A Homeowner Story
Charles Jones – A World War II Veteran with a Story to Tell
Ruby and Charles Jones are an African American couple living near University City in St. Louis, MO. Charles and Ruby have owned their white, two bedroom house for 37years and have raised one daughter there. Charles is retired and financially supports his three grandchildren. In their old age, doing home repairs has become both a physical and financial burden for Ruby and Charles. So, in 2009, Ruby decided to apply to receive free home repair from Rebuilding Together St. Louis. Rebuilding Together St. Louis is a nonprofit that offers free home repair for low income homeowners who are older adults, veterans or disabled. Rebuilding Together St Louis is able to complete home repairs for roughly100 homeowners every year using volunteer labor, money from corporate sponsors and individual donations.
Unfortunately, at the time Rebuilding Together did not have funding to help Ruby and Charles, but held onto their application in case funding came up in the future. As Ruby said, “I didn’t need it then, because the Lord knows when you need things.”
That next year Charles and Ruby’s roof started leaking and they didn’t have the money to put a new roof on. The Jones ceiling and walls were slowly beginning to become water damaged and moldy. Unable to secure funding to repair their roof, they were living in fear of the roof falling in on them when it rained.
Then, less than a year later Ruby got a call back from Rebuilding Together St Louis letting her know they would be able to fix her leaky roof since her husband was a veteran. Rebuilding Together received the Heroes at Home grant from Sears allowing Rebuilding Together affiliates across the country to complete home repairs for low income veterans.
In July of this year, with the help of volunteers from the community, Rebuilding Together St Louis fixed the Jones’ roof and completed other repairs. For one whole day, volunteers gathered at the Jones’ house to paint, replace the kitchen cabinets and counter tops and install new appliances.
Ruby Jones was touched by spirit of the volunteers that came into their home to complete the quality home repairs. “They were excellent. What I like about them was they weren’t silly acting. They were kind. They were doing it for nothing! They could have been nasty but they were real nice people.”
These repairs made a significant impact on the Jones’ daily life. They are now safe, warm and dry under their new, better insulated roof. Ruby is very excited to cook Thanksgiving dinner in her newly remodeled kitchen.
As the volunteers bustled around the house they didn’t have a chance to sit down and talk to Ruby and Charles and hear their story. After the furniture was put back and the paint drops were cleaned off the floor, I decided to return to the Jones’ home to find out more about Charles’ service in the military. I sat down to interview Charles and discovered he truly has a unique story to tell. As he slowly recounted stories of his military service I was transported back to the early 1940s, to the beginning of WWII.
Charles, now 88 years old, served in Word War II both in Europe and the Pacific. He started his military career as part of the 9th Cavalry, stationed on the Mexican border between Del Rio and San Antonio. The 9th Cavalry is a historically African American cavalry dating back to the1860s.
After the sudden bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, Charles’ division started training to be sent to fight in WWII. In 1943, his division headed toward Casa Blanca, Morocco via the north Atlantic sea, in order to avoid the German infested waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Charles job was to be a cargo checker and was responsible for getting supplies to the front lines. His division stayed in the mountains of Morocco for several weeks and was then sent to Oran, Algeria where they continued to support the front lines with cargo supplies.
The division was then sent via Destroyer boat to Sicily. On the way, between Oran and Sicily, they were attacked by the German Luftwaffe. Charles recounts being in the Destroyer and peering out of the window holes. They sky was lit up like the 4th of July as the destroyer brought down the German airplanes. After stopping in Sicily, Charles’ division finally made it to Naples, Italy near Mt. Vesuvius where they would stay for the next year taking cargo and supplies to and from ships. On the shore of Naples, Italy they were attacked several times by German Luftwaffe. Charles remembers running, trying to seek shelter. He had to constantly be on his guard, sleep on the ground and catch up on rest whenever he could.
In 1944, Charles division was sent north to help with supplies for the battle of Anzio Beach. At that time there were no black soldiers that were fighting on the front lines but after months of fighting the number of soldiers dwindled. Members of Charles division (the 9th Cavalry) were asked to join the 92nd infantry to fight in the battle of Anzio Beach.
Charles best friend, Maurice, asked him “Jones. Are you going?” Charles decided not to go at that time and decided to stay back to ensure the front lines had enough supplies and ammunition.
“Maurice from Indiana … Maurice… I’ll never forget him” Charles reminisces. “Two days later we got news that Maurice was blown up. When we went back up to Anzio to get supplies, this is what we faced. When we got there we could go in on land. American soldiers just like … I’ve never told her (Ruby) this… American soldier on land just like my hand laying out dead and a big truck with soldiers walking along putting the dead boys in the truck to ship ‘em back. Some with their arms, some with rifles still in their hand and they never got a chance to use ‘em.”
Charles division stayed in Anzio for six weeks until the fighting was over. They were then stationed just north of Rome in Pisa where Charles met Benjamin Davis, the first black Army general in the US Military. It was in Pisa that Charles received the news that the Germans had surrendered. An announcement was made “one down and one to go”. The war had moved into the Pacific to stop Japan’s imperial expansion.
In August of 1945, Charles’ division loaded up into trucks, headed back down to Naples, Italy and got on a ship to the Philippines. While they were on the ship, just before they arrived on land, the atomic bomb was dropped and the Japanese surrendered.
Upon arriving in the Philippines, Charles’ division had to hack out a place in the jungle to set up a primitive camp. Even though the war was officially over, they stayed in the Philippines to manage cargo that was already on its way to South East Asia. Charles slept in the jungle, managed cargo and helped to secure the region. It wasn’t until a year after the war was over that Charles got to come home. He boarded a ship from Manila to California, finally making it home safe, but not without battle scars. Charles lost his big toe, has a budging shoulder and other ailments due to his military service.
Charles was honorably discharged in 1945. He moved to Arkansas where he reconnected with his childhood acquaintance and now wife, Ruby. They had one daughter together before moving to St. Louis to find work. Charles was a Stationary Engineer and worked at Swiss Candy Company for 20 years. As segregation was a way of life in the late 40’s and early 50’s, Charles was unable to join a Union, resulting in a lower wages and less worker rights. Charles retired at age 66 and now lives with his wife and dog Paco.
Charles story is truly unique as the number of World War II veterans in our community is dwindling. Charles is a living piece of American history and deserves recognition and praise for his bravery and sacrifice in WWII. Thanks to Sears’ Heroes at Home grant he was able to receive much needed repairs on his home that he otherwise would not have been able to complete due to his disabilities.
Reaching out to the Jones’ has made me realize how important it is for Americans to sit down, listen to and honor the stories of our veterans. It only takes a few hours to uncover the heroic stories and adventures of veterans both young and old. But, as Charles shares, “I tell ya, it wasn’t anything fun. No fun whatsoever because war is war. As William Tecumseh Sherman said it ‘War is H E L L’ and he didn’t misrepresent.”
Kate Feit
AmeriCorps, Outreach Coordinator
Rebuilding Together St. Louis