Jim was the first born son of John D. Pitas (a Greek Immigrant) and Eva Collins Pitas (the daughter of a lumberjack). He was born on November 22, 1924, and raised in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and graduated from Fond du Lac Senior High School. His father, John James Pitas, emigrated from Samos. John joined the US Army at age 14 (lied about his age as many did) so he could gain US citizenship. John came to the US with two brothers who were both older than him. One stayed on the east coast and I'm not sure where the other one settled. John came to Fond du Lac by himself as a teenage boy knowing zero English. He settled in with the Greek community in town. Became a barber and then, later on, became a manager at a leather tannery. John married a German/English woman, Eva Collins, and did not raise James or his other 2 children, Arthur & Elain, with any Greek tradition as the time, Greeks were discriminated against in this area (Greeks were also victims of KKK - Ku Klux Klan). Jim enlisted in the Army Air Corp on December 7, 1942, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (#16156189). He trained in Aircraft Armament at Lowry Field, Colorado and Aerial Gunnery at Wendover Field, Utah. However, before his training, he was examined by a committee in order to be an aviation cadet and proceed for flight training, unfortunately without success. His failure to meet the prescribed standards for pilot training didn’t stop him. He joined his B-17 flight crew at Ephrata, Washington. Since he was the last to arrive, he got the ball turret position. The pilot was John Ferguson. They trained for several months at Ephrata, Washington and Geiger Field near Spokane, Washington. On October 26, 1943, they ferried a new B-17 from Grand Island, Nebraska to Edinburgh, Scotland. From there the crew was assigned to the 410 Squadron of the 94th Bomber Group of the 8th Air Force. They were the third crew to fly B-17F-35-VE, #42-5950, ‘Peter’s Pride’ or ‘My Devotion’. The plane was named after the crew chief. After 17 missions, Jim’s crew took R&R at the country estate of a wealthy Englishman. They stayed in a mansion by the Thames and were served by the owner’s staff. When the crew returned from R&R, they found that their plane and replacement crew had been shot down with no survivors. Jim participated in three attacks on Berlin but never got there. On the first attack, the group was forced to turn back while over Switzerland because of worsening weather in England. On the second try, they turned back over Sweden because their contrails were too heavy. On the third try, his bomber was forced back just short of the continent by engine failure. However, the 94th led the January 11, 1944 attack on the ball bearing works at Brunswick, Germany. One-third of the group was lost in the attack. They received a Distinguished Unit Citation for their efforts. Although he was a member of Ferguson crew, his seven last missions were flown with Millers and Harpootlian Crews. During his tour, Jim was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, four Oak Leaf Clusters, and the European Theatre of Operation Ribbon with one Battle Star. He also earned a Purple Heart. According to Rebecca 'Mayer' Alm, granddaughter of Capt. William Henry Mayer, James co-pilot and one of his longtime friends:

"Heated items had copper wires running through it and needed to be plugged into their duty station in the plane. Many times there were malfunctioning pieces as in when belly gunner Pitas gear had a short and did not heat one side of his body but used the same amount of power and burnt the other half. He received a Purple Heart for his suffering."

Jim was asked once how many fighters he had shot down. He said, “I never kept a count. Killing other people is not something I’m proud of.” After the war, Jim married Della Mae Howell and became a tool design engineer at Giddings & Lewis in Fond du Lac. Jim and Della were married for 55 years, they had three daughters and six grandchildren. Jim worked at G&L for 33 years. He was a long time member of the EAA and the B-17 society and donated plenty of his wartime memorabilia’s, like his jacket. James D. Pitas, pass away in 2001.