News in Mason City, IA

Molalla Pioneer / Herald Pioneer · Mason City, IA

SALUTE TO VETERANS | Chance meeting leads to long Navy career

(WOODBURN) — It’s hard to believe that just passing time on the second floor of a Mason City, Iowa, building could end up sending a teenager to sea. But that’s what happened to Jared Jenkins in January of 1949. He was minding his own business, just waiting for his mother to finish something up, when a U.S. Navy recruiter sauntered up, started talking, and eventually sent the 94-year-old Woodburn resident around the world. Jenkins was a 16-year-old high school dropout then. He would turn 17 a few months later, and within three days of his birthday, he was a U.S. Navy recruit. “He gave me a little test, said I did good on it, and I ended up signing up,” said Jenkins. ‘I turned 17 on a Friday, had a physical on Saturday, and by Monday I was in.” That Navy duty would span 21 years, from 1949 to the end of July 1970. And within that time frame, Jenkins watched his country get involved in two wars on the ground, and a “cold war” that permeated everything.