Thursday, October 05, 2006
Jack Forester
One of the men we met at the USS Bell reunion was Jack Forester. He was attending from Michigan and had his daughter Glennora with him. They were both delightful people to be around and we enjoyed spending time with them.
We sat at the same table as Jack and Glennora at the banquet and Terri drilled Jack for information about his WWII days.
Jack went into the Navy in 1940 before all of the stuff with Pearl Harbor. There was a great rush to join the Navy after Pearl Harbor. But Jack didn’t wait around for us to be bombed before deciding that he wanted to join the Navy and see the world.
Jack Forester would eventually become a Torpedoman but he started out his Naval career by swabbing decks as a Seabee. He asked the Lieutenant how you got a job like Torpedoman and the next thing you know a week later Jack gets Torpedoman school. He didn’t get the full Torpedoman position but he did get assigned on a ship where he was teaching others.
There was an officer onboard this ship who thought he knew everything. He was one nasty piece of work. He and Jack clashed heads from the start. He and Jack taught a similar class so he asked Jack to sit in on his class sometime and tell him what he thought of his teaching. So Jack sat in one of his classes. Instead of teaching, this guy spent the whole class talking about girls in Honolulu and how he would take care of them while their men were at sea. After the class he asked Jack what he thought of the class. Jack replied “You want me to tell you what I really thought or do you want me to bullshit you?” The next thing you know Jack has orders off of the ship to head south. Heading south was not a good thing in those days apparently. That officer thought he was sending Jack off to swab decks somewhere. Jack hits port and is resting on the dock when suddenly someone kicks his duffle bag. Jack swings around ready to do battle but he see’s that it is the Lieutenant that first gave him Torpedoman school. The Lieutenant asks Jack what brings him to this port and jack tells him about the clash with the officer. The Lieutenant asks him if the guy looks like blah blah blah and Jack describes him. Turns out the Lieutenant knew the guy and didn’t think favorably of him either. The lieutenant says “Well Jack, what is it you want to do?” Next thing you know Jack is heading off to San Diego back into torpedo school so he can get a higher class.
While in San Diego Jack met his first wife there. Her father was strict and ended up throwing her out of the house when he found out that she was spending time with a sailor. So they drove over to Arizona and got married. Their marriage wasn’t a long one and has a tragic ending. While Jack was off in Honolulu she got hit by a car and died 5 days before Pearl Harbor was attacked. She was only 17 when she died. Tears welled up in Jacks eyes as he told us about her death. You could tell that even after all these years the thought of her passing at such a young age and in such a tragic way still moved him.
Jack went on to tell us how after that he went aboard a 4 piper that was a stacker. They turned it into a mine sweeper. He wanted PT boats. At this point we were interrupted and never did get back to hearing the rest of Jack’s story. One day soon we would like to update the rest of the story of Jack Forester.
link | posted by Dads Navy Days at 10/05/2006 01:13:00 PM
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