Julius enlisted in the United States Navy in 1940,and was serving aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) as a mess Attendant First CLass when it was bombed by Japanese planes in the surprise attack on December 7,1941.He and o413 other crewmen were killed aboard the battleship.Julius was awarded a posthumous Purple Heart in honor of his sacrifice.
A Navy press release followed shortly after the announcement of Julius death describing the heroism of another African American seaman,then undidentfied.Mess Attenant Second Class Dorie Miller assumed control of a deck gun on the USS West Virginia BB_48) after the gunner was killed and helped defend the ship. Media reports at the time often credited Julius with Dorie's heroism and the misidentification still sometimes persist.The Birmingham World labeled Julius "the Crispus Attucks of World War II"Birmingham's African American community raised over $300,000 in war bond purchases toward the completion of a -B4 Liberator named The Spirit of Ellisberry.
Birmingham's Ellsberry Park near Finley Boulevard north of downtown was dedicated in his honor in 1979.A marker honoring Julius sacrifice has been also been erected in Kelly Ingram Park,which is named for fellow Navy veteran and Birmingham Native Osmond Kelly Ingram,the first American killed in World War I.
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