On the west wall of the sanctuary, the WWII Roll of Honor lists those members of St. James’ who served their country in the second World War. It was given in 1945 in memory of William Caveny Eberle Jr. (1924-1945), by his mother and step father, Mr. & Mrs. John McClellan Withrow.

Serving in the Pacific near the end of the war, 21-year-old Ensign Eberle, USNR, was a fighter pilot on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Hancock. From March 16 to July 16, 1945, his squadron attacked Japanese shipping and air fields on and around Wake Island and the Japanese mainland. Ensign Eberle flew 21 missions, his last on July 17, 1945. That day, he did not return. Four weeks later, Japan surrendered and the war was over.

Ensign Eberle was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism. He is remembered with our Roll of Honor, and in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the Courts of the Missing, where his name is carved in stone alongside those of 28,777 other American sailors, soldiers and aviators missing in action or buried at sea. A stone reads, “In these gardens are recorded the names of Americans who gave their lives in the service of their country and whose earthly resting place is known only to God.”

Ensign Eberle’s name is at the top of the center column on the roll, with a gold star, flanked by two other names with gold stars: Lawton L. Davis and William D. Murphy.

First Lieutenant Lawton Davis, the son of Major & Mrs. Thomas F. Davis of West Lake Road, was killed in action near Beck, Belgium, in January of 1945. Lt. Davis, a 1943 graduate of West Point, found himself leading a company of G.I.s during the Battle of the Bulge; after a heavy artillery barrage, which wounded many of his men, Lt. Davis led a small patrol to attack the oncoming German infantry, and diverted attention away from those of his men who were attempting to evacuate the wounded. His actions enabled the wounded to escape to safety, but cost him his life. His was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action, posthumously. Lt. Davis had been married in June of 1944 to Francis Minter of Roanoke, Virginia; she lost both her husband and her brother during the Battle of the Bulge. In December of 1947, final burial services were held at West Point, attended by the Davis family and the Rev. Henry Scott Miller, rector of St. James’ Episcopal Church.

William Murphy was the son of Mr. & Mrs. J. Leon Murphy of E. Lake Street; he enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked, and rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant in the United States Army Air Corps; he served as a crewman on a B-24 Liberator bomber. On May 11, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force was assigned to bomb railroad yards in Troyes, France, prior to the Normandy invasion. En route, the flight ran into heavy flak; Sgt. Murphy’s B-24 was hit. The pilot and co-pilot managed to crash land the plane and escape, as did another crew member who bailed out before the landing. But the B-24, probably still carrying its bomb load, exploded on the ground; seven crew members, William Murphy among them, perished.