Joseph T. Thornton

 Personal and Military Experience.

I was born in San Diego, Ca. on Jan. 5, 1936. My Mother was Lottie Eitzen of Pensacola, Florida and my Father was Joseph T. Thornton, Jr. of Schenectady, N.Y.

My Father graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1931. He was ordered to Pensacola for his flight training whereby he met my Mother. My Mother had a daughter from a previous marriage named Donna. Donna was 5 years older than me.

The Navy did not allow my Father to be around much and I really don’t think it was a very good marriage. At any rate, my parents were divorced when I was eleven and my Mother returned to her Pensacola home with Donna and me.

My Mother was always very fond of a gentleman by the name of Manual Francis Gonzalez. They both were from old Pensacola families and they attended most of their local school years together. Young Naval officers offered a very good future in those days so perhaps that is why my Mother married in to the Navy.

M.F. Gonzalez who became known by everyone as “Pop” had a very extensive wartime experience during World War II. He served under General Patton as an Engineering Tank Commander. After Germany surrendered Pop was ordered to Japan which is where he was when the war ended. He had attained the rank of Major, was very well decorated including two Purple Hearts. An interesting comment here is that Pop “hitch hiked” his way from Japan to Pensacola! Of course, Pop knew many Navy people so he found a few “rides” with his Navy friends on ships returning to the States.

Mother and Pop married within the first year of us returning to Pensacola. Pop had never been previously married. But he had always loved my Mother and he had always stayed in close contact with her. Of course he knew everything about both Donna and me.

Pop was very good to me but he was also a strong person. He expected me to act right and I know that he loved me very much. My Father was sent to China right after the divorce so I really did not have any contact with him for about 1-1/2 years. I was very resentful of the divorce, of Pop, and I guess everyone. I really felt alone and I developed a loner personality that never changed—to this day. I learned how to be occupied without the help of others. And I was not a very happy young boy.

My Father returned from China by way of Chicago where he married a lady about half his age and about 17 years older than me. I spent a summer with them but it was a bad experience that never got any better.

Pop had become General Superintendent of the largest construction company in Pensacola. Their focus was in building roads and runways. They did a lot of work for the military in Northwest Florida.

When I was 12 and out of school for the summer, Pop got me a job as office boy in a downtown business. I took care of the mail, made bank deposits at several banks, delivered correspondence to several offices, and cleaned the offices at the end of the day. I traveled from home to my job by bicycle. I had to pick up the mail at 08:00 A.M. and I didn’t get home until about 5:30 P.M. But I had my own money and I was thrilled at the independence that was a result.

During the summer of my high school sophomore year, Pop let me work in the back shop of Smith Engineering and Const. Co. I know that he told the foreman to make certain that I was to be trained as a good worker and not to cut me any slack. The shop performed maintenance an all of the heavy earthmoving equipment so it was very heavy and dirty work. I can promise that I got my share of the dirty details. When I entered the 11^TH grade, I elected the D.C.T. program whereas I received high school credit for working at a job. So that year, I went to school in the morning and reported to my shop job at about 1:00 P.M. We also worked a half-day on Saturday. I continued to become more and more independent and I also continued to rebel against authority.

When I finished the 11^TH grade, I went to work full-time in the shop. Work started at 07:00 and ended at 4:30 P.M. I made $42.50 per week. But I enjoyed my job. I was being trained to work on the diesel engines and I really liked that. My money gave me a lot of freedom. This would have been the end of May 1953. I experienced my 17^TH birthday in Jan. of that same year.

One evening I asked my Mother what she was going to fix for my lunch the next day. I always took my lunch with me from home. She told me that she was not going to continue to make my lunch for me—that I could make my own lunch. Of course, I thought she was terrible for that and I rebelled!

The next day during lunchtime, I went downtown to the main post office. All of the military recruiting offices were located in the basement. I went to each office to establish who could get me out of Pensacola the earliest. The U.S. Army told me they would have me on the way out in 3 days.

I returned home from work that day with the paperwork and a request for my Mother to sign. She became very upset and refused. But Pop had a long and private conversation with her to change her mind. So she came back to me. She required me to promise that I would finish my high school later. She also made me contact my Father for his permission. I called him and he told me that whatever was O.K. with my Mother was O.K. for him. At that time, he was a Navy Captain.

So at 17-1/2, on June 11, 1953 I was joining the U.S. Army. I had saved my money and owned a little ’40 Ford. I arranged to give my car to my friends’ Mother and I gave all of my clothes away. I drove myself downtown to the local Greyhound bus station and was on my way.

