★★★ Memorial Monday ★★★
LTjg James Watkins '77, USN was lost on September 11, 1980 when the A-7E Corsair II he was piloting crashed during a practice bombing mission at Naval Weapons Center China Lake, California. He was a member of Attack Squadron (VA) 195.
Jim grew up in Chula Vista, California; his father was a Naval Aviator prior to his death when Jim was 11 years old.
He had earned his wings in September 1979 and had only been in VA-195 since June.
He was survived by his mother and three brothers. Jim was the second of the four boys; the third emailed in February 2024:
Without a father during our teen years, Dan and I looked up to Jim and Bob as role models. Bob was the studious one, whom we mostly went to for help with homework, and Jim we looked up to for everything else. He also made sure nothing bad happened to us. I remember one time when Dan was bullied by some kids around the corner from us. When Jim found out he was going to make sure it stopped, so he took us over there to have a talk with the kids. The issue was resolved peacefully and Dan was never bullied again.
As siblings we got along very well with each other. Of course we had our little squabbles and disagreements like any family, but never anything serious. There was the time I pushed Jim out the bedroom window when I was mad at him, and I had to lock every door to make sure he cooled off before I let him back in. But he convinced me that the longer I waited to let him in the worse it was going to be for me, so I let him in, he gave me a couple of short punches in the arm and that was it. Actually it was all in fun. In fact, we all often played together and had a lot of fun. Jim liked to demonstrate his wrestling moves on us, despite our insistence that it wasn’t necessary.
Jim was always looking for adventure as a youngster and was not afraid to take chances. Once, a friend was showing him how to ride his motorcycle. Jim rode it down the street, but not knowing how to stop it, he jumped the curb at the end of the street and crashed into the fountain in the yard of the house there. Jim never told my mom about it, but after he returned the bike to his friend, he went over to the house to apologize to the man who lived there. The man was impressed that Jim owned up to it and offered to pay for any damage. He said he wouldn’t tell our mom. Years later, when we were celebrating Jim’s graduation from Annapolis the story came up and my mom said it’s a good thing she never knew about it or she would have had a heart attack.
That’s all I will share for now. Jim was a wonderful brother. He was well liked and admired by us as well as all our friends. I still miss him and often wonder what it would have been like to have him around all these years. May he rest in peace.
To Honor! ⚓
https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/JAMES_D._WATKINS,_LTJG,_USN