WORLD WAR II Area vet returns to Pearl Harbor

Garcia reminisced with a shipmate he hadn't seen in 60 years.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Urbano Garcia, a World War II Navy veteran, went to Hawaii for the 60th anniversary celebration of victory in the Pacific over Japan to honor the American veterans who died there.
And when he arrived, the memories -- some good, some bad -- started coming back.
The event, sponsored by the United States Navy Memorial Foundation, was Sept. 2 on the deck of the USS Missouri. Garcia was in Hawaii from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3.
It was the first time Garcia, 81, returned to Hawaii and Pearl Harbor since his ship was in port there during the war years.
Garcia said a Navy band played 1940s music as his group was escorted aboard the Missouri by Marines.
"It made me think about some of the buddies that died. I had tears in my eyes," he said.
Background
Garcia, a 1943 graduate of The Rayen School, joined the Navy at 19. He was asked to stay after the end of his three-year enlistment, but while he liked the Navy, he decided to come home and go to college.
He graduated in 1950 from Youngstown College with a bachelor's degree in business administration, and in 1952 joined the accounting department at Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co. Campbell Works as a time keeper.
He was an analyst in inventory control when the plant closed in 1977. He then went with Mahoning Bank for eight years before retiring at 62.
Garcia, a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9947 in Cornersburg, lived on Midlothian Boulevard for 43 years before moving to the Westchester Square Apartments in Austintown three years ago.
He served in the Navy from 1943 to 1946, when he was discharged as a Machinist Mate 2nd Class. While on active duty, he saw much of the D-Day assault on Normandy, during which his ship, the USS Jeffers, a destroyer, suffered damage from German shore gun batteries and several of the crew were injured.
During the war, he also served aboard the destroyer mine sweeper, the USS Endicott, and was decorated with five Battle Stars.
Reminiscing
Garcia said he didn't talk much about the war when he came home, but the trip to Hawaii gave him a chance to reminisce with a couple of shipmates, one of whom lives in Hawaii and whom he hadn't seen in 60 years, about their wartime experiences.
"We had a nice dinner meeting and talked for a couple of hours," he said.
Now, Garcia plans to attend the reunion in Indianapolis on Wednesday for those who served on the USS Jeffers.
He said there are only about 23 of his WWII era shipmates still alive, and usually fewer than 10 who come to the reunions. However, with the others who served on the Jeffers after the war and before it was scrapped in 1955, the group usually numbers about 50, he said.
alcorn@vindy.com