgart. In December 1958 he returned to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and was given assignments in intelligence. Later in 1962 he was assigned to South Korea where he was Chief of the Civil Affairs and Military Government Section and retired from the military service in June 1967. After retirement from the military he worked in Washington, DC for over 12 years, the last ten was with the Washington Office of Babcock & Wilcox Co. In 1971 he received a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University. In November of 1979 Colonel Taylor and his family moved to Hilton Head Island, SC. He was a member of the Army Navy Country Club (Washington, D.C.) and the Sea Pines Country Club. He served on the vestry of Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, was active in tennis and golf, was a member of the Senior Men's Golf Association, and for 13 years served a tennis line umpire for the U.S. Tennis Association. He spent many years as a member of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistant Program of the IRS and was very active in the Hilton Head Island Astronomy Club. Colonel Taylor is survived by: his wife of 64 years, Charlotte R. Taylor, one daughter, Dr. Cynthia A. Taylor of Cleveland, Ohio; three grandsons, Christopher D., Daniel J. and Andrew D. Taylor-Shaut: three granddaughters, Alison T. Struppa, Melanie T. MacDonald and Lindsey T. Stanley; and two great grandsons, Nico T. Struppa and William T. MacDonald. He was predeceased by one daughter, Carolyn T. Stanley of Petaluma, California. Memorials may be made to the Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, 50 Pope Avenue, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina 29928 or to the charity of your choice.