43
Poland's James Earl Jones says at 15, Marines made him grow up
POLAND
James Earl Jones altered his birth certificate and lied about his age so he could enlist in the Marine Corps in 1946 at 15, about a year after World War II ended.
Jones, 85, who lived on Falls Avenue in Youngstown at the time of his enlistment, admitted with a grin that he joined the military because he was “having a little trouble with school.”
“I wasn’t in serious trouble or facing jail. I just didn’t like school, so I stopped going. My parents were pretty disgusted with me,” remembered Jones, an only child.
“Actually, I planned to enlist in the Navy, but it was full. The Marine Corps recruiter was there, so I went that direction,” Jones said.
Jones, who worked in intelligence units, was discharged from his first enlistment in 1949. But he remained on reserve status and was called back to active duty during the Korean War, though he was never stationed in Korea.
During his second tour of duty, he served aboard a submarine part of the time and was part of a “rubber boat” crew launched from the sub to reconnoiter the land area. To keep down the noise, the last portion of the distance to shore was traversed by swimming with rifles on their backs, Jones said.
He said he mostly dealt with maps and trying to determine what equipment and personnel would be needed to land in particular places.
On the home front, his wife, the former Donna Jean Hobart, 85, a 1950 graduate of South High School, lived on Carroll Street. The couple met when she was 13.
“My parents didn’t like him,” Donna said with a laugh.
“The Marine Corps made me grow up. I learned to take orders, something I didn’t do too well before that,” Jones said.
Being in the military changed his life for the better, but even though he did not see combat, there were some tough times.
When he was called back to active duty in 1950 during the Korean War, his wife was pregnant with their son, James Earl Jones Jr. of Poland.
“I lived in an attic with my mother-in-law and his grandmother on Falls Avenue; and I waited for him to come home on leave,” Donna said.
His first stint in the Marine Corps ended in September 1949.
Jones earned his General Educational Development certificate, and when his military obligation was completed, he took classes at Youngstown College and the University of New York at Buffalo.
Jones said he had a good job working in blast-furnace construction with A.E. Anderson Co. in Buffalo.
“I worked where there were blast furnaces,” said James, who retired from Reactive Metals in Niles as a maintenance foreman.
“I love the Marine Corps,” said Donna, who formerly operated beauty salons in Poland and Boardman.
“The Marine Corps straightened him out. We’ve been married 66 years, and he’s been a wonderful husband, father and grandfather,” she said.
Their granddaughter, Dr. Jean Blair of Boardman, is a pathologist. The elder Joneses have a grandchild and two great-grandchildren.
The Jones have traveled extensively, to 21 countries, including the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. “It made you cry,” Donna said.
“I guess the Marine Corps also gave him wanderlust. He would still be traveling if he was able,” she said.