Colonel James "Jim" Cronan Egan, Jr. (USAF, Ret.)

James "Jim" Cronan Egan, Jr. passed away peacefully on Friday, February 26, 2021 at the age of 101 after a long, adventurous life. He was born in Abilene, Texas, the eldest child of Mary Lillian (nee Myers) Egan and James Cronan Egan, both Shreveporters, on October 25, 1919. Jim lived in various Texas towns where his father's career took the family, until his mother passed away in San Antonio when he was nine years old. Thereafter Jim and his siblings were raised in Shreveport by their maternal grandparents, Edward Wallin Myers and May Lewis Myers. Shreveport was idyllic for a boy. Jim hiked, camped and fished by bayous that are now concrete channels. Newspaper routes taught him responsibility, organization and thrift. He learned orienteering with the Boy Scouts, a skill he would credit with once saving his life during WWII. Jim graduated from C. E. Byrd High School in 1937. He began working as a bookkeeper and joined Company E, 156th Infantry Regiment of the Louisiana National Guard. Anticipating entry into WWII, the unit was converted into the 204th Anti-Aircraft Regiment on January 6, 1941. But Jim had longed to fly since boyhood when a plane made an emergency landing in a nearby Texas farm field. The pilot entrusted young Jim with all his gear while he went for a mechanic. Jim applied for a transfer to the Army Air Forces, but he had apparently done his job with the anti-aircraft equipment "too well" and the regimental commander kept turning Jim down. Then one day Jim read in the newspaper that General Hap Arnold, the Army Air Forces commander, was inviting anyone who wanted to fly to contact him directly. So, Jim wrote him a letter. In no time, Jim found himself in intensive aviation training, including a stint in operational training at Barksdale AFB flying the Martin twin engine "short wing" medium bomber, for thirty days straight: 4 hours one day, 8 hours the next, extra hours encouraged! A newly minted 2nd Lieutenant, he joined the 410th Bomb Group (L), 9th Air Force. In early 1944, the group went to Gosfield, an American base in England. Jim flew missions over Germany in the Douglas twin engine A-20 light bomber, but found time to notice a pretty American Red Cross worker (one of two women) assigned to the 410th. She did not notice him but, with over 2,000 men at Gosfield, not surprising. Already known for accurate bombing, Jim's unit participated in the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion of France. His squadron's dawn target was a railroad marshalling yard at Carenton, near the pocket between Omaha and Utah beaches, where German troops could have assembled to repulse the landing. Following D-Day, his bases leapfrogged behind the lines, ending near Rheims, in northern France. There Jim was promoted to Captain and served as Assistant Group Operations Officer in addition to flying. During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 Jim's unit flew blind bombing missions on instruments every day in close support of the infantry. On Christmas Day, when the weather finally cleared, Jim flew three visual missions in that one day. At the height of the battle, before Christmas, it was feared the Germans would break out. The 410th was on orders to retreat on a moment's notice, so the two female American Red Cross workers were ordered onto base from their requisitioned house off-base. But where to put them? Jim and a handful of men volunteered to transform a tent into the barely disguised "Hut" to shelter them from the frigid weather. Space was so limited that the Hut sat by the runway, wingtips almost passing over it. This time the pretty woman did notice Jim. Better yet for Jim, she noticed, unbeknownst to him, that he was the only one who didn't swear, even when he hit his thumb with a hammer. After that, when Jim's plane taxied by the Hut, the pretty Red Cross worker waved to him. Jim flew 71 combat missions, several more than the number that should have resulted in his being sent home. Jim could count perfectly well, but he was on another mission, the courtship of Red Cross worker, Mary Alice Hardman. When Jim's excess missions were discovered and the orders processed for immediate return stateside, Jim begged a sergeant for a little paperwork mix up and then rushed to the Hut to propose to Mary Alice. They were married on April 10, 1945 in the American Cathedral (Episcopal) in Paris by the Deputy Chaplain, an Episcopalian, on General Eisenhower's Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) staff. With the war ongoing, Jim immediately became a bomber B-25 instructor pilot in the states. When the Occupation began, Jim and Mary Alice went to Rome, Italy where Jim was an Operations Officer at Ciampino Air Base. There Jim received his permanent commission in the United States Army, soon the U.S. Air Force. Looking back, Jim said this was the proudest moment of his life. Stateside again, Jim served as Hq. & Hq. Squadron Commander at Great Falls, Montana; a lecturer at the Squadron Officers Course at Tyndall AFB and the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB; and two tours in the Strategic Air Command, the first in Omaha, where he completed his Bachelor of Science of the University of Omaha; the second for three years at Hqs. 7th Air Division, Ruislip, England. Six