Retired Lt. Col. James Ethan Davis

Retired Lt. Colonel James Ethan Davis, Sr. passed away peacefully at the age of 97 on August 16, 2019 at his home in Gulfport with his family by his side. Mr. Davis was the only child of Bertha Stewart Davis and Luther A. Davis. He entered military school in the ninth grade and graduated GCMA with the class of 1941. When he was a Freshman at Mississippi State, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the war broke out. He was notified that he would become a 2nd Lt. and at the age of 19 he had his own platoon, part of Company C of the 63rd Training Battalion. He ran the Infantry Replacement Training Center. He was stationed at Ft. Wolters, TX where he met the love of his life, Army nurse Phyllis Knauff. They were married on Sept. 11, 1944 in Naples, Italy and had been married 72 years at the time of her death in 2016. He was a 32nd degree Mason and a Shriner. Mr. Davis is survived by his children Victor A. Davis, James E. Davis, Jr. (Cherie), Phyllis Kay Levine (Stan); grandchildren Summer Morgan (Shane), Candis Spruill (Michael), Jason Davis (Ashley) and Brad Levine; great grandchildren Ethan Spruill, Addy-Kate Spruill, Hadley Morgan, Bailey Levine, Emily and Brayden Davis. The family wants to give special thanks to his caretakers Bree and Roxanne. In lieu of flowers the family prefers memorials be made to The Alzheimer’s Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC, 20090 or to The Humane Society of South Mississippi, 2015 25th Ave, Gulfport, MS 39501. Visitation will be held on Friday, August 23, 2019 at Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, 15th Street in Gulfport from 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. A graveside service will follow at Biloxi National Cemetery at 11:00 a.m.