SAVANNAH - James Everett Plaspohl, 87, died February 8 under the care of Hospice Savannah, surrounded by his immediate family.

Jimmy was born March 20, 1925 in Savannah, GA and lived in Savannah for most of his life.

When he was 13 during the Depression, Jimmy's father was killed in a fiery trucking accident near Black Creek, and his mother was left to raise Jimmy and his brother Billy. When he was 17, times were hard, and, Jimmy enlisted in the Navy with a sign-off from his mother. It was 1942, and World War II was raging, a very scary time for a 17-year old boy. Jimmy was assigned to the battleship USS Alabama which began assisting the British Royal Navy in the area between Northern England and Norway where he crossed the Arctic Circle. In August of 1943, the Alabama got orders to sail back to Norfolk, Va. and then on to the Panama Canal to fight the war with Japan.

Using Pearl Harbor as home base, they began their Pacific mission in New Hebrides and the Fiji islands and took their part in the assault on the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands and Marshall Islands giving air cover to aircraft carriers and supporting Marine landings. In 1944, they again visited the Marshall Islands protecting aircraft carriers and made significant progress against Japanese installations, airfields, aircraft and shipping lanes. Next, they sailed on to Saipan and Guam in February of 1944 and then on to the Caroline Islands, New Guinea, and the Philippines where Japanese Armies were heavily embedded. They detected incoming Japanese planes from up to 190 miles away and gave US aircraft carriers time to get their planes airborne in response. In the Philippines, a dive bomber dropped two bombs on Jimmy's ship, but they both narrowly missed and fell into the sea. In the Philippines alone, nearly 400 Japanese aircraft were taken down, and the Japanese Navy was never able to recover.

In December 17, 1944 their ship sailed through a typhoon with winds clocked at 96 mph causing nauseating ship rolls and destroying aircraft and other equipment above deck. After repairs, Jimmy went on to Okinawa in May of 1945 and engaged in the 82-day long battle providing fleet protection from Japanese planes and troop support. In June, the Alabama rode out another typhoon. Some time after that, Jimmy became ill and was sent back to Seattle. The Alabama steamed on to Tokyo where the war ended.

After the war, Jimmy began working for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad now part of CSX and worked there for 40 years. He became a single-engine pilot. He was very active, loved golf, and was a boating and fishing enthusiast. After retirement, Jimmy and wife Sallie bought a house in Linville, NC and lived there most of the time for 15 years. He was a perfectionist who loved working with his hands and making things.

Surviving are his wife of 62 years, Sallie Plaspohl, of Rincon, GA; his son and daughter-in-law, David and Sara Plaspohl, of Rincon, GA; his granddaughter and her husband, Libby and John Embry, of Dacula, GA; and his brother, Billy Plaspohl, of Bonaire, GA.

The family will receive friends from 10:00 am until 11:00 am, followed immediately by the funeral service at 11:00 am, on Monday, February 11 at Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors, Hodgson Chapel. Interment will follow in Bonaventure Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Jason Ledford, Jack Sanders, Jack Crumbly, Kenny Young, and John Embry. Honorary pallbearers will be Brotherhood Sunday School Class, First Baptist Church of Rincon.

The family suggests any remembrances be made in his memory to Hospice Savannah or First Baptist Church of Rincon.

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