![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/James-Bynum.jpg\")
Mr. Bynum was born on a farm in Lexington County, South Carolina\n6-Jan-1921 but grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was number seven among\nten siblings. Mr. Bynum attended elementary and junior high school in North Philadelphia\nuntil the Murrell Dobbins Vocational School opened in 1937. Mr. Bynum excelled\nin patternmaking and began boxing in the amateur rising golden gloves ranks as\na light heavyweight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was there that Mr. Bynum joined the Army in 1941. He joined\nthe Army Engineers Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 95th Engineers\nBattalion at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His first major project was the 1,600-mile Alaskan Highway that\npassed through the rugged mountains of Canada in Spring 1942. Other projects included\na D-Day training camp for invasion troops in South Wales and road repairs after\nbattle damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the war, he separated from the Army 3-Oct-1945. In less\nthan 90 days, Mr. Bynum was back in uniform at Fort Meade, Maryland and then\nwith the 332nd Fighter Group at Lockbourne, Ohio (the last home of the Tuskegee\nAirmen) in March 1946 under Colonel Benjamin O. Davis. Mr. Bynum was placed in\ncharge of the single officer billeting office and unit inventory by\nthen-Lieutenant Daniel \u201cChappie\u201d James.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After three months at Lockbourne, he was reassigned to McChord\nField, Washington as chief clerk, First sergeant, personnel clerk, and\naccounting clerk. Mr. Bynum\u2019s various assignments in Washington, Japan, Vermont,\nReserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) duties at Tennessee State University,\nTexas, and then the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Paris,\nFrance before a return to Texas, highlighted his 30-year military career, culminating\nin 1971 where he retired from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas as Base Postmaster\nat the rank of Senior Master Sergeant. He was awarded a commendation medal for\noutstanding work and the Meritorious Service Medal upon his retirement. He was\nalso part of the unit known as the \u201cTuskegee Airmen\u201d who were awarded the\nCongressional Gold Medal (CGM) in 2007 by President George W. Bush. He has a\nreplica of the Gold Medal (the original is housed in the Smithsonian Museum in\nWashington, DC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since retiring, Mr. Bynum dedicated his time and efforts to\na career in real estate before retiring again. He was also requested by name to\nspeak about his military experiences and his time with the Tuskegee Airmen to\naudiences far and wide. He also enjoyed golf, traveling with his wife Dorothy,\nwho proceeded him in death, and visiting with his stepdaughter Dolly\nAdams-Willis, family and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Services for SMSgt (ret.) James L. Bynum are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Viewing <\/strong> Thursday, May 26, 2022 5:00-7:00 pm Castle Ridge Mortuary 8008 W. Military Dr. | San Antonio, TX 78227 (210) 645-6000<\/p>\n\n\n\n Funeral Service<\/strong> Friday, May 27, 2022 11:00 am Antioch Missionary Church 1001 N Walters St. | San Antonio, TX 78202 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Interment <\/strong> Friday, May 27, 2022 2:00 pm Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery 1520 Harry Wurzbach Rd. | Fort Sam Houston, TX 78209 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Original Tuskegee Airman James Lee Bynum transitioned peacefully April 29, 2022, while under hospice care. Mr. Bynum was one of two remaining original Tuskegee Airmen residing in San Antonio. Mr. Bynum was born on a farm in Lexington County, South Carolina 6-Jan-1921 but grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was number seven among ten siblings. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-texas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21898,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21896\/revisions\/21898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}