Nix, Joshua James, Captain of the USS Edsall, Pacific Theatre, WWII.

T Joshua James Nix was born on May 20th, 1908 - was missing in action on Nov. 25th, 1945 (World War II hero who was called the youngest ship's commander when he went down with the USS EDSALL). For many years what happened to the USS EDSALL was uncertain, but later it was learned that he and others had survived the sinking and were killed on a nearby island. Great-grandson of Col. William Murphy Inge and Augusta Evans Inge, the "poet laureate of the Confederacy." Original accounts claimed he died on March 1, 1942, when the USS EDSALL sank. Later accounts say he died Nov. 25, 1945. Joshua J. Nix was born 1908 in Texas. Most accounts say Ft. Worth, but one source says Dallas while another says Arlington. The family was in the 1910 census at Houston, so he may have been born there. 2 July 1926: Entry in the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. 1930: He graduated from Annapolis, ennumerated in the 1930 census there. Afterwards, as Commander of the USS EDSALL, he went down with his ship in the Indian Ocean on March 1, 1942, after transferring survivors from the sunken LANGLEY to the PECOS, before heading towards Tjilatjap on the south coast of Java. The Heavy cruiser Chikuma sank the Edsall with 6" gunfire. Joshua Nix married Ella Vannah Washington, daughter of Henry A. and Olivia (Oates) Washington of Memphis. They had two sons born in California, Walter Collier Nix (1931-1998) and Robert Tappan Nix (1935-1999). [Description by 'patootie63]