Navy Federal Credit Union

James King graduated from Alma College in 1905, and from Princeton Theological Seminary the following year. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister and began ministry as pastor of Olivet Church in Lima, Ohio. Ten years later he was commissioned a U.S. Army chaplain, serving in France during World War II. After the war he continued service as a chaplain to the Ohio National Guard for 15 years, and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He also spent several years teaching sociology at Bluffton College, Bluffton, Ohio, and was later elected mayor of that city. In 1940 he returned to Saginaw, Michigan, the city of his birth and his youth, to serve as chaplain at the veteransÕ hospital there, where he died himself three years later.

Awards Received

  • Distinguished Service Cross

    Service:

    United States Army

    Rank:

    Captain (Chaplain’s Corps)

    Regiment:

    310th Infantry Regiment

    Division:

    78th Division, American Expeditionary Forces

    Action Date:

    September 16, 1918

    War Department, General Orders No. 127 (1918)

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Captain (Chaplain’s Corps) James Norman King, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 310th Infantry Regiment, 78th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Thiaucourt, France, 16 September 1918. Chaplain King gave proof of unhesitating devotion and energy far beyond all call of his duty as battalion chaplain. He was continually on the outpost lines searching for and burying the dead and circulating among the men in the trenches. During the entire period the line was subjected to extremely heavy shelling from the enemy, yet he allowed nothing to interfere with his having burial services for the dead that were brought to the burial ground located within the shelled area. He was sent to the rear, but he prevailed upon the surgeon to allow him to return to the front and continue his work.