His Story
Early Years
JC was born to Lilly (Abernathy) Bransford Alexander (TX) and Julius C. Alexander (SC) on January 13, 1922 in Blythe, Riverside County, CA. His maternal grandparents were Ralph Abernathy (AL) and Virginia (Luke) Abernathy (KS). His paternal grandparents were William Franklin Alexander (SC) and Mariah (Sutherland) Alexander (SC). JC received both his primary and secondary education between Blythe and Brawley, CA. During the 4th grade he began taking violin lessons and continued playing until he reached high school. He attended Palos Verde high school in Blythe, CA where he graduated in 1940. While in high school he was a standout in basketball and football. As quarterback in the last game of his senior year he played the last quarter with a broken finger. JC was living in Blythe before he moved with his mom Lilly, sister Lillyus, and stepfather William H. Clark to Casa Blanca, Riverside, CA in 1941. JC recounts that jobs were limited for young men of color in the 1940’s but he first worked as a field hand in Blythe before finding work in Riverside with Roy Helgeson Buick as an automobile serviceman from January to October 1942. On March 14, 1942 he married Montez Rebecca McKenzie whom he had first met in Blythe when his sister introduced them.
Military Life
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Honolulu Hawaii, December 7, 1941 the United States formally entered WWII. A year earlier, on September 16, 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had signed the selective Training and Service Act which required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft. On October 15, 1942 at the age of 20 years, 2 ½ months before his 21st birthday JC enlisted in the US Army Air Corps at the rank of Private. He had just 2 weeks to get things in order to report for military duty on October 29, 1942. He traveled to Los Angeles for induction and then traveled by bus to Jefferson Barracks in Lemay, MO, where he would complete his basic training. While there during his basic training, and after extensive testing he was given his (MOS) Military Operation Specialty Classification. His classification scores must have been notable as he was chosen and recommended to attend the Benjamin Franklin Technical Institute in Boston, Massachusetts where he completed a 12 week intensive Military Drafting Course. For that training he received the US Army, Specialized Training Program patch. The patch represents “the lamp of knowledge recognizing academic learning and the sword representing the military profession.” This training program was conducted at 227 American colleges and universities. In addition, upon completion of basic training, he was awarded a marksmanship medal as a sharp shooter of the M1 rifle.
After his basic training and specialized training he returned to Hammer Field in Fresno, CA, by military air transport where he was stationed before moving on to March Air-force Base. He remained a Private (in Engineering) for only one month before being promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant. Not long after arriving at Hammer Field he caught the attention of 2nd Lieutenant Air Corps, Richard E. Shannon. After volunteering for a work assignment 2nd Lt. Shannon took note of his initiative and on April 17th 1943 he wrote a commendation letter for JC for his “show of outstanding leadership initiative, seldom shown by men waiting shipment from one station to another.” It must be noted that this was a voluntary commendation letter written by 2nd Lt. Shannon of which JC had no knowledge of until his honorable separation from the US Army Air Corps.
Soon after he was re-stationed to March Army Air Field where he continued his military preparation and awaited orders into the Asiatic Pacific Theater of the war. By mid to late May 1943 JC had been promoted to Staff Sergeant and would be put in charge of a construction crew while at March Army Air Field. During that summer he and his men marched 30 miles from March Air Field to Banning, CA where they constructed an airfield and aircraft hangers. By mid-July he received orders that his unit would be joining “Operation Chronicle” and would soon depart March Army Air Field. After a short leave to visit family and say his goodbyes he left March Army Air Field and traveled to Camp Stoneman in Pittsburgh, CA.
