Memoirs of an African American Pearl Harbor survivor

Steward Forrest King at the age of 17 entered the Navy on October 17, 1938... The officer called my name. “Forrest King, is that you?” He stood up and addressed me. He extended his hand. I shook it and he responded, “Welcome to the Navy, Steward King.” I have never been called that before, and I smiled with a good feeling of respect glowing all over me. The Navy Recruiter saw the surprised and contented look on my face. From where I was from, nobody had ever showed me any respect like this. It took me by surprise.

Sunday marks the 73rd anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day. In honor of those who served, Joyce King-Bolds, Milton High School graduate, former IBM systems engineer, and retired educator, shared excerpts from the first two chapters of her upcoming book “The Color of Pearl Harbor.” The story chronicles her father, Forrest King, an African American soldier at Pearl Harbor witnessing the horrors of the Japanese attack with the added detriment of rules barring black soldiers from firing weapons. King-Bolds said her 8 chapter book, sourced from interviews with her aunts, covers her father’s youth, military career, and his death on January 13, 1990. Currently, she said she’s in talks with publishers. Look through the picture gallery here for images King-Bolds provided with content from her book.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Memoirs of an African American Pearl Harbor survivor