Cape Girardeau veteran was among first in Japan after atomic bombings

Junior King left his home in Ardeola, southwest of Bell City, to join the U.S. Navy in November 1944.

After training in Florida and Virginia, he set sail for Pearl Harbor. From there, he was sent to the Marshall Islands aboard the USS Florence Nightingale.

“I went in there just after they had two or three battles. I was reading some time ago that, after the war, they came around asking for volunteers,” King said. “They were going to do some experiments with atomic bombs (in the Marshall islands). ... I could have done that, but I did not.”

Later, King said he learned many of those involved in those experiments died of cancer.

King, on the other hand, lives at Life Care Center in Cape Girardeau now. He is 97 years old.

Junior King grew up in Stoddard County and has spent most of the rest of his 97 years living in Cape Girardeau. King joined the U.S. Navy in November 1944, shortly before the end of World War II and just before he turned 18.Courtesy of Jean King

After the war, he started courting his future wife, Doretta. They would eventually have four children, sons Blane and Terry and daughters Deborah and Jean. Blane and Jean King both live in Jackson and help take care of their parents.

In his adult life, he worked several jobs, including 35 years as a cement plant process controller.

In his youth, King worked picking cotton. He said his family was very poor; his father was murdered over a debt disagreement. His mother could have sent the newborn King into an orphanage, but chose to raise him with his siblings.

He and two brothers went to war when they were old enough, in King’s case when he was just shy of 18.

They enlisted in the Army. King chose to join the Navy.

Even after 80 years, King can still recall some of what took place.

The Florence Nightingale was one of the first ships in Japan after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to its surrender and the end of World War II.

The ship docked in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo. King said he kept watch to make sure nobody sabotaged the ship.

“They said they’d kill you with bamboo sticks, the women and everyone else,” he said.

King later found out this wasn’t entirely the case.

“The people were very subdued. If you met a man or a lady on the street, they’d bow to you,” he added.

After spending time in Japan, the transport ship returned to the United States, crossing the international date line on Thanksgiving. Her crew enjoyed two Thanksgiving meals that year.

King would spend several years in the Navy, serving on two other ships.

“I never was in any battles, but I was close to them. Fortunately, and maybe the Lord was watching over me, I got in on the tail end of everything,” he said. “All I own and have achieved, I owe it to the Lord up above.”