US Navy Machinist Mate 1st Class James Thomas "JT" Dunlap was born in Milton, Florida on March 17, 1919, the son of Isham Neil "Neely" Dunlap (1872-1942) and Martha Elizabeth Stewart (1877-1924). His parents would marry on August 2, 1885 in Moore County, North Carolina and eventually moved their growing family to Seminole, Alabama when James was at a young age. The move was followed shortly afterwards by his mother's premature death in 1924. James would attend school in Elsanor and Robertsdale in Baldwin County prior to his enlistment in the Navy. While he was growing up, his father supported his family as a carpenter and a farmer. Isham would return to Pensacola prior to 1938 to live with his daughter Mertie at 422 East Romana Street.
On May 31, 1940, James would marry a Seminole girl by the name of Maggie May Givens (1921-1954), the daughter of Elijah "Lige" L. Givens (1894-1957) and Lona Rose LaCoste (1900-1958). There, her father supported his family first as a laborer in a turpentine distillery and working up to the position of manager by 1940. Shortly after their marriage Maggie gave birth to their only child Bobbie Ray (1940-1989) on December 25, 1940.
Four months later, James enlisted in the US Navy on April 21, 1941 and would eventually become a submariner aboard the USS Albacore (SS-218). Then came the landing by the Marines on Saipan on June 16, 1944! The Americans knew the enemy fleet would be forced to come out of hiding to prevent the loss of this valued island. Therefore, the U.S. Submarine Force commander positioned four of his boats in a line to intercept them when they came to attack. At 0816 on June 19th, the submarine USS Albacore (SS-218) sighted enemy carriers heading for the Battle of the Philippine Sea and began an attack on the Taiho with six torpedoes. Their target was steaming at twenty-seven knots and had just launched forty-two aircraft, which was her contribution to the second-strike wave against the U.S. Fleet. Unfortunately, four of Albacore's torpedoes missed the Taiho. To make matters worse, one of the Taiho's pilots launching off the flight deck, sighted one of the remaining two torpedoes heading straight for his ship. He heroically crashed his aircraft into it, temporarily saving his ship!
Nonetheless, the remaining torpedo struck the carrier on her starboard side near her aviation fuel tanks causing only slight damage. Or so they thought at the time! However, the damage was much more severe than they first realized resulting in dire consequences later in the day. At 1530, a violent explosion suddenly erupted on the Taiho causing her armored flight deck to buckle while fires spread quickly out of control. In 1828, the Taiho went under after another tremendous detonation, heeling over on her side and beginning her long voyage to the bottom. The original torpedo from the Albacore had finally done its job after vapors from the ruptured fuel tanks began to spread below decks and were eventually ignited. This was because the carrier was using Tarakan crude oil, which was so pure you could use it raw without any type of refining. But it was also highly volatile, an undesirable characteristic during a naval battle and was the direct cause of the Taiho's sinking. The Albacore was subjected to heavy depth-charge attacks, but they were able to escape without any serious damage.
Sadly, the crew of the Albacore never knew they had sunk the Taiho because the doomed ship just disappeared from the intelligence charts. After the battle, the Albacore returned to duty for her eleventh patrol and disappeared sometime after October 28, 1944. After the war, Japanese records were searched, and found that a submarine in the same area as the Albacore struck a mine close to the shore off northeastern Hokkaido on November 7, 1944. A Japanese patrol boat witnessed the explosion of a submerged submarine and saw a great deal of heavy oil, cork, bedding, and food supplies rise to the surface. On board that submarine was MOM1c James Thomas Dunlap.
His wife and son were notified by the war department that her husband was missing in action, but she certainly knew the fate that befell any of the submarine crews. He was survived by six siblings, four living in Pensacola and two in Baldwin County. He was the last of six local sailors that perished on submarine duty and was officially declared dead by the War Department on December 15, 1945.
His only child Bobby Dunlap would marry Sandra Wells and they had two children (Thomas Dunlap and Jeanie Dunlap). His mother, Maggie May (Givens) Dunlap never remarried and would pass away in 1954. She was buried next to her parents at Bethel Cemetery Hwy 90 in Elsanor, Alabama. Bobby and Sandra would divorce, and he would live the latter part of his life in a small town in Georgia.
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