chris.moore@panews.com

 

NEDERLAND — James Forey, 92, sat among other former military service members Friday at Veterans Park for a Memorial Day tribute.

Forey endured the heat while wearing a black Navy hat along with his uniform that he was proud still fit.

“I asked about the uniform,” he said. “ I knew it was going to be a Veterans Park and I wear it every year at the Veterans Park in Port Arthur. They told me if I had it, wear it. They said the ones they talked to have a uniform, but they can’t get in it. They said they hated to ask me because as long as it has been, they didn’t think I could fit it.”

Forey said he enjoyed the tribute and hopes to make as many more celebrations as he can.

“As long as I can take events and participate in things like this, I’m happy to go,” he said. “I fell and broke my hip three years ago right after my son moved us out after living in Nederland 57 years. I had a fainting spell.

“My son said, ‘You’re not going to cut grass anymore.’ I had an acre of land on Seattle in Nederland. He said he was going to get me another house and fix it up next to his daughter’s house. The day I moved in, I fell in the garage and broke my hip. Three weeks in the hospital. I never got hurt in the service. I got out and I fell off of a ladder one time painting my house and here I fell and broke a hip. I should’ve never retired and stayed in the Navy forever. It would’ve saved me.”

 

Drafted at 18

 

Forey was drafted into the Navy at age 18 in 1944.

“I got in and went through boot camp,” Forey said. “They put me in training for the invasion of Okinawa. They said they have two groups training. One came in a year before the other one. When the first one gets two years, they’ll make the first invasion. The second one will follow.”

Forey was told he would be part of a third group, but he wanted to be part of the first to invade.

“I was thinking, ‘Here I am, 19. I’ve trained for a whole year. I’m in my second year. Why can’t I go now? I’m here to serve the country.’ They told me I had to wait my turn. Then it was time for the second group to go, and I went through the same thing again. I told them I want to fight for the country. They told me I had to wait until next time.

However, Forey had to wait longer than he expected.

“They told me they had good news and bad news,” he said. “They said the good news is that we’re going to cancel the third one because it’s too bad. We’ve had too many casualties. We’re going to see what happens. We’re going to send you to Hawaii and see how it plays out.”

 

Missed Pacific combat

 

After a couple of months, Forey arrived in Okinawa.

“I was there working with the people,” he said. “When Truman dropped the bomb, that’s when I left to come home. I didn’t have to fight in Okinawa. It was peaceful. Some of the people there didn’t like Americans. I was a chief storekeeper. I would prepare them a meal and they would throw it all in the water.”

In 1946, Forey joined the Naval Reserves.

“There were three of us that went in with and came out at the same time,” he said. “They said that if we joined the Reserves, we get to go home three days early. I said I’d do it. The other two joined me. The first one died at 38 of pancreatic cancer. The second one worked at Texaco with me. I retired at 59. They were having let-go’s and my dad was sick, so I retired early to take care of him. He died a week later, I think.

“However, my years added up to where I had 20 years active and 20 years in the Reserves so it gave me a full pension. I’ve been retired now 32 years. The last five years, (the Navy) kept me until I was 60. They said there was no one they could find to interview people that were trying to commit suicide. I said all of my career as a storekeeper was testing the men, interviewing the men, counseling the people.

Forey told him he could do it.

“It’s hard,” he said. “One man said ‘I want to go home and marry my sweetheart, but I can’t,” but every word was a cuss word. He said ‘I can’t because her daddy is a minister.’ He asked me why I didn’t use cuss words. I told him because I didn’t start. I never started on it. You can’t counsel people if you’re cursing all of the time. He said for four or five years, I’ve done nothing but cussing and I barely use any English words.”