James Arthur Sandwith

Memorial celebrations for James Arthur Sandwith, 79, Soda Springs, Calif., will be held this summer in Lawrence, Kan., and Soda Springs, and will be announced later. He was cremated. Inurnment is planned at the National Military Cemetery in Dixon, Calif.
Mr. Sandwith died Monday, May 10, 2010, at Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee, Calif.
He was born April 3, 1931, in Scammon, Kan., the son of William and Myrtle Swofford Sandwith.
Mr. Sandwith grew up in Scammon until the family moved in 1939 to Vallejo, Calif., where he lived until 1969, when he moved to Lawrence. In 1971, he returned to California and lived in the Sacramento Valley until 1978, when he moved to Soda Springs.
Mr. Sandwith attended the University of California-Berkeley.
He was a U.S. Army Airborne veteran of the Korean War and participated in two combat jumps. He earned the rank of E6 and was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart. After the war, he taught mountain warfare to the Japanese Army with the 10th Mountain Division before being stationed in Colorado.
Mr. Sandwith was a police officer in Vallejo and Berkeley, Calif., and also worked as a Porsche factory mechanic, auto racing mechanic, cowboy and pipe fitter.
He was a member of the Sports Car Club of America. His hobbies included auto racing and military history, and he was a skilled raconteur.
He married Frances Louise Craig on June 14, 1970, in Baldwin City, Kan. She survives of the home.
Other survivors include a daughter, Belle Starr Sandwith, Sattley, Calif.; two sons, Jesse James Sandwith and wife Eugenie, Verdi, Nev., and Craig Wesley Hermosillo, Soda Springs; and a sister, Donna Sandwith Garibaldi, Vallejo, Calif.
He was preceded in death by three sisters, Ann Sandwith, Wilma Sandwith and Thelma Sandwith Fuller; a brother, Bill Sandwith; and twin siblings who died at birth.
The family suggests memorials to the Truckee-Tahoe Humane Society, P.O. Box 9041, Truckee, CA 96162 or to any organization that benefits U.S. military veterans.
Truckee-Tahoe Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.