James Franklin Bell (1931 - 2014)

Capt. James Bell was a Prisoner of War for 2676 days during the Vietnam War.

Biography

Capt. James Bell served in the United States Navy in the Vietnam War
Service started: Jul 1954
Unit(s): RA5-C Squadron
Service ended: Oct 1979

Birth and Early Life

Capt. James Franklin Bell was born on 29 April 1931 in Arkron, Summit, Ohio, USA. ^[1] His father was employed by Goodyear and they moved to several different states including several in New York and Cumberland, Maine. ^[2]

Education

Jim graduated from high school in 1948 in Akron, Summit, Ohio. He then attended two years at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. He went to the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Anne Arundel, Maryland and graduated in 1954.^{[3] [4]}

He worked on and received a Master's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California from 1959 until graduation in June 1962 and a Master's Degree in Administration from George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia.

He attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C. from August 1974 to November 1975.

Marriages

He married twice.

1. Holly Hollister in San Diego, California on 28 July 1957. They divorced.
2. Dora Bessie Smith Griffin of Alexandria.^[5]She had two children from her first marriage, James F. Griffin and Dr. Carrie Griffin.

Children of the Bell-Hollister Marriage

1. Tom Bell
2. Matthew Bell
3. Ann Bell

Military Service

Upon graduation from Annapolis, he was commissioned as an Ensign on 4 June 1954. Then he completed flight training at Pensacola Naval Air Station, Escambia County, Florida to gain his designation as Naval Aviator in November 1955. From there he went to and completed All Weather Intercept Flight Training in February 1956. He spent four years in two F-4D Skyray Squadrons in San Diego, California.

After gaining his first Master's Degree, he went to Naval Air Station Sanford in Sanford, Seminole, Florida to fly with the VAH-1 Squadron in the A3J-1 Vigilante. He stayed there for three years. That squadron had its designation changed to RA-5C and they went aboard the USS Independence, where they served in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam.

Prisoner of War from 16 October 1965 to 12 February 1973.^[6]

He was one of the first American service personnel to be captured in the Vietnamese conflict. On 16 October 1965, while flying a low altitude reconnaissance mission in a RA-5C Vigilante north of Haiphong, Lieutenand Commander Bell was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. ^[7]

He ejected over the sea. He and his crewman, Duffy (James L. Hutton) Hutton, spent about 30 minutes in the water before they were picked up by local fishermen in sampans. They tied him to the mast of the boat and were then taken ashore where the locals beat and kicked them en route to the first prison camp. ^[8]

Bell underwent beatings, solitary confinement, near starvation and intense filth. He spent months in leg irons for refusing to fill out a questionnaire that he thought might be used by the North Vietnamese for propaganda.^[9]

He was among the first group to be released in Operation Homecoming on 12 February 1973.

He was flown out on C-141 Tail number 50243 from Gia Lam Airport, Hanoi, North Vietnam at 1405 hours and arrived at Clark Air Base, Philippines at 1655 hours.

After release from incarceration, he spent some time rehabilitating at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. After obtaining more education in 1974 to November 1975, he was commanding officer of Fleet Composite Squadron 7 in San Diego, California. Then he served in the Naval Air Systems Command until his retirement.^[10]

Honors

His Second Silver Star Citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while interned as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam. During the period January to June 1967, his captors, completely ignoring international agreements, subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Through his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly toward the eventual abandonment of harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese, which was attracting international attention. By his determination, courage, resourcefulness, and devotion to duty, he reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces.

1. 2 Silver Stars
2. 2 Legions of Merit with V Device
3. Distinguished Flying Cross
4. Bronze Star with V Device and 1 Gold Star
5. 2 Purple Hearts
6. Air Medals with 2 Stars
7. NavyCombat Action Ribbon

The entire ribbon set is available here.

Residence

He and his family resided in Alexandria, Virginia from 1975 until his death.

Retirement from the United States Navy

Captain Bell retired on 1 March 1979 at the age of 47.^[11]

Later Life

After retiring from the United States Navy, he worked as an engineering consultant for A.T. Kearney and other firms in the Washington, D.C. area.

In 1988 he received a severe injury in a scuba diving accident in Cozumel, Mexico which brought about his second retirement.

He volunteered for the Corporate Angels Network and for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. He also headed a program called Veterans Against Drugs.^[12]

Death and Burial

Captain Bell died on 30 September 2014 at a care facility in Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia, USA at the age of 83 from complications of Parkinson Disease. ^{[13] [14]}

Burial at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington, Virginia on 20 March 2015.

Find A Grave: Memorial #143749643

Sources

• Ohio Birth Index, 1908-1965.
• NAM POW, Inc.
• Pow network.org click here [1]
• Obituary in The Washington Post. Can read entire obituary** here
• Wyatt, Barbara Powers. We Came Home. Toluca Lake, CA: P.O.W. Publications, 1977.
• Find A Grave Index.
• Ruston Daily Leader, Ruston, Louisiana on 23 December 1970, page 8 entitled: List of U.S. Prisoners in North Vietnam. They are broken down by state of record (not birth). Jim is in the Maryland section in Lavale.
• Bob Jellison RA-5C Vigilante history. A very complete record of the service of this aircraft is found here

Footnotes

1. ↑ OH Birth
2. ↑ POW Network
3. ↑ POW Network
4. ↑ Vet Trib
5. ↑ Her first husband,CDR James Lloyd Griffin (1932-1967), died as a POW in Vietnam.
6. ↑ NAM POW
7. ↑ Something to remember about the tactical reconnaissance squadrons is that they were, as they so succinctly put it, Alone, Unarmed, and scared to death. (Not exactly the words of the pilots in the third part, but cleaner.) They were sent in over enemy territory in unarmed, usually unescorted, aircraft to look over what our people with bombs and guns had accomplished many times in just an hour before they flew. They were as often as not met by very angry people. The odds of them being shot down were huge and yet they went and did their jobs for their country. It has since been proven that our government actually notified the enemy beforehand that these airplanes were coming. At the end of his life, United States Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara openly admitted doing this and it is well documented in his tell all book ( I hate to even mention it, but it's called In Retrospect--The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam.) where he tries to purge his conscience.
8. ↑ POW Network
9. ↑ POW Network
10. ↑ Vet Trib
11. ↑ Vet Trib
12. ↑ NAM POW
13. ↑ NAM POW
14. ↑ POW Network

Acknowledgements