James Eagle
Navy
Coram
William P. Eagle
and James Eagle were sons of William G. and Christina J.
Eagle who moved from Canada to the United States in 1917 or 1918 and
settled on a small farm in Coram several hundred feet south of
Middle Country Road on a private drive which later became Homestead
Drive.
James
D. Eagle was born July 18, 1919 in Lindenhurst, Long
Island. On October 21, 1940 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After
six weeks at Newport, RI, he was sent to the state of Washington and
assigned to the battleship, USS Tennessee. The Tennessee
sailed to Hawaii and was at Pearl Harbor when attacked by the
Japanese Air Force on Dec. 7, 1941. The Admiral in charge had been
on the Tennessee but switched to the West Virginia and
the two battleships switched positions. The Tennessee was
hit by a couple of bombs but not severely damaged. The West
Virginia was next to them and was sunk. The Arizona
which was behind them was hit and blown up. The Tennessee
headed back to Washington and was in the
Puget Sound Navy Yard from December 29, 1941 to
February 25,1942
for repairs,
and was back again in
Puget Sound on August 27, 1942
for modernization. On Oct. 4, 1942, Jim returned
home from his ship in
Seattle, Wash. on a 12 day furlough. He had become a First Class
Petty Officer and turned down a promotion to Chief Petty Officer so
he could go to school in Washington, DC. On
Mar. 3, 1945 E/M 1/C James Eagle,
U.S.N. and Virginia Goldstein were married in Middle Island.
After being discharged he returned to Coram where he was employed by
a construction company. Mr. Eagle was also a member of the Coram
Fire Department for over 50 years.