James Paul Lowder, Jr. was born on October 16, 1920. James served as a First Lieutenant & Pilot of P-51B-5 Mustang (#43-6945), 358th Fighter Squadron, 355th Fighter Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. He resided in North Carolina prior to the war.

Flying a P-51 he took off from Steeple Morden on a "Rodeo" mission. Fellow pilot, Lt Russell McNally reported that he followed Lt Lowder across and airfield on his last pass, but he pulled up to late and hit tops of trees on the edge of the airfield and his aircraft flipped over onto its back. The pilot appeared to point the nose up while inverted but crashed and exploded in woods at Bois de Jourre, about six miles NE of Coulommiers, France. The Germans reported that the P-51 was hit by MG fire from II/NJG.4

James was "Killed In Action" when his P-51 did not return to base and was assumed to be shot down by enemy aircraft and crashed in France during the war. He was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.ancestry.com