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Major John Paul Bott |
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Click here to read this historical account of Major John Paul Bott's 20-year military career describing his training and promotions.
On March 8, 1942, while a Staff Sergeant, John Paul Bott married Inabelle Bonney of Denver whom he met at a USO event. He had been transferred to McDill Field at Tampa, Florida, so his fiancee traveled three separate trains to reach Tampa. Ina had only been out of Colorado twice before that time. They were married in a Bay Shore Hotel called "Edgewater". With John's friends as the wedding party, they were married. Inabelle spent only a week with him for their honeymoon, then returned to Denver where she worked in the Remington Arms factory inspecting machine gun shells.
On September 27, 1948, a daughter, Bonney Jo, was born a few months before Ina and John returned from Japan to the United States.
Two sons were born during John's five year tour of duty in Lake Charles, Louisiana. John Paul, II was born December 17, 1951 and Harry Bruce was born January 7, 1954. Neither the family nor John liked Lake Charles. They went through two floods which were costly to them, because they were classified as rising water and nothing was insured. The first flood was 12 inches high in the house, but the second was above the sink in the kitchen. The mosquitoes were rampant and the water was filthy. Some areas were flooded with water moccasins, although none were seen in our home. Ina and the children went to John's family in Youngstown during the second flood.
