Brady: 2008 Denig award winner, James Brady dies at home

James Brady passed away Jan. 25, 2008

Noted journalist, author and Marine James Brady has passed on to his rewards, checking in with the Marine sentry posted at Heaven’s main gate.  His “voice,” still strong at 80, will be missed, but he left a vast reservoir of Marine lore and legend that will be tapped for years to come.

When the United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association honored Jim with the Denig Award this past August, Jim commented that he had received no higher honor than this recognition from fellow Marine journalists. The award citation mentioned his use of his status, books and Parade magazine column as “bully pulpits” to put forth the Corps message of courage, honor and commitment. He was never reluctant, when called by Commandants or lowly Leatherneck ,to step up and provide support.

Joe Galloway gets a tap from fellow author Jim Brady while signing books at the 2008 Combat Correspdents Conference in San Antonio.

After his completion of TBS in 1950, and before heading to the Korean front in 1951, he was posted as a platoon leader training new lieutenants at The Basic School in Quantico. One of the classes he put through consisted of all former enlisted Marines. In the main, these were battle-hardened World War II combat veterans. He told of being intimidated by their impressive achievements, rows and rows of medals and their presence. But he led them, earning their respect. In recent years, he has been a frequent honored guest at their annual reunions here in Quantico. He was their well-respected platoon leader, leading them, making them into second lieutenants, winning their confidence and they never forgot him.

Jim was a noted raconteur capable of spinning a tall Irish tale, a gripping sea story or mesmerizing an audience with his stories of life in Paris in the 50s, under the wings of pioneering fashion designer Coco Chanel. Brady tells that he went to Paris to reinvigorate what he perceived as a stagnating career. Coco Chanel adored the young, somewhat wild Irishman from America and opened doors providing access at the top levels of Parisian fashion.

As a Marine, you wanted to stand with your boots hooked over a brass rail, holding a cold drink and listen as Jim regaled growing audiences with tale after tale. But as he spoke of his Corps, it was clear that he was devoted to those men and women who make the Corps today and those he served with yesterday. He expressed great pride that his book, “Hero of the Pacific: The Life of Legendary Marine John Basilone” will be published in the summer of 2009. He and I had a “thing” about which was his best book and on the rare occasion that I could speak with him, we debated my favorite, “Warning of War: A Novel of the North China Marines” and his favorite, “The Scariest Place in the World.” I encouraged him to write a movie script for “Warning of War” but change the ending to let the hero survive. Jim was typically the immovable Irishman and I got nowhere.

New Yorker and Marine to the depth of his soul John Ledes, publisher of Beauty Fashion Magazine and Boxing Digest  (that mixture of content is a tale unto itself) and long-time friend of Jim Brady, (read Brady’s “The Scariest Place in the World: A Marine Returns to North Korea,” to gain insights into Ledes and liberty call in New York City during the war) called to let me know of James Brady’s passing. Ledes was a WWII leatherneck, returned to active duty for the Korean War. Living in New York and lunching occasionally with his old friend Jim Brady, Ledes saw Brady as “the ultimate, devoted Marine who committed his life to advancing the Corps in every possible forum. A devout Catholic, committed to his family.”

It’s my understanding that one of his daughters, Fiona, found Jim Brady in his Manhattan apartment on Tuesday 27 January.

 In his book, “The Scariest Place in the World” Jim wrote of his earlier stroke at age 73: “I didn’t want to die but I wasn’t afraid of dying. If you consult the actuarial tables for young twenty-three-year old second lieutenants, I’d lived half my life on borrowed time, and pleasantly so. … What did frighten me was the very real prospect of a half-life. Of surviving but not being able to think, to reason, to communicate and make judgments, and to write.”

In the game of life, James Brady won. He apparently died in his sleep of a massive stroke. He went out on top, all of us wanting more. A great friend of Leatherneck and all Marines … and I never convinced him to rewrite the end of “Warning of War.”

It was a real shock to learn of Jim Brady’s passing. He  had a great knack for telling the Marine Corps story, as witnessed by his several books about our Corps. 

—Walt Ford, Editor of Leatherneck Magazine of the Marines

Services for Brady will be held at
Frank E. Campbell, The Funeral Chapel, at 1076 Madison Avenue at 81st StreetNew York, NY as follows:
 
WAKE
Thursday, 1/29/09
7-9 p.m.
 
Friday, 1/30/09
2-4 p.m.
7-9 p.m.
 
FUNERAL
Saturday, 1/31/09
10 a.m.
St. Ignatius Loyola Church
980 Park Avenue at 84th Street