After graduating from Central High School in Pueblo, CO, James L. Turner enrolled at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He completed his freshman and sophomore years and began his junior year at CC but quit to join the Marines on September 22, 1966. He reported to Camp Pendleton, CA on November 7, 1966.
After boot camp he was assigned to combat training which was due to begin on February 4, 1967. Instead he was reassigned to radio telegraph school which began on February 25, 1967. After successfully completely radio school and spending leave time back in Colorado in the summer of 1967, Jim was assigned to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA to learn to speak Vietnamese.
Jim successfully completed the language course and arrived in Vietnam on November 24, 1967 where he was assigned to the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion in a Headquarters and Support Company on Hill 148. Early in 1968 he was part of the convoy that went into Hue after it was liberated. By March 9, 1968, Jim was reassigned to a letter company, Company “A”, responsible for field reconnaissance. James L. Turner was killed in a mortar attack while out on patrol in the early morning hours of April 26, 1968. Once President Johnson began to cut back on the bombing of North Vietnam, the Viet Cong flooded into the South. Radio telegraph operators like Jim suffered 70% casualties.
