James D. Comeaux was born in August 1926 in Crowley, Louisiana and grew up in nearby Egan, Louisiana. He did a lot of hunting and fishing with his friends. He grew up with a brother and sister on a rice farm. The Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] affected his family, especially his grandfather who owned several properties and lost them all due to the Depression. They raised chicken and cattle on the farm which kept them from going hungry. His mother, a former school principal, made sure her children were kept up to date on the news of the day. They also listened to the radio. As a result, Comeaux knew what was happening in Asia and Europe in the late 1930s. Comeaux had an older brother who entered the Army shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He stayed in touch with him and followed the course of the wider war intently. Many supplies were rationed, like sugar and rubber. His mother was very concerned about his brother while he was in the service. The consensus of the war was working together to beat the enemy. To avoid being drafted into the Army, Comeaux volunteered for Naval service in June 1944.

To avoid being drafted into the Army, James D. Comeaux volunteered for Naval service in June 1944, boarded a train, and was sent to San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California] for training. They “worked the hell out of you” in training. He learned how to abandon ship, and how to jump in the water to survive. He was sent to Oakland [Annotator’s Note: Oakland, California] to join the crew of the USS Auburn (AGC-10) as a radioman in October 1944. The first night, the cook served spaghetti. Learning to take orders was the most important thing he learned in the Navy. As a radioman, he worked 12-hour shifts copying coded messages. He had to be accurate as possible when recording the messages from Washington D.C. Living on the ship was tough at first, but he was able to adjust. Sometimes when the weather was bad, the cooks did not cook meals. Comeaux was angry at the Japanese for attacking the United States and he wanted to do his part and fight against them. His ship stopped in Honolulu [Annotator’s Note: Honolulu, Hawaii] and then sailed out into the Pacific. Before the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan], the Auburn stopped in Manila [Annotator’s Note: Manila, the Philippines] and Comeaux describes the devastation he saw while there. When he copied the code, he did not know how to decipher the code, but the messages were sent to Washington D.C. or other ships in the area to be decoded.

James D. Comeaux describes the actions of the USS Auburn (AGC-10) in her role as a command ship during the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan]. They bombarded wooded areas where the troops would invade the beaches. Comeaux saw men massacred as they went ashore. He learned days later that President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] had died and Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] would take over as president. His ship had learned about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) and the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. Comeaux’s ship was a target for the kamikazes, but they were never damaged badly. He remembered when the news of the Japanese surrender came through. After the war ended, the USS Auburn was sent to Sasebo [Annotator’s Note: Sasebo, Japan] to accept the surrender of the Japanese Navy there. He then spent several weeks in Tokyo [Annotator’s Note: Tokyo, Japan] before sailing to Hawaii and on to the United States with a load of Army troops. They hit a typhoon on they way to America. He was discharged from Norfolk Naval Station [Annotator’s Note: in Norfolk, Virginia] on 10 June 1946 with the rating of radioman third class (RM3c).

After being discharged from service in World War 2, James D. Comeaux adjusted easily to civilian life and attended college using the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment]. After college, he found work in Crowley, Louisiana in an irrigation company, and then later worked in New Orleans [Annotator’s Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] managing financial aid in a medical center.

James D. Comeaux’s most memorable experience of World War 2 was watching the massacre of U.S. troops on Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan]. He fought in the war because he did not want the Japanese to tell us what to do. The war changed his life because he was able to receive a college education [Annotator’s Note: thanks to the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment]. He has a terrific respect for all those who serve the country. He thinks that World War 2 means very little to America today. A lot of young people do not know what it means to defend the country. Comeaux believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations because younger people need to understand the importance of why we fought.