Eaves - Navy and Marines

James M. Eaves The Navy and the Marine Corps
James M. Eaves, born in Tennessee on January 6, 1919, enlisted in the U. S. Navy in 1939. He graduated from Navy Schools in Pharmacy, Nursing, Journalism, and Administrative Procedures. Eaves served as a Physician's Assistant, qualified for duty independent of a Medical Officer, and was a member of the U. S. Naval Team that set up hospitals during WW II. Eaves also served as the Senior Medical Department Representative on several vessels and units of the U. S. Marine Corps. He remained with the Navy until 1956, earning five Bronze Stars for Commanding Officer's Commendations and three Battle Stars. Eaves received the World War II Victory Medal, the American Defense Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Medal, the Navy Occupation Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific and Philippines Liberation Medals for service during World War II.	James M. Eaves
	In July of 1941, the United States Navy consisted of 1,899 vessels and 160,997 men and women. By July of 1945, the Navy had grown to 67,952 ships and 3,408,347 servicemen and women. The United States Marine Corps was a separate service within the Navy - they were the Navy's soldiers. In 1941, the Marine Corps consisted of 28,364 men; by 1945, there were 485,833 men and women in the Corps.
While the Navy and Marines served in both the Atlantic and Pacific, it was in the Pacific theatre that the U.S. Navy fought in the largest naval war in history. Although the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor crippled the American fleet, Japanese victories in Southeast Asia that had pushed the British out of Malaya, Burma, and Singapore by the end of February 1942, led the United States to assume overall command of the Pacific Theatre. Islands that most Americans had only read about in geography books became household names as the Allies "island hopped" across the Pacific to Tokyo.
Marine Corps Uniform U. S. Navy Uniforms Loan courtesy of Mr. James M. Eaves