JAMES ROYCE PITNEY, MSgt USAF Retired, former Mandarin Chinese linguist and Hebrew linguist passed away in 2002.

I went through the Defense Language Institute with him in 1970. He went to the 6924th Security Squadron at Ramasun Station, Thailand in 1972. From there he went on to Shu Lin Kou, Tawain. He was then assigned to the 6990th on Okinawa in 1978 or so. From there I think he went to Athens after cross training back at the Defense Language Institute into Hebrew.

Jim was married for about 30 years to Irene and they had two great sons, James and Joseph.

Both of Jim's sons served in the Air Force Space Command, James as a Missileer, and Joseph in Satellite Operations. James is now a Captain and is stationed at Vandenberg AFB, California. Joseph transfered to the Tennessee Air Guard to continue his service, and currently works in Law enforcement in Tennessee.

Jim retired, then worked with Children Services as a child abuse investigator. He then worked as a 911 Dispatcher with Ashland County, Ohio. He completed the police academy and worked part time as a Deputy, and then went onto full time as a Ranger at Charles Mill Lake Park in Mifflin Ohio. He had stopped to check in a tree trimming crew and while speaking with the foreman, a branch was kicked by the saw operator to avoid striking a swing set. It was kicked in Jim's direction and struck him. He was killed instantly.

I replaced Jim at Ramasun and he later joined me at the 6990th and we flew for a couple of years together there before our paths took different directions.

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The above obituary and personal comments came from his good friend, Chuck Wilcox, with help from Jim's son, Joseph. Chuck added this in a subsequent e-mail:

"He was one of the really good guys. If any one deserves to be on the site....it's Jim.