James E. Opie Jr.
Rank: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps
Unit: Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division
Entered service from: New Jersey
Born:
Died:
Biography
Private First Class James E. Opie Jr. of Audubon, New Jersey.
Private First Class James E. Opie Jr. was born on August 9, 1927. He lived at 209 Princeton Road in Audubon, New Jersey. He served with the U.S. Marine Corps in the 2nd Marine Division, attached to the U.S.S. Hermitage at Norfolk, Virginia.
In the early morning hours of February 1, 1951, Corporal James E. Opie Jr. was among six Marines traveling north on the Crown Point Road causeway near Paulsboro, New Jersey, returning from a weekend pass from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Their automobile, driven by Sergeant Thomas A. Glogofsky, 23, of Lansing, Michigan, collided head-on with a trailer truck at approximately 4:40 a.m. Trooper Joseph Pierce of the Mantua state police station reported that the driver apparently dozed at the wheel and the car swerved into the path of the truck. Pfc. Opie and Sergeant Glogofsky were killed instantly from fractured skulls. Two other Marines—Pfc. Ronald Fernandez of Fall River, Massachusetts, and Pfc. James Delaney of Keyport, New Jersey—were critically injured; two others suffered lesser injuries.
PFC Opie is remembered by his sisters Carol Opie Fultz, Doris Opie Molineaux, Barbara Opie Colangelo, and Nanci Opie Paravati. This page was created with the assistance of Carol Opie Fultz.
List 10 Killed In New Jersey Accidents
Trenton Evening Times —
Ten persons died in accidents in New Jersey over the weekend—costliest of 1931.
Six perished in traffic mishaps, the rest in a tragic sled accident at Berkeley Heights in Penna Mines.
A Public Service bus ran into 62-year-old Mrs. Antoinette Sanguinetti of Princeton, crushing her as she crossed a street.
A retired Bordentown man, Samuel D. Bolton, died in the wreckage of his auto which plunged onto Downtown-Cresswick road in Hamilton Town.
Four young men, on a sledding trip, were killed in Newton yesterday when ice gave way suddenly. Also dead: Russell Short, 17; Robert Cheeks, 16; Ralph Wittle, 17; Robert Grover, 17; all of Penna Grove.
The Marines, on a weekend pass from Camp Lejeune, were involved in a head-on crash of their car on Route 25 north of Paulsboro that injured four others. Private first class James E. Opie, 23, a Marine attached to the U.S.S. Hermitage at Norfolk, Va., and Thomas Glogofsky, 22, of Ewing, Mich., were killed in the crash.
Two Marines Killed, Four Others Hurt, In Crash Early Today
Camden Courier-Post —
Two Are Injured Critically When Auto Rams Truck
Two Marines were killed instantly and four others injured, two of them critically, early today when their automobile collided head on with a trailer truck on the Crown Point Road causeway leading into Paulsboro.
The dead were:
Sgt. Thomas A. Glogofsky, 23, of 1834 West Mt. Hope, Lansing, Mich., who was driving the car, and
Pfc. James E. Opie, 23, of 209 Princeton Road, Audubon.
Those in a critical condition are:
Pfc. Ronald Fernandez, 18, of 126 Carl St., Fall River, Mass., possible fractured skull, fractured left leg and possible internal injuries.
Pfc. James Delaney, 21, of 59 2nd St., Keyport, N. J., owner of the car, possible fractured skull and lacerations of the head and face.
The other injured are: Pfc. William Carey, 21, address unknown, fractures of both the upper and lower jaws, and Pfc. Jack Mendola, 21, of 475 Hicks St., Brooklyn, N. Y., sprained left ankle and cuts of face.
The injured were taken to the Underwood Hospital, Woodbury, in the Paulsboro ambulance, and later were transferred to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital.
According to Trooper Joseph Pierce, of the Mantua state police station, the Marines, stationed at Camp Lejeune, N. C., were proceeding north on the Crown Point Road at 4:40 A. M. and the driver, Glogofsky, apparently fell asleep. The car crashed head on into the trailer truck being driven by Arthur Holmes, 32, of 2165 Stewart Ave., Atlanta, Ga. Holmes suffered a scalp laceration.
Witnesses to the accident, in a car following that occupied by the Marines, told Pierce that they saw the car swerve suddenly to the left at the curve in Route 44 just north of the meadows. The occupants of the second car also are Marines from Camp Lejeune.
Mendola, who sat in the center on the rear seat and was the least injured, told Pierce that the Marines in the car had been dozing as they were traveling and that was probably what happened to Glogofsky, causing him to lose control of the car.
The left side of the car was completely demolished and both Glogofsky and Opie, who was riding directly in back of the driver on the rear seat, were crushed. Dr. David R. Brewer Jr., of Woodbury, a county coroner, said they died instantly from fractured skulls. Their bodies were taken to the undertaking establishment of Irving C. Pettit, in Paulsboro.
In addition to state police, local police from Paulsboro and Westville responded to the call for assistance. Traffic was tied up for several miles in both directions for a considerable time and it was nearly two hours before normal travel could be restored.
Police and ambulance crews from Paulsboro and Gibbstown required considerable time to extricate the victims from the passenger car, which was almost demolished against the left front of the truck. Traffic was tied up for nearly two hours.
Two In Critical Condition
Marines Ronald Ferandez [sic], 18, of Fall River, Mass., and James Delaney, 22, of Keyport, N. J., were reported in critical condition at Underwood hospital, Woodbury. Both suffered possible fractures of the head and internal injuries and were unconscious when admitted.
William Carey, 21, suffered a fractured jaw and John Mendola, 21, escaped injury. Both are from Brooklyn.
Glogofsky, Ferandez [sic] and Delaney were in the front seat and the others were in the rear. Dr. David R. Brewer Jr., Gloucester county coroner, said Opie and Glogofsky were killed instantly.
Pierce reported the Marines were sleeping in the car and expressed the opinion the driver dozed at the wheel.
Holmes was released on $1000 bail on a technical charge of death by auto.
[Photo caption:] WRECKAGE AND ONE VICTIM — Of an early morning accident on Crown Point road near Paulsboro [illegible]. Two of the six Marine passengers of the car were killed instantly, two were injured critically and two received minor injuries when the car crashed head on into a large tractor trailer truck.