James "Jimmy" Elam Newsom was born in Oakland, Louisiana in 1921. He grew up and lived in Louisiana until the war started. He was raised on 80 acres of farmland. His dad was an oil driller who ran a rig. His son would eventually follow the same path. By the age of ten years old, Newsom was running the farm. They grew everything they ate. The Depression was not as significant an impact on them because they never went hungry. There was no money since his father worked for just 50 cents per hour. The last two years of high school, Newsome drove the school bus for ten miles. As the driver, he had to once intercede with two fighting young men. He stopped the bus and let the two go at each other. It was a good fight, and one of the fighter's father commended Newsom on his judgment. After the fight, the two combatants became good friends. Newsom finished high school and began Louisiana Tech, or Polytechnic as it was called then. He was enrolled in engineering classes and loved them. After two years at Tech, Newsom ran short of money and had to dropout. After a short period, he enrolled in a business school. The school was in Monroe, Louisiana. It was BMI, Bish Mathis Institute. After graduating from BMI, Newsom could type 60 words per minute and take shorthand. Newsom maintained those skills throughout his life. A job with Katherine's Sugar Company in Port Allen, Louisiana was waiting for Newsom after he graduated from BMI. He found that he loved that part of the state. Newsom enjoyed LSU [Annotator's Note: Louisiana State University] football. Newsom was in Port Allen when he heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. With no television at that time, he heard about the Japanese attack during a radio broadcast. With America just taking over Hawaii as a state, the attack on Pearl Harbor angered Newsom. Newsom wanted to get at the enemy so he joined the Navy. He preferred the Navy because he knew he would never have to sleep on the ground like soldiers did.

James Newsom joined the United States Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was put on a train in New Orleans, Louisiana destined for San Diego, California and training. He had only once traveled out of Louisiana, and that was just to Arkansas. It was a long trip from New Orleans to San Diego, but Newsom liked the mountains on the way. He was so inexperienced at travel that he mistook the engine of his own train for that of another. The engine of his own train was just going around a curve when he spotted it and remarked that he observed another train. [Annotator's Note: Newsom chuckles at the recollection.] When he reached San Diego, it seemed everyone there was yelling that he would be sorry. He did feel sorry at the time. Newsom did his basic training in the heat of San Diego. The men got into good physical shape. The recruits were given aptitude tests to determine their best fit in the Navy. With good eyes and ears, Newsom was sent to Sonar School. He was instructed by British sailors in the techniques of the SONAR equipment. Nine of the SONAR graduates were placed in a Pullman car and sent to Norfolk, Virginia. At Norfolk, Newsom was assigned to the USS Cole (DD-155). The Cole was an old World War 1 destroyer that they referred to as four pipers.

James Newsom was assigned to the USS Cole (DD-155). The Cole left Norfolk for North Africa to land Rangers ashore in Casablanca. The Cole had been made into a transport. The ship came under fire and a 20mm gunner aboard the Cole downed an enemy aircraft. He was a skilled marksman with his machine cannon. There were 146 men aboard the ship. Newsom got to know all of crew. Newsom was the first of four SONAR operators. He was responsible for all of them. The Cole would run escort duty across the Atlantic with transport vessels. Eventually, the Germans were run out of North Africa and the crew of the Cole was given liberty ashore. He encountered a black man who had worked on his farm. He hugged him like a brother. [Annotator's Note: Newsom is overtaken with emotion at the memory.] After the success in North Africa, the next step was the invasion of Sicily. The sea was rough during the invasion. Many were seasick during the voyage. The troops that were being transported were glad to exit the ship and get to the invasion beaches. Newsom did not get sick. He was only seasick one time. The Cole shelled the Sicilian beaches for several days during that assault. German airpower attempted to bomb the ship but did not succeed. After the German exit from Sicily, the invasion of Salerno was next. At that juncture, Newsom had an important role. A British submarine was to work with the Cole offshore of the invasion site to set up invasion position guidance. Newsom had to establish contact with the submerged submarine by first locating it with SONAR and then contacting his counterpart on the British submarine. The Cole had a specially designed colored light on its mast to identify it. Newsom had great difficulty contacting the British submarine. Time was running out for the invasion start and Newsom finally picked up a weak signal. The friendly submarine was just below the Cole. Contact was established. The landing ships began going by the Cole. One included a ship manned by Newsom's friend. That ship had been unsuccessfully attacked in the Pacific by a Japanese kamikaze, but it still carried the wing of the attacker aboard. The plan for the invasion of Salerno involved dropping American paratroopers on an enemy airfield. The Germans used their 88mm cannons to pin down the assault troops on the beach. The Cole and others spent three days shelling the enemy on the shore to relieve that fire on the Allied troops. The Cole then shuttled new troops from Africa to Italy. Newsom never went ashore at this time, but he could see the Isle of Capri. It was a beautiful place. At night, Newsom could see the American artillery shelling the enemy over a mountain. The intention was to blast the harbor facility there. Later, when Newsom had the opportunity to see the target area, he was impressed that no residential areas had been destroyed.

