Staff photo / Ed Runyan Jesse Carter is shown at his home on the East Side of Youngstown with a photo of him with his wife, Corey, and sons, Jesse Jr. and Phillip.

YOUNGSTOWN — Jesse Carter was a freshly married 21-year-old Youngstown native when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in June 1951 and began basic training at Camp Breckenridge in Kentucky. It was during the Korean War.

Carter, now 91, spent two years in active duty. He was stationed about a year at Camp Drew near Yokohama, Japan, serving as quartermaster, meaning his duties involved securing food, uniforms and other items for soldiers.

He was stationed another five months in Pusan, South Korea, before being shipped back home in June 1953 and being placed on “ready reserve” status, meaning he had to be ready to be recalled to active duty should the need arise.

The Korean Conflict ended in July 1953, according to History.com.

Carter returned to Youngstown and his wife, Corey, and they began a family, having a son in 1954 and one in 1959, as Jesse settled in at Youngstown’s Republic Steel Bessemer plant downtown, where he also had worked a couple of years before going into the military.

He moved up to hot-metal weigh man, the first step to getting a steelmaking job, he said. In late 1957, he was asked if he wanted a position in supervision, so he became an hourly supervisor and had that position about two years. They called it “pusher” or “semi foreman.”

While working for Republic Steel, he took the exam for Youngstown firefighter. The department had no black firefighters at the time.

“My name came up for consideration in latter 1959,” he said. In June 1960, Frank R. Franko, who had just become Youngstown mayor, “appointed me to the Youngstown Fire Department,” Carter said from his East Side home during a recent interview.

“I was the first African American appointed to the Youngstown Fire Department,” he said.

When Carter was asked about the experience, he said, “I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t afraid. I was 30 years old, but I was working with guys in their early twenties. There was some apprehension about me going on, but wise heads prevailed. There were other people who said this thing, that thing.”

It would be about five more years before a second black firefighter was appointed. By 1970, there were four black firefighters.

Carter said he “did some homework” to prepare for his new job on the fire department. “I found out who was on the fire department. There were two or three that I had graduated high school with. The transition wasn’t negative.

“I went on there with the intention to do my job and treat everybody the way I wanted to be treated and wanted them to treat me as I treated them. I’ve always been an individual who has said you treat me like I treat you,” he said.

“I accumulated some friendships along the way, fellas I knew, they knew me, and we were on the same page,” he said. It helped that firemen usually have a side job or two. His was wallpaper hanger, and it put him in a position to work alongside fellow firefighters who were carpenters and plumbers.

“You would be surprised how working alongside them can create a friendship but also a connection that can last. We have a nice relationship, those who are living. A lot of them are gone. I’ve been retired 30 years.”

He retired from the Youngstown Fire Department at age 62 in 1991.

After five years on the fire department, he was promoted to engineer, which is now known as lieutenant, which meant he drove a truck. He did that a few years. After Jack Hunter became mayor in 1970 and George Panno became fire chief, Carter accepted the job of Panno’s administrative assistant or “secretary.” He also retained the title of engineer.

“I took care of the payroll, requisitioning,” he said of making plans for purchases such as fire trucks, planning for new fire stations and participating in hiring interviews. He had that job the last 21 years at the fire department, working for several fire chiefs.

In 1971, the fire department took photos of all 270 firefighters and included them on a single page. The photo reminds Carter that his duties required him to handle payroll by hand for 270 employees, without computers.

Carter said having a military background helped him to fit in at the fire department. “You understand the process,” he said of firefighting, which operates in ways that are similar to the military.

“I had no problem at all. I understood the processes,” he said of working at the Youngstown Fire Department. “I am very at ease with the way things turned out. I was able to put one of my sons through college, able to achieve a few things. I’m not rich.”

His sons, who both live locally, are Jessie Jr. and Phillip.

Carter said he thinks spending time in a military or similar environment can provide valuable lessons for anyone.

“The military process is you take orders. Everyone has to answer to somebody. In life, we feel that we have freedoms to do this and do that. Now, in the military you have freedoms yes, but you have to answer to somebody.

“I feel that no matter who you are, there is somebody you are going to have to say yes, sir, or yes to whether you like it or not.”