Jacob Wesley Daniell Jr.

     Jacob Wesley Daniell Jr., son of Jacob Wesley DANIELL and Minnie Mae BURT, was born on 13 December 1913 in Bibb County, Alabama.¹ Jacob Wesley Daniell Jr. was known to friends and family as J. W.

Jacob Wesley Daniell Jr. appeared on a census, enumerated 25 April 1930, in the household of Jacob Wesley DANIELL and Minnie Mae BURT in Beat 13, Bibb County, Alabama.²

J. W. served in the U. S. Navy for 21 years, enlisting 20 Nov 1933. He received his training in Norfolk, Virginia. He served first on the destroyers U.S.S. Taylor (DD-94) 15 Mar 1934 to 3 Oct 1935 and U.S.S. Fairfax (DD-93) 3 Oct 1935 to 6 Dec 1937. They were both assigned to the Special Service Squadron cruising the West Indies, Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean off the Panama Canal Zone as part of the U. S. gunboat diplomacy of the time. They also served to rescue Americans during insurrections in Central America which were common during that period. J. W. said that the destroyer that he served on was the fastest in the area. When President Roosevelt visited the area on a goodwill tour he traveled on a cruiser in the squadron. J. W.'s destroyer was assigned to follow closely just in case the president became ill and needed to be quickly transported to a hospital.

Beginning in December of 1937 J. W. entered the submarine service and trained in the sub school at New London, Connecticut. His first sub was the "R-Boat" R-7, hull number SS-84, which he served aboard from 22 Jul 1940 to 20 May 1941 patrolling in the Virgin Islands and off Panama. He was a master's mate 1. The R-7 had been commissioned in 1917. He next served on the R-15, SS-92, from 20 May 1941 to 14 Jun 1944 which made war patrols off Cuba, the Virgin Islands and Bermuda. It also helped train submarine crews out of New London, CT. He was chief master's mate. During late 1944 to September 1945 he served on relief crews 242 and CSD 322 doing refits out of the submarine base at Midway. Whenever a sub came in from a war patrol they would tie up alongside a tender and the crew would go on liberty. The relief crew would go onboard then and clean it up, scrape off the barnicles and go other repairs. Usually about ten percent of the crew would be replaced on the following patrol by members of the relief crews. About 1944 he served a cruise aboard the SS407, Sea Robin, in the Pacific. Because J. W. at six feet was rather tall for submarine duty, he chose to work in the engine room because it was the largest compartment on the sub. He rose to the rank of Master Chief Engineman. He qualified for the American Area Campaign Ribbon, American Defense Service Medal (1 bronze star), World War II Victory Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Ribbon, and Good Conduct Medal (4 bronze stars).

After the war J. W. served on the sub chaser PC-779 which operated as a naval reserve training vessel on the Great Lakes from 20 Dec 1945 to 6 Apr 1946. He next served a short stretch on the battle damage repair ship U.S.S. Demeter (ARB-10) 10 Apr 1946 to 24 Aug 1946. About this time he also served on the minesweeper U.S.S. Sanderling AMS-35. He re-enlisted in early 1951 and from 30 Jun 1952 to 14 Jul 1954 he was assigned to the naval station in Guam where he served in the base fire department.

He retired from the Navy 1 Mar 1964 and worked in Civil Service at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida for another 20 years.^1,3,4,5

Jacob married Lunnie Inez Carroll on 17 November 1945 in Jefferson County, Alabama.¹

J. W. Daniell died on 9 June 2004 in Fort Walton Beach, Okaloosa County, Florida, at age 90.⁶ He was buried in Beal Memorial Cemetery.