Pickaway County Vet a Member of the 2022 Class of Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame

Article presented by Tomlinson Insurance

“Humbled” the best way James Davis described his emotions of being on stage with the recent class of inductees of the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.

The 74-year-old Vietnam veteran told Litter Media “My wife… my family… I couldn’t look down at them in the crowd. I had to look up and focus on the lights”. It was his way of fighting back tears while his biography was being read before the audience at The Ohio State University’s Fawcett Center Tuesday.

Following high school, the Mt. Sterling native was part of the second graduation class of the newly formed Westfall High School. Davis was one of 52 young men receiving a diploma, 27 of them would serve in the military, many of those didn’t make it home alive.

Davis served four years in the Air Force Titan II Nuclear Weapon Systems and earned two bachelors and his master’s degree. He went to work for U.S. Veterans Affairs serving as National Assistant Chief of Specialty Adapted Housing, assisting more than 1,500 disabled veterans annually.

He was later promoted to VA Loan Guaranty Officer in Los Angeles, where he managed one-eighth of all veterans services nationally.

Davis started his own business, BestPathFoundation.com, helping hundreds of veterans and others to find their purpose and success. In addition, Davis has made 245 mission trips over 26 years in ministry.

The living inductees were interviewed by the Ohio Department of Veterans Services with the videos running December 1st through January of 2023 viewable on the ODVS YouTube channel and the department’s official Facebook and Twitter pages. The videos feature personal anecdotes, quotes and photos of the 2022 class. Davis’ interview will be made available on December 15th.

CLICK HERE to see the Hall of Fame Classes and view their biographies.