Obituaries for the week of August 1, 2024 – The Observer News

Lt. Col. Donald W. JamesLt. Col. Donald W. James (USMC Ret.) died on July 22, 2024, after a brief illness. Don was born on July 29, 1940, in Chattanooga, TN. He was brought up on Lookout Mountain, TN. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1957 and over the next 28 years earned his way through the enlisted and officer ranks, ending his career with a Pentagon posting, giving briefings for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was deployed in Morocco, Viet Nam (42 combat months) and Central America. He retired from his beloved Corps in 1985. During his time in the Corps, Don served as an intelligence officer for many years, then as a tactical intelligence officer. He attended language school (Monterey, CA), where he learned to speak French and Vietnamese. He spent 38 weeks in a postgraduate intelligence course in 1974. He earned many citations during his service, including Bronze Star with Combat, Legion of Merit and multiple Purple Heart citations. One of his favorite memories of intelligence servi...