While James Newsom was aboard the Cole [Annotator's Note: USS Cole (DD-155)], he slept back aft by the engineers. That was where his bunk was situated. There was a line overhead because the destroyer did not ride easily. The men joked that they should have received both flight and submarine pay because of the motion of the ship in the waves. Newsom's duty station was on the bridge where his sound gear was located. In order to get there, he had to hold that overhead line. Seasickness was common. It was not bad duty, but the men had anticipated it was going to be rough. The men maintained a certain level of anxiety during their time at sea. Anyone who denied being scared was crazy or had something wrong with him. The Germans had floating depth charges that were magnetic. If a ship got close to one of them, it would explode the mine. The Germans were smart with their technology. In time, some ships appeared in drydock with the aft end blown off. That resulted from newly developed German acoustic torpedoes which were drawn to the sound of the screws [Annotator's Note: propellers] of the ship. It would explode after contacting the ship. To counter this, the Cole set their depth charges to go off at 50 feet. That was deep enough not to damage the defending ship. When the SONAR man heard the sound of the incoming torpedo screws, the depth charge was deployed and the explosion diverted the incoming torpedo away from the ship. The Cole encountered three German submarines during the war. The outcome of the action against them is unknown. Depth charges were dropped on the enemy subs. On one occasion while in Algiers, the Cole was on ready duty. She was informed that a sub had just sunk a ship offshore. The Cole went after the submarine. Newsom used his SONAR with its echo beams and located something. SONAR works by sending out a sound beam and listening for the frequency of the reflected sound. That pitch can determine whether an object is stationary or moving. The Cole made a pass over the unidentified object. The fathometer was on. [Annotator's Note: a fathometer determines the depth of water using echo sounding similar to SONAR.] A quick circle was made and depth charges were set targeting the object below. The target was hit, but it turned out to be the sunken Allied ship with its load of aviation fuel. The fuel was in small barrels and some was recovered. The marauding German submarine escaped. After Salerno, the Cole continued shuttling troops back and forth across the Atlantic. [Annotator's Note: The Cole participated in the amphibious invasion of Salerno, Italy.] The ship mostly convoyed Victory Ships. On one voyage, the young commander of the Cole had gotten the destroyer in the middle of the Victory Ships. It was remarkable that the destroyer was not rammed by one of the transport ships surrounding it. It was all an interesting experience. He saw a lot of places he would not normally have seen. On the final run, the crew was told that the Navy was going to decommission the Cole.

James Newsom was assigned to the USS Sarsfield (DD-837) in New York. The Sarsfield was larger than his previous destroyer [Annotator's Note: Newsom had previously served aboard the USS Cole (DD-155)]. The Sarsfield was a brand new ship. Shortly after he was assigned to the new ship, the word was received that the bombs [Annotator's Note: the atomic bombs] had been dropped. Newsom had been in New York when the war in Europe had ended. On one trip to Africa, the Cole came alongside a repair ship. The skipper of the Cole knew the executive officer on the repair ship. When the Cole's skipper was asked by the repair ship executive officer if there was anything that was needed on the Cole, the skipper replied that they could use some ice cream. The repair ship could make ice cream. Each man on the Cole lined up and boarded the repair ship to receive a quart of ice cream. [Annotator's Note: Newsom fondly reflects on the occasion.] Upon arrival in New York, Newsom got a triple decker ice cream. A little dog was looking up at Newsom, and he gave it to the dog. He got some more ice cream later. The men of the Sarsfield were all set to go to the Pacific. They had all been in combat, and so they were ready to go. It never had to happen. Newsom was one of the first to be released. When Newsom was discharged, he was a First Class Sound Man [Annotator's Note: Sonarman 1st class (SoM1c)]. He was the senior man in the group of 30 men. As such, he was given all the records to transport to New Orleans for discharge. On the way, one of his fellow sailors told him that he would like to eliminate something from his record. Newsom gave him the folder and then carried it on to New Orleans. Newsom was offered a Chief rating if he signed on for six more years but he refused. After discharge in New Orleans, Newsom returned to Marion, Louisiana where he met his future wife and then married her. He never had the occasion to use the G.I. Bill for anything. His father thought he should have used it to go back to Tech. [Annotator's Note: Newsom had attended engineering studies at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute in Ruston, Louisiana for two years before his enlistment.] Newsom could not sit in a classroom. He never went back to college. Newsom does recognize that in recent times, when he wears his US Navy Veteran cap, people come up and thank him for his service.