Owens (James C., Jr.) papers

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Summary

Title:
James C. Owens, Jr. papers
Creators:
Owens, James C., Jr. and United States. Navy
Abstract:
This small collection of memorabilia is comprised of high school and college photographs of Owen, several photographs of him in military uniform as well as of the destroyer named for him, citations from the Secretary of the Navy for the squadron's heroism, a Purple Heart certificate, and diplomas from Los Angeles High School as well as USC. Many of the naval documents and certificates are very tightly rolled as they were stored in a narrow tube.
Containers:
Box: 1
Box: 2
Box: 3
Extent:
2.98 Linear Feet 3 boxes
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or item name], James C. Owens, Jr. papers, Collection no. 5032, University Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Background

Scope and content:

The James C. Owens papers consists of high school and college photographs of Owens, several photographs of him in military uniform as well as of the destroyer named for him, citations from the Secretary of the Navy for the squadron's heroism, a Purple Heart certificate, and diplomas from Los Angeles High School and USC. Many of the naval documents and certificates are very tightly rolled as they were stored in a narrow tube.

Biographical / historical:

James C. Owens, Jr. was born in Batavia, New York but moved to California as a child. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1929 and received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California in 1934. He then went into the Navy and completed flight training in Pensacola, Florida and then served on board Lexington (CV-2); in 1941 he joined Torpedo Squadron 8 on board Hornet (CV-8). Appointed Lieutenant in 1942, Owens was the squadron Executive Officer leading the second division of TBD Devastator torpedo bombers in an attack against Japanese carriers during the Battle of Midway. Every plane of the squadron was shot down, but because the Squadron's maneuver forced Japanese ships to change course and eliminated their air cover, Lieutenant Owens is credited with the American victory that followed. Owens received the Purple Heart, Navy Cross, and Presidential Unit Citation posthumously. In 1944 a Navy destroyer was named in his honor (the USS James C. Owens).

Processing information:

The collection is unprocessed.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Jacqueline Morin and Sue Luftschein
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-03-09 14:00:34 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or item name], James C. Owens, Jr. papers, Collection no. 5032, University Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Location of this collection:
Doheny Memorial Library, Room 209
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189, US
Contact:
(213) 740-2587
specol@usc.edu
Website