James P. O’Neal served with Company D, First Battalion, 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division in the European Theater. He was killed in action in Normandy. He was initially buried at La Cambe Cemetery at Isigny, France and reburied at Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France, Plot H, Row 16, Grave 19.
James was the son of James Polk O’Neal and Clair Estell Kile and had siblings Beulah, Rella, Mamie, Mary, Clara, Blanche, Edith and Dorothy, all born in Tennessee.
In 1939 James married Vesta Gail ‘Jerry’ Bates, daughter of Thomas and Ethel Massengill Bates, and they were parents of a daughter, Patricia Gale O’Neal born 14 Feb. 1940, who married Dr. Keith William Harrison.
- Rank: First Sergeant
- Date of death: 15 July 1944
- County: Bradley
- Hometown: Cleveland
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division
- Theater: Europe
- Conflict: World War II
- Battles: Normandy Campaign
- Awards: Purple Heart, Combat Infantrymans Badge
- Burial/Memorial Location: Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France
- Location In Memorial: Pillar VII, Top Panel
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