By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina
George Edward King Sr. was born on May 6, 1928, in Lenoir County, N.C., to Steven Russell and Georgia Elizabeth Spence King. By 1930, the King family was living in Lenoir County, where Steven King worked as a farmer. They would remain living in the same area through 1940. George King was too young to serve through the major period of the United States’ involvement in World War II, not turning 18 years old until 1946. In 1946, he was working for L. Harvey and Sons Company in Kinston, N.C.
CLDW 37.F4.7: Contact print of a studio portrait of George Edward King of Kinston, N.C., wearing his full U.S. Navy uniform, taken during his Navy service (undated).
CLDW 37.F1.3: Snapshot of an unidentified shirtless U.S. Navy sailor, wearing swimming trunks, in a boxing pose, standing on a dock at an unidentified location, believed to be around 1946. Photograph taken while the sailor was serving with George E. King of Kinston, N.C., in the Navy [circa 1946] [Photograph printed by: The Picture Box, Kingston, N.C.].
CLDW 37.F1.12: Snapshot of four unidentified U.S. Navy sailors kneeling down leaning against the side ropes on the deck of an unidentified ship at sea, believed to be around 1946. It is believed George E. King of Kinston, N.C. is pictured (second from right). Photograph taken while the sailors were serving with King of Kinston, N.C., in the Navy [circa 1946] [Photograph printed by: The Picture Box, Kingston, N.C.].
Sometime in 1946, George King entered service in the U.S. Navy. He went for basic training at the U.S. Naval Training Center in Bainbridge, Maryland, and was there as of July 1946. It is believed he served from at least 1946 to 1948, and appears to have at one time around 1948 been stationed at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
CLDW 37.F2.6: Snapshot of an unidentified shirtless U.S. Navy sailor posing on the deck of a ship at an unidentified location, with another ship in the background at anchor. Photograph taken while the sailor was serving with George E. King of Kinston, N.C., in the Navy [circa 1946] [Photograph printed by: The Picture Box, Kingston, N.C.].
CLDW 37.F4.1: Photograph of a wing of a U.S. naval hospital, with an American flag flying and palm trees around the green area in front of the hospital, at an unidentified location [attributed to be at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba] in 1948. Photograph taken while George E. King of Kinston, N.C., was serving in the Navy (1948).
CLDW 37.F4.4: Photograph of a shirtless U.S. Navy sailor named White, sitting on a railing on a swimming platform, with an unidentified body of water in the background in 1948 at an unidentified location. White was a friend of George E. King of Kinston, N.C., while they were serving in the Navy (1948).
CLDW 37.F4.5: Photograph of a U.S. Navy sailor named White slamming a coconut on top of a concrete wall, trying to break it open, at an unidentified location [attributed to be at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba] in 1948. White was a friend of George E. King of Kinston, N.C., while they were serving in the Navy (1948).
Little is known about his Navy service — including what ships he served on. Sometime after his military service, King would go on to own and operate Statewide Auction and Flea Market in North Carolina. Later in life, he came to live in Craven County, N.C. George E. King Sr. died on January 8, 2014, and was buried in Greenleaf Memorial Park in the town of Trent Woods, N.C.
You can view all of George King’s Navy photographs online through the State Archives of North Carolina’s Flickr page here. The photographs are housed in the George E. King Sr. Photographs collection (CLDW 37) in the Cold War Papers of the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina.
Resources
George E. King Sr. Photographs, CLDW 37, Cold War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.
