February 29 in A.A. History

In 1940, [some sources say 28 Feb, but all sources agree it was Thursday and Thursday was the 29^th] A.A. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, held its initial organizational meeting in the room of James McCready “Mac” H.^* [near right] at 2209 Delancey Place.
    A freelance writer, he was lodging at the home of Horace P. and Margaret C. Conard. Jimmy B. [above, center right], sober two years, had moved to Philadelphia from New York City on February 13. On the 17th, he had contacted Charles “Charlie” B., an Oxford Grouper whom he had met once at a New York meeting two years earlier. Deciding together that they wanted to establish an A.A. group in Philadelphia, they next had spoken with two fellow alcoholics from Charlie’s Oxford Group, William Edmund “Ed” P. and Richard Henry Bayard B., Jr., who were “all for it.”
    Meanwhile, the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City had forwarded a letter of inquiry from one George I. “Bud” S., whom Jimmy and Mac had then contacted. A desperately sick alcoholic, George had sobered up on his own the year before after reading the article “Alcoholics and God” in Liberty magazine in late 1939; until now he had been considered a “loner.”
    Mac, Jimmy, Charlie, Ed, Bayard, and George and were at this first meeting; so was John Henry Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [above, far right], visiting from New York City, making a total of seven. They decided to start an A.A. group in Philadelphia, and to hold the first meeting on the following Thursday at George’s house.

---

^* James McCready H. had a son, James H. McCready, Jr. [left]. He was a U.S. Navy pilot, born on October 22, 1923i n Pennsylvania. He joined the Navy in 1944 and was assigned to the escort carrier USS Natoma Bay. After completing his assignment, he was scheduled to rotate back to the U.S., but he volunteered for one more flight. On March 3, 1945, during a mission near Iwo Jima, Huston's Corsair fighter plane was hit by Japanese anti-aircraft fire. His plane crashed into the ocean, and he was killed in action.

    Fifty-three years later, on April 10, 1998, James Leininger [right] was born in San Francisco. At around 2½ years old, James began having recurring nightmares about being trapped in a burning plane that was crashing. His actions mimicked those of someone trying to escape, as if he were trapped in a box and kicking his way out. By age 3, James started drawing pictures of fighter jets and battles, signing them as “James 3,” even though he had not yet learned to write his name. He could also list the names of his “fellow pilots” and the name of the ship his jet took off from. He made many statements that seemed to match details of James H., Jr.'s life, just a few of which included:
    • being shot down in a plane near Iwo Jima,
    • being based on a ship named Natoma, and
    • having a friend named Jack Larsen.

James Leininger’s parents, Bruce and Andrea, were mystified by their son’s behavior and began investigating these claims. Eventually, they found numerous correlations with James H., Jr.'s life. They wrote a book titled Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot about their family’s experiences.