CCS(USA) Past President, CCS(USA) Founding Board Member, Captain US Navy, Ret.
Past Clan Campbell Society (USA) President CAPT James H. Campbell, USN died Thursday April 12, 2001. Under his leadership at the helm of the organization, the early years from 1978-1981 were busy and ambitious. His story is perhaps best told from the pages of our Journal in the fall of 1978.
In his first President's Message for the Journal, "Capt. Jim" as he was better known, wrote that as a newly-elected officer, he thought no one could fill "Judge Hugh's shoes nor could anyone else have placed the Clan on such a firm footing." He then promised he would devote his every effort to furthering of the Clan business.
He added that ... "Our Chief, (the 12th Duke of Argyll) before he returned home from the 6th Annual Meeting of the Society at the Sugar Mountain Resort Lodge in North Carolina, asked me to inform him when our membership passed the 500 mark. You will be pleased to know that on the 1st of August, I sent him a cable telling him that we were at the 525 mark and still growing."
"Captain Jim" urged everyone to feel free to write him because he wanted to make the CCS (USA) the finest Clan Society in the whole world.
His efforts have brought great reward: today the membership of the Clan Campbell Society (North America) stands to several thousand and spans more than one border.
He was born and reared in Arkansas. He was graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, class of 1933, where he had been a key member of the football team. Captain Campbell served as a submarine officer with five war patrols in the Pacific during World War II.
Following World War II, Capt. Campbell commanded the destroyer, USS Leary. He later served as commander of the U.S. Naval Ammunition Base in Hingham, Mass., where he mobilized the facility for the Korean War during which he also commanded USS Dipthda (AKA-59). He later commanded Harbor Defense Unit, Naval Base, Norfolk, Virginia.
In addition to his 1943 Commendation Ribbon, Captain Campbell was awarded the American Defense Service Medal; American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three engagement stars; World War II Victory Medal; Navy Occupation Service Medal, Europe Clasp; National Defense Service Medal; Korean Service Medal; United Nations Service Medal; and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with two stars. He also had the Submarine Combat Insignia with three stars.
A more complete record of Capt. Jim's service record may be found here: Naval History and Heritage Command.
After retirement from the Navy, Campbell served as executive vice president of the Combed Yarn Spinners Textile Association (later known as the American Yarn Spinners Association (AYSA)), a stockbroker, Trustee of the James Monroe Memorial Foundation, a financial consultant, and a member of the Virginia Electoral Board. Campbell was a founding member of the Presbyterian Church in America and was an Elder in that denomination.
A longtime resident of Virginia Beach, he was a Kiwanis Club member, a member of the Protestant Chapel at Little Creek Amphibious Base, served as a board member of the Union Mission, and belonged to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Sons of the American Revolution, and he was a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Lazarus.
He was awarded the James Monroe Distinguished Service Award by Virginia Governor James S. Gilmore in 2000. He belonged to the Saint Andrew's Society of Williamsburg, Virginia, the Harbor Club of Norfolk, and the Caledonian Club in London.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Johnson Campbell of Virginia Beach; a brother, William Wadley Campbell of Tampa, Fla.; a son. Col. James Albert Barton Campbell, USAR and his wife, Madge Clark Campbell, of Richmond; a grandson, Hon. Richard Barton Campbell, also of Richmond; a granddaughter, Julia Campbell Farr and her husband, Dr. John Franklin Farr, III, a great-grand daughter, Sarah Margaret Farr, all of Augusta, Georgia, and an Afghan foster child, Multan Mangel.
A military funeral service was held at the Little Creek Amphibious Base Chapel. Burial was in the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA.
Wini and I were deeply saddened and shocked to learn of the death of not only Mac Cailein Mor, but also of Captain James Harry Campbell, USN (ret) and one of the first three Trustees of Clan Campbell, USA and the third President.
I was privileged to have served as Capt. Jim's Vice President and we worked very closely with him and Libby in establishing games management procedures and the Clan Store. During Capt. Jim's tenture, the CCS(USA) increased from a few hundred members to over one thousand.
He and Libby first settled in Charlotte, NC where he met Judge Hugh Campbell and his lovely wife, Thelma. A friendship that continued to this day.
Capt. Jim also recruited Lyle Campbell to be the Editor of the Journal and the first storekeeper.
Jim and Libby hosted, on many occasions, the Executive Council meeting in their home in Virginia Beach. Their Graces' were also guests during the fund raising drive to restore Inveraray Castle after the disastrous fire on November 5, 1975.
Lately, due to age and illness, Libby and Jim have curtailed their Scottish and Clan Campbell activities. Without their energies, time and financial support, Clan Campbell Society (USA) would probably not have been so successful.
Captain Jim, Bravo Zulu, "Fair winds and following seas..."
Find a Grave: Capt James Harry Campbell
Adapted from the Summer 2001 issue of the Journal of the Clan Campbell Society (North America) Vol. 28, No. 3. pg. 51. Edited for the web by C.R. Seale, OBM.