BELL-JAMES

Biography on Captain James Franklin Bell, USN

Submitted by widow: Dora Griffin Bell 

Jim Bell was born in 1931 in Akron, Ohio, son of Francis Theodore and Miriam Bell. He attended the University of Utah before entering the U.S. Naval Academy where he graduated and was commissioned an ensign on June 4, 1954. After completing flight training he was designated a Naval Aviator in November 1955. He served in VF-141 in San Diego, and received a masters degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California in 1962. 

After postgraduate school he joined RVAH-1, flying the A3J-1 Vigilante (later redesigned A-5A), in Sanford, Florida in1963. The squadron was deployed aboard the USS Independence in Vietnam, and (then) Lieutenant Bell was on a combat mission over North Vietnam when his plane was shot down and he was forced to eject the aircraft onOctober 16, 1965. He spent the next 2,677 days as a prisoner of war before being repatriated to the United States on February 12, 1973 during Operation Homecoming.

He was briefly hospitalized so recover from his injuries at Bethesda Naval Hospital and then attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C. He also received a graduate degree from George Washington University.

Commander Bell was promoted to the rank of Captain while serving as commanding officer of Fleet Composite Squadron Seven in San Diego from August 1974 to November 1975. His final active duty service was with Naval Air Systems Command prior to his retirement from the Navy on March 1, 1979. 

His awards include two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit with Combat V (2), Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal with Combat V, Purple Heart, and Prisoner of War Medal. 

His second Silver Star citation reads: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while interned as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. During the period January to June 1967 his captors, completely ignoring international agreements, subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Through his resistance to those brutalities he contributed significantly toward the eventual abandonment of harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese, which was attracting international attention. By his determination, courage, and resourcefulness, and devotion to duty, he reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces.”

Captain Bell died on September 30, 2014 in Alexandria, Virginia and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.  He is survived by his wife Dora (previously a widow of Cdr. James L. Griffin), his three children, Tom Bell, Matthew Bell, and Ann Bell Rogan, step children James Griffin and Glyn Carol Griffin, as well as grandchildren, Jeramiah Bell, Hunter Bell, Hayley Bell, Reid Rogan and Cade Rogan.