Following Pearl Harbor James Woodrow Ward reenlisted as a private in the US Army on August 19, 1942 and eventually wound up in the air gunnery school at the newly built Tyndall Air Base outside Panama City, Florida. He completed the five-week course on November 10, 1942. Due to his progress in the school he was made a staff sergeant and kept at the school as an instructor. Ironically, one of his first students happened to be the world-famous Hollywood legend Clark Gable. James remembers that the silver screen heart throb wasn’t one of his best students, but he did manage to graduate from the course, not that the Army would have ever allowed him to flunk anyway. The actor’s journey into Sergeant Ward’s class began with the tragic death of his wife, the famous actress Carole Lombard, killed in a plane crash during a war bond tour. Clark was absolutely devastated by his wife’s untimely and tragic death and reacted by enlisting as a private in the Army Air Corps in 1942 at the advanced age of 41-years old.
After OCS, Clark’s next stop was Sergeant James Woodrow Ward’s gunnery class where the Pensacola High School graduate from the Class of 1937 was one of those selected to give him personal training. On one occasion, Ward’s parents visited him and as they were walking down a sidewalk on the base, Gable came by in a jeep and yelled out, “Hey, Ward!” Oscar and Carrie Ward were shocked and excited to see the great Clark Gable yelling in recognition of their own son. Gable completed the aerial gunnery school on January 6, 1943 and was assigned to make a motion picture about aerial gunners of the 8th Air Force. The purpose of the film was to recruit young men into this area of combat that was experiencing extremely heavy casualties at the time. Gable personally flew five combat missions over Europe in a B-17 bomber to obtain the footage for his upcoming promotional film. During these missions, Gable took risks described at times as suicidal as he doubled both as a photographer and as a tail gunner. But he seemed impervious of the danger even when an antiaircraft burst shattered a gun turret just two feet from his head sending shrapnel throughout the plane. His military career came to an end when the high command ordered him removed from the danger of active duty on June 12, 1944 at the rank of Major.
Following the war, James Ward entered the National Guard in Atmore, Alabama where he remained until his unit was activated for the Korean War on September 4, 1950. He would retire a Colonel after 29 years of military service on September 15, 1972 in Ft. Bliss, Texas. There he passed away on September 24, 1997 from natural causes and was buried in the National Military Cemetery. His loving Josephine Albert of Atmore would join him on March 20, 2010.
Hollywood Movie Star Lt. Clark Gable, US Army Air Corps
Pensacola High Graduate of 1937, Lt. James
Woodrow Ward, US Army Air Corps 1942
Grave of James Woodrow Ward (1918-1997)