I left Pensacola for Jacksonville where I was inducted. From there, I took another bus to Ft. Benning, Ga. where I spent about 2 days and was issued my uniforms. From there we went to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina for about a week. We were tested there for selection to a military M.O.S. They assigned my M.O.S. as Diesel-Electric Locomotive Repairman and sent me to Ft. Eustis, Va.

At Ft. Eustis I took my 8 weeks of basic training. It was very hot that summer and they did a good job of getting us in shape. After basic training, we went through 8 weeks of our M.O.S. training that included both classroom and O.J.T. Ft Eustis had a good supply of Diesel Locomotives and also Steam Engines.

I went home to Pensacola for Christmas 1953. Soon after I returned to Ft. Eustis I received orders to Korea. I was given 2 weeks delayed in route for reporting to Ft. Lewis, Washington. I went back to Pensacola on that delay. I then bordered a train in Pensacola for Chicago and then boarded an airplane for Seattle.

I spent about 2 weeks at Ft. Lewis. We got a series of shots and went through a lot of medical checkups. They also issued us all new uniforms. I can remember going through a lot of deep thinking wondering what in the world was in my future.

We bordered a MSTS ship in Seattle. There were 1000 U.S. Army and 500 Canadian Army on board. We sailed for 17 days and anchored about 3 miles off shore of Sasebo, Japan. It was early on a morning and I could certainly smell Sasebo!! They off loaded us on landing craft for the trip to shore.

On shore we were loaded on very small Army busses. The trip to the base was shocking. All along the way we passed cave dwellings and I thought I had been placed on another planet!

That day we were processed again. We exchanged all of our uniforms again and were issued new uniforms that I was not familiar with. I had never seen them in the States.

The next morning we were loaded back on the same busses and taken back to the same ship we had spend the past 17 days on. We sailed out of Sasebo and the next day landed at the port of Pusan. I then got a major shock!!

The stink was so strong I thought I was not going to be able to breathe. We were again loaded on small Army busses and in that route I noticed both men and women reliving themselves on the side of the road. I could not believe the poverty, the dirt, the smell, and the damage. And what little was used to make a house. Pusan was totally a place of refugees.

I was taken to the 765^Th Transportation Railway Shop Battalion. This Compound included all of the major back shops of the South Korean National Railroad. In addition to the U.S. Army 765^TH, it included about 2000 civilian Korean workers and their major buildings. The entire Compound was walled and/or fenced in. We provided U.S. Army guards which were job assignments rotated among most of us. The Koreans also provided guards.

The 765^TH Compound consisted of 1 very large building and a number of individual Quonset huts. The main building was made of concrete and was essentially divided into 2 sections. The front section was utilized as the mess hall for the 3 meals. This room was used to show movies at night. I believe the Company Headquarter Offices were off to one side of this very large room. From this room was a hallway going to an equally large room in the back. This was a living quarters for about 178 of us. There was a large latrine off the back of this room and beyond that; there was a bath pool for the civilian workers.

This building was designed with heating pipes placed on the entire inside walls. In the winter, they hooked up a steam locomotive to this system and generated steam to heat this building. There were also Quonset huts used for living quarters but I am not certain if I ever went in one.

Just in front of the main building there was a Quonset hut that was used for a clubhouse. It had a bar and also some booths.

When I arrived in about March 1954, the 765^TH was work oriented. I believe we worked 10-hour days 5-1/2 days per week. We did not fall out for Army routines—just work and a lot of it. There was a curfew, which required us to be on the Compound at 10:00 P.M. We were restricted to eating only Army meals. Of course, there was a lot of disease among the civilian refugees some of which no one knew anything about. The Armistice had been signed in June of 1953 but this was still a very dangerous place.

Japan was probably most responsible for the initial building of the rail system using Korean slave labor. Steam locomotives were used by them and I am sure that was the situation at the beginning of the conflict. When I arrived, the U.S. Army had shipped in a number of Diesel-Electric locomotives. I cannot remember the exact number but we had a sizeable number of 800 H.P. switch engines and also the larger 1600 H.P. line engines. For the most part, we took care of all the diesels and the civilians took care of the steam engines. Both steam and diesel were used for this rail system.

I guess I was a very curious person. I wanted to learn about the Korean people. I still spent most of my personal time by myself. I had no transportation of any kind while I was there other than my legs. But I did a lot of walking. Some of it was at night and being alone in uniform, it was certainly not very safe. After being there for a while, I found 1 or 2 little places to eat the local food, which again, was not very smart of me. But when I did leave I did have good knowledge about the average Korean.

