James L. Diel, was born on March 3,1922. lee was born in Jasper County, Illinois. James received his education at Newton High School. He graduated in 1940. In the summer of 1939 and 1940 he took part in a military training which lasted 6 weeks and was held at the Jefferson Barracks school in St. Louis, Missouri.

James endured the heavy base training and soon was admitted to the degree of Corporal and thereupon to Sergeant at Easy Company . The explanation for this could be this military academic background. After enduring his base training, James contiued his training at Fort Benning , Georgia. At Fort Benning, the jump training began for James and his company.

In late autumn of 1943, James left for England by sea. In England james got stationed in Aldourne where the heavy training for Operation Overlord took place. In the night of June 5th, James jumped out of a C-47 plane over Normandy, which was taken by the Germans. This jump is known as Operation Overlord andeven better known as D-Day. Many soldiers got killed at this heavy and long-lasting battle. James was one of the lucky ones who survived this operation. Due to the high amount of casualties, he was promoted to 1st Sergeant during the invasion of Normandy.

On his return on June 12, 1944 in England, James was promoted to 2nd lieutenant. After this promotion James was posted to Able Company.

As 2nd Lieutenant at Able Company, james took part in a new opeation which was lead by the English. This operation, which started on September 19,1944 was called operation Market Garden. This operation was far from successful and could better be described as a loss. The enemy was heavily underestimated. James was killed in the surroundings of Eindhoven.