James Smith Floyd

He was Jimmy as a boy and Jim as an adult, the sixth of eight children, although one died at nine months. His father was a driver for American Railway Express Agency, one of several package delivery companies that relied on trains just as UPS does today on airplanes. The family had a row house on Lindenwood Street in the Kingsessing neighborhood of Philadelphia.

The “baby of the family” was Robert, who was nine years younger than Jim, but they were closer than Jim was with his older brothers. Their father died in 1941, when Robert was 18 and Jim was 26. Obeying the law of the land, Jim registered for the draft in 1940. His height was recorded at at 5’5” and he weighed only 130 pounds. Robert had “grown up in his brother’s shadow,” but by the time he registered in 1942 he was taller, but only by an inch.

 Jim’s number came up on April 21, 1943 so he was drafted, which was a month after Robert. He reported for duty and was assigned to Company C, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. By the time he joined them the division had fought the enemy in North Africa, invaded Sicily in July, and invaded Italy at Salerno in September.

Private Floyd was part of the amphibious landing at Anzio, a harbor village on the Italian coast about 30 miles south of Rome. The attack was codenamed Operation Shingle, and began on January 22, 1944. The division was there for just over four months in a toe-hold against numerous and furious German counterattacks.

 Jim was killed ten days into the battle, on the first day of February. Robert went overseas later that year but managed to survive the war. In July of 1948 Jim’s remains were buried here beside his sister and father. His mother, who would join them here in 1951, was initially notified that Jim was missing in action, but later was told he would be honored with the Purple Heart, posthumously.