Service in the Coast Guard

By Lauren Perry

RMC James “Jim” Wickham

April 15, 1939- October 14, 2003

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James Wickham in uniform (Credit: Honor Bell Foundation)

James “Jim” Wickham, Jr. was born to James and Dorothy Wickham in Richmond, Virginia,[1] April 15, 1939.[2] Jim, along with his sisters Shirley and Donna were raised by their mother, their aunt Margaret Fisher, and their grandmother, Daisy Fisher[3] while their father worked as a driver for Fisher Transfer and Storage,[4] and as a carpenter for the steam railroad being built nearby.[5]

With only two years of high school completed,[6] Jim decided to join the Navy where he served four years before switching to the Coast Guard.[7] With the Coast Guard, Jim was deployed to Vietnam as a Radioman with Coast Guard Squadron One.[8] As a Radioman, Jim would be relaying messages from all sorts of media to nearby aircraft, ships, and bases along the shore.[9] Coast Guard Squadron One was a special combat unit formed for the purpose of assisting the US Navy throughout the Vietnam War.[10] As the US involvement in Vietnam began to escalate, the US Coast Guard was deployed for the first time since World War II to combat. [11] The main missions of Coast Guard Squadron One were to stop “the movement of arms and supplies from the South China Sea into South Vietnam by Viet Cong and North Vietnam junk and trawler operators,” as well as providing gun fire support for naval ships.[12] Jim was stationed on a cutter,[13] the term for commissioned USCG boats,[14] and with the Coast Guard was able to navigate smaller rivers that large naval ships could not.[15]

Jim remained in the Coast Guard for a few years after the end of the war and retired in 1982 as Radioman Chief Petty Officer, E-7.[16] As one of the higher enlisted ranks, Chief Petty Officers hold a dual role; they are both technical experts as well as leaders. To earn this role, individuals must dedicate a significant time to the Coast Guard, pass examinations and evaluations, and receive a positive peer review. Unique to this rank, fellow sailors and commanding officers must vouch for their new leader’s character.[17] For his time in the service, Jim was awarded the Bronze Star as well as several good conduct medals.[18]

In November of 1963, Jim married Esther Marshall, a beautician originally from Georgia.[19] Together they had one daughter, Marli, born July of 1968.[20] Marli grew up in Chesapeake, Virginia, cared for by her mother[21] while her father was serving in Vietnam. She followed in her father’s footsteps and grew up to become a nurse for the Navy.[22] In the fall of 1974, Jim and Esther divorced.[23]

Jim retired from the service a few years later and moved to Denver to be closer to his younger sister, Donna,[24] who was a retired Air Force Major,[25] and became a long-haul trucker.[26] While living in Colorado, Jim met Barbara Conrad and her daughter from a previous marriage, Debby.[27] Jim and Barbara married in the September of 1993[28] and moved to Hillrose, Colorado.[29]

Jim Wickham passed away October 14, 2003.[30] His family donated a piece of his Coast Guard uniform to the Honor Bell Foundation, [31] which used his artifact, along with the memorabilia of 11 other veterans to cast a bell, literally and figuratively forged from honor. His legacy lives on in the bell which tolls for veterans buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery.[32]

Footnotes ↓

[1] “1940 United States Federal Census For James Wickham,” entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[2] “U.S. Veterans’ Gravesites, ca. 1775-2019,” entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[3] “1940 United States Federal Census For James Wickham,” entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[4] “U.S. City Directories,” Richmond, Virginia, 1939, entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed August 1, 2020. https://records.myheritagelibraryedition.com/.

[5] “1940 United States Federal Census For James Wickham,” entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[6] “Virginia Divorce Records, 1918-2014,” entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[7] “Jim Wickham’s Honor Bell Artifacts,” Honor Bell Foundation. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.honorbell.org/news?tag=artifact%20stories

[8] Ibid.

[9] “Radioman,” Wikipedia. Accessed July 28, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioman

[10] “Coast Guard Squadron One,” Wikipedia. Accessed August 1, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_Guard_Squadron_One

[11] Ibid; “The US Coast Guard in Vietnam,” United States Coast Guard Historian’s Office. Accessed August 3, 2020. https://www.history.uscg.mil/Our-Collections/Commemorations/Vietnam/

[12] “Coast Guard Squadron One,” Wikipedia. Accessed August 9, 2020. https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Coast_Guard_Squadron_One

[13] Ibid.

[14] “Unites States Coast Guard Cutter,” Wikipedia. Accessed August 3, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Coast_Guard_Cutter

[15] “Jim Wickham’s Honor Bell Artifacts,” Honor Bell Foundation. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.honorbell.org/news?tag=artifact%20stories

[16] Ibid.

[17] “Chief Petty Officer,” Wikipedia. Accessed August 9, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_petty_officer_(United_States)#:~:text=Chief%20petty%20officer%20(CPO)%20is,of%20a%20Chief%20Petty%20Officer.

[18] “Jim Wickham’s Honor Bell Artifacts,” Honor Bell Foundation. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.honorbell.org/news?tag=artifact%20stories

[19] “Virginia Marriage Records, 1936-2014,” entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[20] “Virginia, Birth Records, 1912-2015, Delayed Birth Records, 1721-1911,” entry Marli Wickham, database, accessed August 1, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[21] “Virginia Divorce Records, 1918-2014,” entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com..

[22] Austin, Monette. “OBICI Nursing Graduate Answers Military’s Call,” Daily Press, Newport News, Virginia, July 10, 1991. News Bank

[23] “Virginia Divorce Records, 1918-2014,” entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[24] “Jim Wickham’s Honor Bell Artifacts,” Honor Bell Foundation. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.honorbell.org/news?tag=artifact%20stories

[25] Phillips, Jennifer L. “Donna L. Wickham,” Daily Press, Newport News, Virginia, November 9, 1999. Newsbank.

[26] “Jim Wickham’s Honor Bell Artifacts,” Honor Bell Foundation. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.honorbell.org/news?tag=artifact%20stories

[27] “James Charles Wickham,” Horan and McConaty. Accessed August 1, 2020. https://www.horancares.com/obituary/james-charles-wickham

[28] “Colorado Marriages, 1974-2004,” entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed August 1, 2020. https://records.myheritagelibraryedition.com/.

[29] “Dorothy M Skeeter,” Daily Press, Newport News, Virginia, October 4, 2000. NewsBank.

[30] “U.S. Veterans’ Gravesites, ca. 1775-2019,” entry for James C Wickham, database, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[31] “Jim Wickham’s Honor Bell Artifacts,” Honor Bell Foundation. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.honorbell.org/news?tag=artifact%20stories

[32] Ibid.

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