James W. Downing

James Willis Downing (August 22, 1913 – February 13, 2018) was a lieutenant in the United States Navy. He retired in 1956 after 24 years of service, which included being commanding officer of the . At the time of his death, he was the second-oldest living survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, about which he authored a book.

Background Downing was born in Oak Grove, Missouri. At the time of his high school graduation, America was in the Great Depression. Jobs were scarce, so Downing enlisted in the Navy in September 1932. He began serving at Long Beach Naval Shipyard, California, the port for most of the Pacific naval fleet. He became a gunner's mate and postmaster aboard the .

Pearl Harbor On the morning of December 7, 1941, Downing and his new wife Morena were staying with his shipmates in Honolulu. The radio announced an attack on the Naval Station Pearl Harbor, and the sailors rushed to the port.

Downing tried to commit to memory the names on the dog tags of those killed, and later visited the wounded at the naval hospital. He recorded the names of the wounded and fatally injured in a notebook, along with messages they wished to convey. As the postmaster, Downing had access to the home addresses of these men, and he later wrote notes to each family, explaining what had happened to their relatives and their current condition. The book details his military career, Pearl Harbor, and how people of faith endure troubled times. Writing at age 102 years and 176 days when the final draft of his book was accepted for publication, Downing was honored by the Guinness World Records as the "oldest male author"; i.e., oldest male to author a book. With his death two years later at 104, his title transitioned to "oldest author ever". Despite the male qualification, Guinness themselves state the oldest female author to be Bertha Wood, aged 100, which means Downing is the oldest verified author of all time, according to Guinness. Somewhat contradictorily, however, Guinness has also stated thy Sarah Louise and Annie Elizabeth Delany were the oldest authors of all time, at 105 years and 103 years, respectively; however, this depends on whether the Delany sisters are to be given co-authorship credit for the book which they were the primary subject of.