James F. Logue, 88, an accountant

James F. Logue, 88, of Wynnewood, an accountant and decorated World War II veteran, died Wednesday, Nov. 30, of an apparent heart attack at home.

Mr. Logue grew up in Southwest Philadelphia, where he delivered newspapers and played the bugle for the Archer-Epler Drum and Bugle Corps. He graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys in 1941.

During World War II, Mr. Logue served in the Army with the 83d "Thunderbolt" Infantry Division. On June 18, 1944, he landed on Omaha Beach. Six months later, he was fighting with his division in the Battle of the Bulge, during which he was wounded by shrapnel.

In April 1945, Mr. Logue was among the GIs in Germany who liberated Langenstein, a sub-camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. For his combat service, he was awarded two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.

In recent years, Mr. Logue spoke at his grandchildren's high schools about his war experience, and he was the subject of a documentary his granddaughter Caitlin Curran produced for her senior project at Catholic University of America.

He told his grandchildren he went into the war not knowing how to drive but became a jeep driver. He was also his company's bugler. And he told them, "I'll never be as cold as I was at the Battle of the Bulge."

After his discharge, Mr. Logue earned a bachelor's degree and was manager of the track team at what was then St. Joseph's College. He graduated in 1949.

He was an accountant and auditor for the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Defense Supply Center, and the Federal Aviation Administration in Philadelphia. During the Abscam investigation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was on loan to the FBI for two years in Philadelphia.

Mr. Logue always had two or three jobs, his daughter Annabelle Curran said. While working for the federal government, he worked part-time for private accounting firms and for H&R Block.

After retiring from the FAA in the early 1990s, he operated an accounting practice from his home. His clients included individuals and small businesses and the Narberth Fourth of July Committee, his daughter said.

Mr. Logue served on the board of governors of St. Joseph's University. He was a member of the Columbus Club, a men's social organization; the Overbrook Italian American Club, where he was the only Irish officer; the Pennsylvania Society of Public Accountants; the Catholic Philopatrian Literary Society; and the Stone Harbor Yacht Club. He and his family had a summer home in Stone Harbor.

He was a fabulous dancer and made his children practice in the kitchen with him before they went to a dance, his daughter said.

Mr. Logue and his wife, Annabelle Moore Logue, celebrated their 60th anniversary in May with a party at the Union League.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Logue is survived by son James Jr.; another daughter, Carolyn Berenato; and nine grandchildren. A daughter, Kathleen Shine, died in 1991.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Monday, Dec. 5, at St. Matthias Roman Catholic Church, 128 Bryn Mawr Ave., Bala Cynwyd. Friends may call from 9:30 a.m. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.

Donations may be made to Kathleen Logue Shine Scholarship Fund, Merion Mercy Academy, 511 Montgomery Ave., Merion, Pa. 19066.