I believe I was assigned to the 765^TH for about 1 year. Orders came down to deactivate this unit around December 1954. Several months before, I had been assigned to maintain all hand tools for the diesel shop. There was a rail car out behind the shop where all of the tools were kept.

When the order came down, some of the diesel locomotives were given to the government of South Korea. We had the job of preparing the rest for on deck shipment to Ogden, Utah. And what a job that was!

The tour of duty in Korea at that time was 16 months. Those of us with time left were to be ordered to the Infantry Divisions or to those outfits that serviced them.

I was one of the last to leave the 765^TH because I had to account for all of the tools and

I was assigned to the 7TH Infantry Division, 2^ND Battalion. I never really knew where I was located but we lived in tents and we were somewhere north of Seoul and south of the DMZ. I remained there for about 5 to 6 months completing my assigned tour. It was a drastic change as all of a sudden I was very much back in the Army!!

I was informed that there was Nuclear testing scheduled for the Pacific. I was given a choice of waiting for a ship or leaving immediately by plane for Hawaii. I would be required to spend 2 weeks of my earned leave if I went to Hawaii. I waited for the ship so I spent 17 months and 16 days in Korea.

I was taken by truck to Inchon and stayed about a day. We were loaded on ship which then sailed for Yokahama, Japan. We stayed there overnight to pick up military dependents. Then we sailed for 16 days for San Francisco, Ca.

I was processed there and flew San Francisco-Los Angeles-Chicago-Atlanta-Pensacola. I had 30 days leave and was ordered to report back to Ft. Eustis, Va. I had about 1 year left to complete my 3-year obligation.

I returned to Ft. Eustis completed my G.E.D. tests and earned an equivalent high school diploma. This gave me an automatic entrance to any Florida State supported university.

I had a bad time finishing my obligation at Ft. Eustis. There was little for us to do so they used us for anything and everything. It was very boring and the time dragged.

I had a friend that lived in the New York, N.Y. area. I learned that my Father had retired as an Admiral and was living with his wife on Long Island. He answered 1 of my letters during my stay in Korea. I went with my friend and then separated for travel to Long Island. We had traveled all night but I waited until about 9:00 A.M. Saturday morning. I knocked on the door. They invited me in but it was very evident that they were not pleased to see me. I guess I stayed for about 30 minutes and then I left. That was probably the winter of 1955. There was never any contact between us after that. Pop Gonzalez became a very big man from that point on.

I was discharged on June 8, 1956 and returned to Pensacola. In September, I entered Florida State University-Tallahassee, Florida as a freshman. I did not go to my senior grade in high school and I had been away from school for 3 years. I had a very tough time learning how to study and I really had to work hard at it. I was going on the G.I. Bill, which paid me $110.00 per month. Mother and Pop helped me with my dorm, books, and tuition. I graduated 4 years later on June 6, 1960. I took my major in Sociology with a minor in Psychology.

I had a very good working career. I entered Industrial Sales in 1966 and spent 30 years with extensive travel in 6 Southern States. For the final 14 years, I sold Non Destructive Services mainly to the Pulp and Paper Industry. For the last 7 years, I operated my own office from my home in Pensacola.

Pop died of cancer in November of 1989. It was a tremendous loss for me. I am not certain that I ever realized how much I admired, respected, and loved him before that loss. Donna and I were the only children that he ever had and I know that he loved us as his own. And of course, he really identified with me.

His deteriorating health, over time, crushed my frail Mother. She was rushed to the hospital 3 days before he died and she never returned to her home. She spent her final remaining years in Pensacola nursing homes. Of course I saw her every weekend and I took care of her business needs. But she really did not want to live and she told me so almost every time I saw her.

My Mother died on Jan.7, 1995. Donna died from cancer 2-1/2 years later on August 23, 1997.

I retired from business March 1, 1998. I sold my home and furnishings then. In April, I moved to Guadalajara, Mexico and lived there for 2 years. In early Feb. 2000 I located on Lake Juniper in Defuniak Springs, Florida. It is a quiet small town about 80 miles east of Pensacola. Of course I visit Pensacola several times each year mainly to visit the gravesites.

I still spend most of my time alone. I don’t have any major problems and my health is good.

I feel that I am very fortunate. I had good people that cared for me taking the time and making the effort to raise me to be a good person.

I have met a lot of good people both in the U.S. and abroad. I have learned a lot from people and I appreciate the many experiences that I have had.

My military experience was very valuable. At that early age, it gave me positive direction that has lasted the rest of my life. I will always be able to think back and appreciate the value of that experience.     

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