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James D. McBrayer Jr., Brigadier
General USMC (Ret) and Professor Emeritus of the University System of
Georgia, died Sept. 26, 2006.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 2, in the Chapel at the Galleria Woods, and also at 10:30
a.m. Monday, Nov. 20, at the Chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis,
Md. His remains will be placed in the
Columbarium at the Naval Academy,
with military honors.
Brigadier Gen. McBrayer was born Sept.
9, 1916, in Lorena, the son of James D. McBrayer and Julia Ann
Locke McBrayer, both deceased. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy,
graduating in 1939, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant USMC, and was
assigned to the American Embassy in Peking, China.
On Dec. 8, 1941, he was
taken as POW by the Japanese. In May 1945, he escaped, walked across China
to U.S. Forces and arrived back in the U.S.
on July 9, 1945. He was
married to Helen Jean Paterson, his long-betrothed fiancz, on July
11, 1945. He served in Panama,
the United Kingdom,
the Middle East, and Korea,
as well as assignments in the U.S.
He earned a master's degree in International Relations from Boston
University in 1961.
After physical retirement from the USMC
in 1965, he earned a Ph.D. in Political Science at Emory
University, taught at Georgia Tech
from 1965 to 1973, and at Georgia State
University from 1973 until his
second retirement in 1983. He moved to the Isle of Palms, S.C., before
suffering a stroke in 1993. In 1994, he and his wife moved to Galleria Woods
Retirement Community in Birmingham, Ala.
He was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa Fraternity, Phi Sigma Alpha
Fraternity, Who's Who in Georgia, The Retired Officers' Association, American
Ex-POW's Association, U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association, American Legion
and Disabled American Veterans Association.
His many decorations include two
Legions of Merit, one with Combat "V" and two Purple Hearts.
Surviving are his two son, James D.
McBrayer III of Steamboat Springs, Colo.,
and John A. McBrayer of Pelham, Ala.;
a daughter-in-law, Susan Woodruff McBrayer; and two grandsons, Daniel Stuart
McBrayer and Timothy Richard McBrayer. In lieu of flowers, contributions may
be made to Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center or to the Lorena Cemetery
Association, Lorena, TX
76655. Ridout's Southern
Heritage Chapel, Pelham, Ala.
September 9, 1916 - September
26, 2006
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