Staff Sergeant JAMES CARLTON SCRUGGS KIA POW,

Staff Sergeant JAMES CARLTON SCRUGGS KIA POW, U. S. Army Air Corps. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Lee Scruggs, of 321 B Avenue, Knoxville, Tennessee. He was born September 5, 1915, and attended Youngs High School. He entered the service March 7, 1936, at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, at the age of 20. He received his training at Barksdale Field, Louisiana; Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and Hunter Field, Savannah, Georgia. On November 1, 1941, he embarked for the Pacific Theater where he was assigned to duty at Fort William McKinley in the Philippine Islands. He served in 16th Bomb Sq, 27th Bomb Group. Sergeant Scruggs died of malaria in a prisoner of war camp in the Philippine Islands, on May 28, 1942, at the age of 26. The Purple Heart Medal (PHM) was awarded posthumously in May, 1944. He is survived by his wife, Jane Annette Bowman Scruggs, and a son, James Elton Scruggs of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. 

 

Source:

1- THE FIGHTING MEN OF LOUISIANA – LOUISIANA HISTORICAL INSTITUTE – 1946 ​

2- US Headstone and Interment records for US Military.