James M. Lannon

MEDALS-RIBBONS: Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation, Good Conduct, World War II Victory

James served with great courage and exceptional valor as a rifleman/scout during combat operations against Japanese forces during the invasions of Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa.

James Morton Lannon was born on November the ninth, 1924 in Monterey Park.  He was the youngest of three children born to George Lannon and Bertha Lannon.  Three events shaped his life.  The first was the divorce of his parents while he was still a child.  The second was his military service during World War II.  The third was his education in Mexico. 

James was a child during the Great Depression.  After his parents’ divorce his mother took on a job to support her children.  James took on a newspaper route to help the family.  He developed a sense of duty and responsibility.  It was this sense of duty that led him to volunteer in the Marine Corps on the ninth day of December in 1942—a month after his 18^th birthday.  On that day at 8:00 a.m. he was sworn in as a member.  At approximately 12:00 that night, he arrived at the San Diego Recruitment Depo where he began “Boot Camp.”  After Boot Camp he was stationed in Hawaii and New Zealand.   He saw combat in the major battles of in Tarawa in 1943; Saipan in 1944, Tinian in 1944; Okinawa in 1945. 

After the war ended, he returned to California and enrolled in the university of Santa Barbara and Woodbury College.  Afterwards he went south to study in Mexico City at the Mexico City College, now the University of the Americas.  After graduating with an accounting degree he returned to California for a brief time only to go back to Mexico where he became an auditor for the hoof and mouth disease control program.  He was assigned to conduct an audit in the state of Michoacan.  While he was stationed in Morelia, he was introduced to the woman he would marry only 4 months after meeting her.  He married Magdalena Gomez Urquiza Macouzet on August 6, 1950.  He had 3 daughters and 2 sons.  His youngest daughter would die in infancy.  He would remain in Mexico working for many different companies and living in several states until 1972 when he returned to his native state of California.  He lived in El Cajon until his death in 2000.