Guy Osborne King

World War II

US Navy

 

One of the many brave young men who fought in World War II was Guy Osborne King.  He thought it was his patriotic duty to serve.  At the age of fifteen, he lied about his age and joined the Navy.  He left the Ledger Community of Bakersville, NC to go to Raleigh to be sworn in.  From there, he went to Great Lakes Navy station for boot camp.  Being the first time away from home, he felt very homesick and lonesome.

 

           Boot camp was very hard for Mr. King.  He had to walk two miles in the mud to eat.  The men in his unit were kept up day and night scrubbing the decks with steel wool.

 

           After boot camp he came home for a week before he was sent to Norfolk, Virginia.  He went from Norfolk to the Caribbean Islands and then on to Trinidad.  He ended up on a ship called the Destroyer Escort USS Koiner 399 that escorted ships from South America to North Africa.   The ship was around 300 or more feet long and took about 50 days round trip.  Being on a ship made him so sick he had to sleep tied to the top deck.  He scrubbed decks and cooked when he was not running to the rail to be sick.  He saw many tanker and cargo ships go down.  They would leave South America with a hundred ships and get to South Africa with around ten.

 

           Mr. King received many metals and ribbons while serving in the Navy.  He was also given a Ruptured Duck pin when the war was over.  This is the name of the pin given to WW2 veterans who are honorably discharged from service.

 

           The Navy only paid around $50 a month, so when Mr. King came home, he had no money, a wife and a baby.  Jobs were hard to find.  After working at many jobs, he joined the Army and was sent to Korea.  After leaving the Army, he got a job in Europe with the Department of Defense selling army trucks and tanks.  Finally, he came back home to America, where he trained Tennessee walking horses for shows.  He also ran his own tire company for years.  He and his wife lived in Washington, DC before moving back to the Ledger Community in Bakersville, NC where he has been for the last twenty years.

 

           Mr. King said he thought every girl and boy should serve in the military.  He is a lifetime member of the DAV, the Disabled American Veterans Association.  He feels he has no friends left, and he is very lonesome.  Mr. King has never wanted to talk about his time in the Navy, but was more than willing to talk to me.  He stated, “I would do anything to help a child get a good grade.”

Pages authored  by fifth grade Yancey County Schools Fifth Grade Students

Special thanks to:

 French Broad Electric’s Bright Ideas Grant

Yancey County Schools Foundation Grant

2007—2008