Lt. James C. Wooten, II

Lt. James C. Wooten, II. B. August 7, 1896 – D. August 1, 1918. , Born in Maury County, James Council Wooten, II was named after his grandfather – the first James Council Wooten, a Confederate colonel. Young Wooten's parents were John and Emma Wooten. Together they owned Maury Dry Goods and were very civic-minded citizens of Columbia., Young Wooten, better known to his friends and family as Jim, was a very bright young man. He attended grade school at the Columbia Female Institute and finished his local education at the Columbia Military Academy. At the age of just sixteen, he was admitted to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. While in the Academy, Wooten and his classmates were on a cruise of French waters and they witnessed French soldiers preparing to march against the Germans. Wooten was so struck by the men that he would have joined in the fight at that moment had he been allowed., At the request of his parents, Wooten left the Naval Academy and began attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1914. When the United States entered World War One, Wooten put his studies aside, though, and volunteered for the Army. He first served as a second lieutenant of coastal artillery at Fortress Monroe before he was shipped to France along with two thousand other officers on September 6, 1917. Once in France, he volunteered for aviation service and became an aerial photographer in the First Aero Squadron, serving as a first lieutenant., The local paper published a letter Lt. Wooten wrote home dated July 7, 1918. It was printed on August 13th and details how Lt Wooten shot down a German plane while on a mission. The last sentence of the letter read, “by the time you receive this, I will be safe on leave.” Sadly, he had died twelve days before the article was published. His last mission was to photograph the enemy lines. While performing his duty, Lt. Wooten and his pilot were attacked by five German planes. They were shot down and crashed just within their own lines at Chateau Thierry. The pilot was killed on impact and Lt. Wooten received a head wound and never regained consciousness. For his services, he was awarded France's Croix de Guerre., Originally buried in France in 1918, his parents brought his remains to Rose Hill Cemetery in May 1921. Aviation wings and his citation from the French Government are engraved on his cross-shaped monument. Since 1919, the Children's Section of the Maury County Library has been named in his memory.