years were spent at the Pentagon where he completed a Master of Business Administration at George Washington University. Jim's last duty was during the Viet Nam War, at Fuchu Air Station outside Tokyo, Japan. By then a full colonel, he commanded the PACOM ELINT Center, a joint command under the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command, Admiral U.S.G. Sharp in Hawaii. Throughout his career Jim maintained flying readiness. He was a Command Pilot with 4,000 hours pilot flying time. Jim received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with 13 Oak Leaf Clusters. In 2009 he received France's Legion of Honor Medal for service in the liberation of France. Jim, his family, and surviving members of his beloved 410th Bomb Group, were honored along with many other U.S. veterans and their families at ceremonies in Normandy on the 60th anniversary of D-Day in 2004. The 410th veterans were toasted at the Carenton City Hall. Stray pock marks from their bombs were still visible on buildings surrounding the since-rebuilt railroad, their target 60 years before. Following his retirement in 1967, Jim embarked on a second career in residential and commercial construction in Shreveport. He was a member of Rotary and served as a past president of the Shreveport-Bossier Homebuilders Association and a past director of City Bank, First United Bank Shares, and Bancorp South. Jim was the first Chairman of the Twin Valley Resource Conservation District and served many years on the Caddo Soil and Water Board. Always ready for a round of golf, Jim enjoyed East Ridge and Shreveport Country Clubs as well as owning Northwood Hills Country Club. Jim always had a book or two going for bedtime reading, particularly history and biography. With advancing age and diminished hearing, books became his companions. He read avidly up to within ten days of his death Jim and Mary Alice enjoyed motor home trips. They visited places Mary Alice had once lived in Central America and the Artic Circle near where Jim had once delivered towers, by air, for transpolar LORAN navigation. Cross-country road trips often stopped at courthouses and cemeteries for genealogical research. Jim was descended from antebellum settlers of Louisiana and Mississippi, including three pioneering physicians and two newspaper publishers. The person most responsible for his great, great grandfather Dr. Bartholomew Egan's emigration to the U.S. in 1820 was Bartholomew's father-in-law, John Cormick, a leader of the failed Irish Revolt of 1798, who escaped from his British captors to South Carolina. A bit unusual for a Southerner, Jim was also descended from four Mayflower passengers, a few Yankee whaling captains, and one accused, but cleared, 17th century Massachusetts "witch." A lifelong Episcopalian who was christened at the old St. Marks Church on Cotton Street, Jim rejoined St. Marks Church (now Cathedral) in 1967. He loved its architecture, finding inspiration similar to the peace of flying. The explanation might be found in Jim's gift for seeing like an artist, as well as an ability to draw and think in three dimensions, although he had no formal training. Jim's beloved wife of 75 years, Mary Alice, predeceased him at the age of 100. He outlived her by only five months. Jim was predeceased by his beloved siblings: Elizabeth Katherine Egan Castleberry, Edward Myers Egan and Reuben White Egan; his son-in-law, Robert Louis Wanner II, and his nephews, David Reuben Egan and James Lyon Hardman. To cherish his memory Jim leaves his son, Michael Hardman Egan of Shreveport; his daughter, Shirley Katherine Egan of New York; his granddaughter, Katherine Egan Cornell and her husband, Brian George McMeekin and their daughter, Marion Clare Cornell and their special foster daughter, Ariyah, all of Kansas; step-son grandson, Travis Wolfgram Wanner and his wife, Alicia Barmon and their son, Williamson Rainn Wanner, all of Maryland; first cousins, Lillian Buckelew Hodges Randall, Lewis Minor, and Stephen Minor; nephews, Frank Petit Castleberry Jr., Robert King Hardman, A. Pierce Hardman, and Dan Cordis Hardman; and his nieces, May Castleberry, Charlotte Castleberry Beran, and Beverly Egan Houston. Jim loved his family more than anything. He cherished the extended family that was there for him as a young boy, missing his mother. He was thrilled to have a 100th Birthday Party in 2019 attended not just by his descendants but also by descendants of the generous aunts and uncles who had looked out for him all those decades ago. In Jim's mind, there was never any question but that he would retire to Shreveport and give something back of himself. As the time approached, Jim made peace with his end and looked forward to being reunited especially with his mother and Mary Alice. Jim's daughter, Shirley Egan, wishes to recognize and give heartfelt thanks to her brother, Michael Egan, for his extraordinary devotion and attention to their father's well-being in his last years. In lieu of flowers, Jim's family suggests memorials may be made to the Oakland Cemetery Preservation Society Inc., Post Office Box 52131, Shreveport, LA, 71135 or to the charity of one's choosing. The Rev. Dr. Wayne Carter of St. Mark's Cathedral will officiate at a graveside service limited to the family. Jim will take his final rest at Oakland Cemetery beside Mary Alice.