After
graduating from Central High School in Pueblo, CO, James L.
Turner enrolled at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He
completed his freshman and sophomore years and began his junior
year at CC but quit to join the Marines on September 22, 1966.
He reported to Camp Pendleton, CA on November 7, 1966.
After boot
camp he was assigned to combat training which was due to begin
on February 4, 1967. Instead he was reassigned to radio
telegraph school which began on February 25, 1967. After
successfully completely radio school and spending leave time
back in Colorado in the summer of 1967, Jim was assigned to the
Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA to learn to speak
Vietnamese.
Jim
successfully completed the language course and arrived in
Vietnam on November 24, 1967 where he was assigned to the 1st
Reconnaissance Battalion in a Headquarters and Support Company
on Hill 148. Early in 1968 he was part of the convoy that went
into Hue after it was liberated. By March 9, 1968, Jim was
reassigned to a letter company, Company “A”, responsible for
field reconnaissance. James L. Turner was killed in a mortar
attack while out on patrol in the early morning hours of April
26, 1968. Once President Johnson began to cut back on the
bombing of North Vietnam, the Viet Cong flooded into the South.
Radio telegraph operators like Jim suffered 70% casualties.
Written by James Turner's sister 2007
