HomeMy WebLinkAboutJose Pernia, Brazos Valley Heroey
One in a series of tributes to members of "The Greatest Generation"
By Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
Jose Pemia of College Station is a veteran of WWII
but it was not until 1996 that he became a U.S. citizen.
His story began in his native country of Venezuela on
July 25, 1923 in La Victoria.
According to Pernia: "My father had a coffee
plantation and my mother was a teacher. After I
graduated from my local school and I visited my aunt
in America who had married an American and lived
in Rosenberg, Texas. When I arrived in Rosenberg, the
war was on and across the road from my aunt's home
was a POW camp for German and Italian POWs from
the North Africa campaign.
"I enrolled at Rosenberg High for one year to
improve my English I then enrolled at Texas A &M in
1943. It wasn't long before I felt the need to serve like
so many others from A &M. I enlisted in the Navy in
Bryan and was placed on the train from there to San
Diego, California.
"I graduated from boot camp in 1944. One thing
that was memorable about my time in boot camp
was that the actor, Gene Kelly, was in my boot camp.
He was a really friendly and a nice guy and he was
treated like the rest of us except on the weekends.
When we received a weekend pass, we would line up
to catch the bus into town. Gene Kelly would always
have beautiful women in a big fancy car waiting for
him to go on liberty.
"My first duty was aboard the USS Heron AVP -2
which was a seaplane tender. We took care of the
Catalina PRY planes that were used to service the
fleet. We were all over the South Pacific. My job was
in the engine room where I was a fireman 1st class.
"From time to time you would go on deck to get
some fresh air. On one such trip for fresh air I almost
bumped into Admiral 'Bull'Halsey who had boarded
our ship. He asked me where I was from and was
surprised when I told him Venezuela. He asked how
the hell I ended up in the U.S. Navy. I told him, like
most of the sailors on board, I volunteered.
"While I was on the Heron, we were involved in
support of the Battle of Leyte Gulf which was probably
the greatest naval battle of all time. Early in the w;r,
the Heron had been hit by the Japanese but survived.
We all hoped it didn't happen again because we had
so much gasoline aboard for the PBYs in the fleet. If
we had ever been hit we would have been nothing
more than a gasoline bomb.
"One other thing that I will always remember is
that our ship and our PBY planes were involved in the
search forthe men of the USS Indianapolis. lt was one
of our planes that first spotted those survivors and
lead the other ships to their rescue from all those
sharks that were in the water with them. Last year at
a VFW function I got to meet Glen Morgan who was
one of the survivors we rescued.
"We were constantly at sea serving the fleet with
our PBYs. I remember the trip to New Guinea where
we took pictures of the local ladies who had a bone
in their nose and nothing on the top. Our captain
said that with as much interest as we showed those
women, it was apparently time to sail to Australia.
'We were in the Philippines when the war
ended and we were there when the Philippines were
granted their independence. After the war, I returned
to the U.S. and prepared to return to college. When
I attempted to enroll at Oklahoma State, one of the
clerks said I wasn't eligible for the GI bill because I
wasn't a citizen. That's when another clerk came over,
looked at my records and said: 'He is as qualified as
any other man thatfought for our country.'
"I graduated from OSU with a degree in geology
and began to work at Sinclair. I returned to Venezuela
with Sinclair, working mostly in South America but
also spending a lot of time in America.
"When I retired from Sinclair, I served seven
years as the Venezuelan Ambassador to Algeria and
Guatemala. All of my six children are U.S. citizens
and live in America. I moved back to Texas in 19%,
and applied for and received my citizenship. There
are some people who don't realize that this country
although not perfect because only God is perfect, but
it is still the best country in the world. I am very proud
to be an American and I am very proud to have served
my country.
If you want to have a name added to the
Veterans Memorial, for more information, to
make a contribution, or if you know a World War
11 veteran whose story needs to be told contact the
BWM at www.bvvm.org or Bill Youngkin at (979)
160 -7030.
who served our country during World War II