Camp Stoneman was the major West Coast staging area for troop transportation into the Pacific Theater during WWII. JC would likely have left Stoneman aboard a small ferry for transport down the San Joaquin River to the port of San Francisco until he reached the Embarcadero harbor where ships waited at Piers 15 and 45 for transporting men to the South Pacific. There on July 31, 1943 he boarded a ship bound for Australia, where they joined forces with the Australian military who had also joined the war effort by that time. Their first stop was likely Cape Gloucester QLD 4800 Australia, where they would have picked up supplies before joining with Australian forces before heading on to Kiriwina, New Guinea. He reached the Australian mainland on September 1, 1943. Upon arrival at the Kiriwina Airfield, he and his crew of men assisted with the completion/maintenance of the runway at Kiriwina South Drome. By January, 1944, JC had been promoted to 1st sergeant in charge of B Company of the 856th Aviation Engineer Battalion. They remained there for a little over a year before they were next deployed to Luzon. By December, 1944, he and the 162 men under his command were headed to Luzon where General MacArthur thought would be the final staging area for the final assault on the Japanese mainland. By June of 1945 they had completed the mission at Luzon and JC recalls they were loading the ships for the final assault on Japan when they got word the US had dropped nuclear bombs on Japan. On August 6th and 9th, the US aircraft bombers (B-9, Elona Gay and C-15,The Great Artiste) had dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and “everything was canceled” per JC’s account.
End of the War
Soon after the war ended The US Military launched “OPERATION MAGIC CARPET” which was a massive effort to return all of the troops home as quick as possible. Any available vessel was used and/or repurposed to return all of the servicemen and women as quickly as could be orderly arranged. JC was one of the earlier troops transported due to his ASR score of 93 and he began his return early on November 5, 1945 and arrived at port in Los Angeles on November 21, 1945. He arrived into Fort MacArthur, CA and departed military service honorably on November 26, 1945.
Medals & Honors
JC first received the Sharpshooter Ribbon and badge for accuracy with the M1 Rifle upon completion of his basic training.
Next he would receive the Specialized Training Program patch for his additional educational coursework in Drafting.
While at Hammer Field he received a letter of commendation which likely supported his eventual promotion to 1st sergeant.
First Sergeant Arm Patch
During his service time due to the observations of his superior officers he would upon discharge receive the Army Good Conduct Medal for his exemplary “Efficiency, Honor and Fidelity”. Also upon discharge he would be awarded the Philippine Liberation Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.
As the last act of commendation for his service to the US Army Air Corps, he was awarded the Honorable Discharge service lapel pin.
After that he was free to return home to his wife (Montez) and two young boys (Jerry and Larry).
6th US Army Patch
Engineer Patch
Enlisted Rank Hat Crest
Other Military Patches & Medals JC was Eligible to Receive
After Military Service
After returning to Riverside at the end of the war, JC spent most of his life as a mechanic at Glenwood Motors in Riverside, California. While his profession was a mechanic, he was also a Radio/TV repairman having taken a correspondence course under the GI Bill. He was always willing to share. His house was a neighborhood gathering place with a houseful of neighborhood kids and cousins watching the first tiny black and white TV. Later when others got TVs he fixed them for friends and family at no cost. The same was true for car repairs. Friends and relatives brought their cars over for repairs under the shade of the trees. Never did he charge for those repairs. Clearly one of his character traits was generosity.
He was also versatile. While he was a mechanic and a TV repairman, he would tackle anything. He added three brick rooms to the original house that housed the first 6 children. He dug the well that supplied water for his family. He was a farmer, raising chickens, goats and a cow. He processed his own milk with a pasteurizer and made his own butter, the churning of which was assigned to his children. He was a gardener, growing all manner of fruits and vegetables. He was comfortable in the kitchen cooking chicken fried steak on Sundays or barbecuing chicken. His original barbecue sauce recipe remains a family favorite.
He was the neighborhood youth center director with a sandlot baseball field which attracted youth as far away as Belltown on Sunday nights. In later years years he dug and built his own swimming pool adding to the informal recreation center. He was the “mayor” of Hall Avenue. If there was a brush fire in the neighborhood, he organized the firefighting crew, often having the fire out before the fire department arrived.
On Monday, September 21, 2020, he passed to his final resting place, awaiting the call of the Savior, leaving many fond memories for family and friends.