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Contact Info
Home Town Charleston, Tennessee
Last Address Florida
Date of Passing Apr 09, 1945
Location of Interment Calhoun Community Cemetery - Calhoun, Tennessee
He was credited with destroying 17 enemy aircraft in aerial combat. He was killed in a plane crash in Pinellas, FL. A bridge on US Highway 11 over the Hiwassee River is named for him. The bridge is between Charleston, TN, his home town, and Calhoun, TN and is very near where he is buried in the Calhoun Community Cemetery.
Synopsis of his Silver Star citation: Awarded for actions during World War II
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: James S. Varnell, Jr., United States Army Air Forces, was awarded the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving with the FIFTEENTH Air Force in the Mediterranean Theater of Action during World War II.
General Orders: Headquarters, 15th Air Force, General Orders No. 2341 (1944)
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Air Offensive, Europe Campaign (1942-44)/Operation Strangle
From Month/Year
March / 1943
To Month/Year
January / 1944
Description Operation Strangle was a series of air interdiction operations during the Italian Campaign of World War II by the United States Fifteenth and Twelfth Air Forces to interdict German supply routes in Italy north of Rome from March 24, 1943, until the fall of Rome in spring 1944. Its aim was to prevent essential supplies from reaching German forces in central Italy and compel a German withdrawal. The strategic goal of the air assault was to eliminate or greatly reduce the need for a ground assault on the region. Although the initial goal of forcing the enemy to withdraw was not achieved, the air interdiction of Operation Strangle played a major role in the success of the subsequent ground assault Operation Diadem.
Two principal interdiction lines were maintained across the narrow boot of Italy. This meant that no through trains were able to run from the Po Valley to the front line, and that south of Florence substantially all supplies had to be moved by truck. The operation employed medium bombers and fighter bombers over a 150-square-mile (390 km2) area from Rome to Pisa and from Pescara to Rimini.
