PhM1C CHARLES L. BORKES

[BEAST]

 

Charles L. Borkes was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1923. Prior to his enlistment, he was attending the Indianapolis Pharmacy College and working at Reisbeck’s Pharmacy selling merchandise and learning from the pharmacist. On his enlistment qualifications documents, he lists his prior military service as High School ROTC where he served as a sergeant in the Infantry and a sergeant in the Band.

 

In December 1942, he enlisted into the Navy and was sent to Great Lakes Naval Training Station for recruit training. Graduating after 10 ½ weeks of training, he remained at Great Lakes and served 10 months as a ward duty senior corpsman (ear, eye, nose and throat). From here, he was sent to the Advance Base Assembly & Training Unit (ABATU) at Lido Beach Long Island, NY arriving 28 January 1944 and coincidentally being promoted to PhM2c on the same day.

[BEAST]

At Lido Beach they were assigned to FOXY 29, a special medical unit made up of doctors and corpsmen. Another member of FOXY 29 describes their outfit:

 

“Our unit was called Foxy 29. Foxy 29 meant that they had planned on using forty-five corpsman on each LST where they had an operating table on most except old ones. It so happened that they felt that the casualties would be so high that they had 20 hospital corpsmen on each LST.”

 

The training and equipment of FOXY 29 differed from that of other Corpsmen. Here is a description of the equipment issued to the Corpsmen selected to be part of FOXY 29.

 

“We were issued M-1 rifles, complete gear, helmets, complete army uniforms, we even had Navy gas masks, which were later taken away from us and they gave us

army gas masks.” (http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent1/?file=dday_0025p1)

 

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On the 19th of April, 1944, Borkes reported aboard LST 51 which became the group flagship of LST Group 30. On D-Day, the landing craft from LST 51 landed on Omaha Beach. After the landings, the men of Foxy 29 transported the wounded back from the beach to the LSTs. The LSTs were transformed into a type of hospital ship with the tank bays on the LST were converted to operating rooms. It is unknown to me if Borkes ever went ashore or what his assignment was on-board the LST other than handling casualties and dressing stations. His record only states that he participated in the initial invasion of France. He remained aboard LST 51 until 6 July 1944 at which time he transferred to the USS Andromeda (AKA 15).

 

[BEAST]

While aboard the Andromeda, Borkes participated in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France. The Andromeda spent two months carrying supplies and reinforcements from North Africa to Southern France. In September 1944, Borkes was reassigned to USN Base Hospital #9 in Oran, Algeria.

 

[BEAST]

He remained in Algeria until July 1945, when he was transferred back to the US at which time, he took 30 days leave. He reported back for duty and was assigned to the USS President Adams (APA19). While aboard the President Adams, he was promoted to PhM1c. The mission of the President Adams was to move occupation troops to the Far East and bring returning vets back to the US.

 

Borkes was discharged in January 1946 and returned to Indianapolis. After the war, he completed his studies at Butler University. He open and ran Borkes Pharmacy for many years, later becoming pharmacist for Hooks Drug Store. He passed away in December of 2005.

 

Jumper worn by Borkes

 

[vicjoy1945]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

Excellent research !! This sailor saw a LOT of history !!

 

Thanks for showing !!

 

Vic

[Corpsmancollector]

Erick,

 

Fantastic research! You've done a great job pulling it together, I really enjoyed reading this thread. This is a great uniform that is rich with history.

 

 

 

Will

[Brian Dentino]

E, once again your research, finds, and items are outstanding. Thanks for sharing this with us here. A local pick up I am assuming? Did you know Mr. Borkes? Good stuff from a Hoosier that definitely was entitled to his long and prosperous life. :thumbsup:

[BEAST]

Thanks folks for the kind words!

 

Brian, I didn't know Mr. Borkes, this was all pieced together from his records and obit. I bought the jumper at an antique mall here in Indy and as a matter of fact there was a second jumper there that I didn't get. IIRC, it had the same insignia and his name stenciled in it. So if any of you bought the other jumper, let me know and I can send you the information that I have on him.

 

This was a fun piece to research as I had never heard of "FOXY 29" before. Sounded like the name of a bad 1970's female detective show. Thank goodness for the internet as I was able to find a few accounts of those who had been a part of the unit.

[BEAST]

For the 70th anniversary, I thought I would bring this to the top!

[sigsaye]

Thank you very much for this account. It always amazes me the things these guys (and gals) do.

[subsystem4]

Awesome research and jumper. PhM are my favorite subject.

-Jay

[BEAST]

Bringing back to the top for the 72nd anniversary of the Normandy invasion.

[BEAST]

I was looking around on Fold 3 for information on FOXY-29 units and found the War Diary entry for the LST that Borkes was on during the Normandy invasion. Here is the page from fold 3 that describes their activities.

 

[BEAST]

Back to the top for the anniversary of D-Day.

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Back to the top for the anniversary.

[BEAST]

In remembrance of the 75th anniversary.