A SALUTE TO JIM McDANIEL ONE OF MANY HEROES

Jim McDaniel, Class of 1960, was in the Air Force serving his country for 23 years.

He met two Monongah High graduates during those 23 years, Sam Bearden and Larney Cain, both from Carolina. Jim grew up in Worthington at 103 Maple Avenue. He was there in the 1940s and 1950s. He left Worthington in 1960 to begin his Air Force career.

Ronald Larry Cain was Class of 1961 and later lived in Monongah. Dennis Cain was Class of 1963. Larney Cain was Class of 1958.

o    Jim’s son, also named Jim McDaniel, of course, just as I am the 2^nd of 5 John Oleskys in my family.  Jimmy was in the Air Force for 21 years but was never stationed outside America. Jimmy was born in Nurenburg, Germany in 1964.

Papa Jim lives in Behoboth Beach, Delaware in Sussex County with 1,400 other people. The temporary population swells to 25,000 when the summit tourists including Senators and members of the House in Congress from Washington, D.C. show up. The first Europeans arrived in that area in the 17^th century and drove out the Delaware tribe. Behoboth Beach was founded in 1873 as a site for Methodist camp meetings and incorporated in 1891.  

Jim is the last survivor of the McDaniel generation that lived in Worthington. He has 10 great-grandchildren, the oldest named after Jim and a string of James McDaniels who lives in Charleston where Jim’s grandson is a lawyer.

Jim was best friends with John Moore, Class of 1956, for more than 70 years till John passed away after his 5^th battle with cancer. And Jim Nottingham, Class of 1961, who passed away in 2018.

Jim Nottingham met monthly in Worthington with Edward Burley, Class of 1962, widower of Katherine Ely Burley; Roy “Jaybird” Murphy, Class of 1966; Joe McCullough, Class of 1962; David  Willis, Class of 1961; Clifford Morgan, Class of 1961; Harold Maze, Class of 1961; Wilbur Smith, Class of 1960; and Howard Shuttlesworth Jr., Class of 1972.

Jim Nottingham was a lifelong friend of the late Nelson Jay Starcher, Class of 1960, who married Karen Cool Starcher. Jim Nottingham, Robert Harbert and Harold Maze once went together to Rehoboth Beach to have a reunion with Jim McDaniel. Harold Kniceley also visited Jim McDaniel at Behoboth Beach.

Jim McDaniel and Jim Nottingham were Worthington Grade School patrol patrol boys together who made a 3-day trip to Washington, D.C. as their reward. Jim Nottingham missed a year of school at Monongah High after being shot in a hunting accident near Harter Hill.

Linda Nottingham Willis, Class of 1964, a majorette and class officer at Monongah High, and John T. “Tommy” Nottingham, Class of 1968, married to Victoria Blocker Nottingham, Class of 1969, are related to Jim.

 

The late Virginia was a daughter of Richard Blocker and Lucille Loss Blocker, who was a daughter of J.B. Loss, father of Arnold Loss, who married Suzanne Barr Loss, and Josephine Dieling Loss.

At my request, Jim provided me with a list of his Air Force stations:

2 Times in Hof, Germany. 5 kilometers from the Czech Border.

Berlin, Germany 3 years.

Shemy Alaka in the Aleutians, hell on earth. 1,250 miles from the mainland. 2 miles by 4 miles.

 Wakkanai, Japan, as far north as you can go. Soviets right across the water.

Osan, AB, Korea for 1 year.

A little time in Thailand.

Time in the states at the National Security Agency, Ft. Meade, Maryland.

Had lots of adventures and many many guys from other states. Was in the USAF Security Security..

Only met 2 guys from Monongah High in my travels, Sam Bearden and Larney Cain both from Carolina Both now deceased.