NAFTEL, Joseph King age 91 a resident of Montgomery died at 5:00am July 24, 2011. He was preceded in death by his parents Dr. Saint John Naftel and Nina King Naftel, wife Frances Cruise Naftel, a brother James Phillip Naftel and sister-in-law Nathilee Johnson Naftel. He is survived by a daughter Joyce Marshall (Herman), two brothers William Hugh Naftel, (Frances Boutwell Naftel) and Saint John Naftel Jr.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00pm on Sunday, July 31, 2011 at Leak-Memory Chapel with Rev. Kenny Holmes officiating. Burial will follow in Greenwood Cemetery.
Joseph “Joe” was drafted into the Army in 1941 and took basic training in Fort Benning Georgia. After completing basic training he volunteered for paratrooper training and was assigned to the 503 Parachute Battalion in North Carolina. The 503 was transferred to the Pacific theater of operation and became the 503 Airborne Infantry Combat Team. Not long after arriving in the Pacific Joe was selected to attend OCS in Australia and was commissioned a lieutenant. He returned to the 503 and remained with it throughout WWII. The 503 made three combat jumps against the Japanese. One of these jumps was extremely dangerous because of the number of defenders, location, a small drop zone, unexpected wind velocity and the sheer cliff on the approach side of the drop zone. A number of paratroopers were lost when the wind blew them into the cliff and they fell into the ocean. Along with other US Army forces Coregidor was successfully retaken. In the battle for Coregidor the Japanese lost thousands and thousands of troops. Joe received a number of military honors. While in the Pacific Joe became ill and upon his return to the USA he was Honorable discharged and sent to the Veterans Hospital in Tuscaloosa to recover from malaria.
Not long after his discharge he enrolled in the School of Engineering at the University of Alabama. He then married a lady he had meet a couple of years earlier while particpating in a parachute demonstration in Winston Salem, North Carolina. After graduating he and his bride to Winston Salem, North Carolina. Joe was employed with Fowler Jones Construction Company and remained with them until he retired in 1987 as the executive vice president.
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