CWO3 James Madison Toler

CWO3 James Madison Toler, US Army retired went to be with our Lord on December 12, 2022. He was born January 13, 1924, in Truitt, Township 2, Craven County, NC. He was the son of sharecroppers James Zeffie and Myrty Bell Toler. His immediate family was brothers Duffy Lincoln (dl), Zeffie Dupree, Clinton Rigby, Dalton, sister Margaret Lee and half-sisters Joyce and Mary, half-brothers James Zeffie, Jr. and Ernest all deceased. Surviving are half-sisters, Judy and Pauline. He lived all his life in Truitt and Caton until December 1941 when 9 days after pearl harbor he left high school in Bridgeton, NC to join the us navy. He became a pharmacist's mate third class and served in various Navy hospitals and dispensaries from December 16, 1941, to January 22, 1947, when he was discharged from the Navy. His most memorable event was November 8, 1942, when he was a crewman on the USS Charles Carroll, APA28. This ship participated in operation torch, the first invasion of American troops in North Africa during WWII. We landed troops at Fedala, North Africa a small place just north of Casablanca. We disembarked our troops and were ferrying supplies ashore when three sister transorts anchored nearby were torpedoed and sank. We lost one crew member nicknamed "squirrel" during this operation. We put to sea overnight and returned to Casablanca the following day where we off loaded the remaining supplies. We returned to Norfolk, VA where I was put ashore and served at various bases until February 1945. At my request I was transferred to the pacific area where I was assigned to a us navy mobile hospital which was to join the fleet marines in the invasion of the Japanese homeland. Thank god Harry Truman had the foresight and b--s to drop the a bomb thus ending WWWI landed on Okinawa a few weeks after the war ended. I returned to the US and was assigned eventually to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where I met and married a Navy nurse, Helen Mary Kenya from Allentown, PA.

After my discharge from the Navy, I joined the US Army where I was assigned to the Signal Corps. We had a lovely daughter, Ilona Denise, our only child. With my two succeeding marriages | gained four beautiful daughters Maryann, Beth, Joy, and Darla and a (not beautiful but relatively handsome) son Rich, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. After several years in the Signal Corps with various Assignments, I transferred to the Air Defense Artillery where I advanced in Rank to CWO3. Following duty in Ft. Bliss, TX; Loring AFB, Limestone, ME; Ft. Totten, NY; South Korea and the presidio of San Francisco, CA I retired from the US Army. I joined Xerox Corp where I worked for fifteen years. My family and I moved to Leucadia, CA and bought a home where we lived until my wife's death in 1995. I took my wife, Helen to New Bern, NC for interment. I then moved back to New Bern, my home. There I met an old school friend; Mary Louise Cuthrell Shields, a widow and we married. After her demise in 2007 I met another schoolmate Pearl Mae Morris Field a widow and we married. So ends the story of my adventurous life, sharecropper's son to world traveler and adventurer. God is great and God is good. I have had a gloriously, wonderful life and I thank my Lord for everything in my life!!!

The family will receive friends on Saturday, January 14, 2023, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm at Reelsboro Christian Church, 64 Dixon Rd., Grantsboro, NC 28529. Funeral services will be 1:00 pm at the church with Military Honors following the service. James will be laid to rest at Greenleaf Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Reelsboro Christian Church, P.O.Box 255, Grantsboro , NC 28529.

You may address condolences to the family by visiting www.cottenfuneralhome.com.

Cotten Funeral Home is honored to serve the Toler family.

Cotten Funeral Home is honored to serve the family and friends of CWO3 James Madison Toler.