Correspondent photo / Kathryn Adams James P. Burnette Jr. holds his certificate of graduation from the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the U.S. Navy.

YOUNGSTOWN — James P. Burnette Jr. has served in a variety of capacities while in the U.S. Navy.

His first vocation was working as a Field Medical Service Specialist (medic) and his second vocation was working as a Radiation Health Technician. After graduating from The Rayen School in 1971, Burnette joined the Navy and completed his basic training in Great Lakes, Illinois.

He was then assigned with the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton in San Diego for one year before being sent overseas to Okinawa, Japan. It was the end of the Vietnam War, and he served in a medical battalion taking care of injured Marines.

He was honorably discharged in 1976 and for the next six years, worked off and on at General Motors in Lordstown. He got tired of being laid off because he had a wife and three children.

“It was good work, but it wasn’t steady,” he said.

He went back into the Navy and was assigned twice to a Naval Medical Clinic in Key West, Florida, where he served as a paramedic and ambulance driver from 1982 to 1984 while rotating in different clinics. In 1984, he was sent to NUMI: Naval Undersea Medical Institute in Groton, Connecticut. He enrolled in Nuclear Medicine Service School and became a Radiation Health Technician.

Following his graduation, Burnette was sent to the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in Norfolk, Virginia, serving in its nuclear program, where he worked on nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors and radiation safety.

In 1987, he was transferred to the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, where he worked in radiation health at the naval hospital. From 1990 to 1991, he served at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he enrolled in school to become a Clinical Nuclear Medicine Technologist. After graduating, he returned to the naval hospital to work as a nuclear medical technician.

In 1998, Burnette retired from the Navy after 20 years of service.

“I loved working with patients. When you’re sick, there’s no such thing as rank,” he said.

In his first four years, he treated soldiers, both active and retired, in both the Marines and Navy.

“The Navy and Marines were in the same department. Marines don’t have medical personnel, so they get them from the Navy,” Burnette said.

When asked about the greatest challenge in his years of service, he quickly answered, “in the early 1970s, there was a lot of racism and discrimination in the military. To get professional training was nonexistent for African Americans. We were allowed to paint, peel potatoes and cook — to have nontechnical, low-grade jobs. If you wanted to attend a specialized school, your supervisors could prevent you from progressing because of your color. You were literally stunted.”

Burnette said he got very discouraged, “but in retrospect, that’s the way the country was at the time. I could fold sheets, take food trays, but I could not touch white patients. That was the norm.”

Burnette said the racism meant he didn’t get high evaluations even though he worked twice as hard.

“I had to prove myself over, and over, and over. It was frustrating, but it was life. I heard the ‘n’ word. We were just coming out of segregation,” he said, adding, “when you didn’t get what you wanted, you kept your chin up, knowing that you will find someone eventually who will open that door.”

The positive part of serving in the Navy for Burnette was traveling.

“Wherever we were, I connected with the native people. It was an opportunity to embrace other cultures and teach others about my culture,” he said.

After Burnette was discharged, his wife, Gloria, was transferred to Phoenix, Arizona, for her job at Bank of America. He applied to Arizona State University as a radiation control specialist.

“With all my experience, I quickly got a job teaching radiation safety and laser safety until we both retired in 2019,” Burnette said.

They spend six months of the year living in Phoenix and six months living in Youngstown.

After retiring, James and Gloria became full-time missionaries with the Church of God in Christ. Since then, they’ve traveled to Uganda, Dubai, India, Pakistan, Republic of Georgia and the Ivory Coast.

They have been partnering with the Assemblies of God denomination to learn how to plant churches.

“We go to areas where there are no churches. We begin with a ‘home church’ and work with teams in each country learning the language and culture,” Burnette said.

“Overall, despite the prejudice, it (the Navy) was excellent. It made me a better person; it made me who I am today,” he said.

Burnette’s son, Gregory, followed in his father’s footsteps, also serving in the Navy for 20 years before retiring. Gregory served on various ships, working on radar and missile systems.

James P. Burnette Jr.

AGE: 72

RESIDENCE: Youngstown (6 months) and Phoenix, Arizona (6 months)

SERVICE BRANCH: Navy

MILITARY HONORS: Navy Commendation Medal (3), Navy Achievement Medal, Navy Unit Commendation, Meritorious Unit, Navy (E) Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal (4), Navy Defense Service Medal (2), Sea Service Medal, Navy Marine Corps Medal, Expert Rifleman Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal and Navy Sea Service Ribbon

OCCUPATION: Missionary with the Church of God in Christ

FAMILY: wife, Gloria; three children; and four grandchildren