Gene enlisted in the Navy on June 23, 1941. He took his boot training at the Great Lakes training school and was sent to Pensacola, Florida. Later he received additional training as an aviation metal smith. He was sent to a receiving ship at San Francisco until March 1942, when he was transferred to Pearl Harbor. On February 1, 1944 he entered the naval hospital after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. He received a medical discharge on October 6, 1944. He made his home with his parents until his death on February 16, 1959.