Forrest Served in the Army during World War I and joined the day after the war started on April 7, 1917. He was with Battery A, 111th Field Artillery, 29th Division and stationed at Camp McClellan, Anniston Alabama, and Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. He was shipped overseas from Camp Upton, Long Island, New York, serving his time in France.

Upon returning from the service, he worked for his father at the F. J. Mitchell Printing Company, a family owned and operated business. He had six sisters and two brothers. One brother, Jim, died as a young child.

On September 15, 1922 at the age of 27 he married Norma Walther of Richmond, Virginia. They had five children: Forrest Jay, III; Richard Dunn; Robert Evans; Mary Ann; and John Stephen.

In 1928 he and his family moved to Clarksville, Virginia where he owned and operated the Clarksville News weekly newspaper. After the publication was destroyed by fire in 1937, the family returned to Richmond.

He was a devoted husband and father and his children adored him. Being of poor health for many years, his endurance was unbelievable. He was blessed with a gift of laughter and a sense of humor. He loved to read; liked music and fishing. There wasn't anything he couldn't repair or make. Raising Homing Pigeons was a hobby he developed after his eldest son, Forrest, purchased two pigeons from a friend for twenty-five cents each. They joined the Northside Pigeon Club and raced their pigeons along with other members. Usually on Sunday mornings they would arise early and travel a distance and release the pigeons, return home and clock them upon their arrival home.

Forrest was a lover of good food and enjoyed cooking breakfast for his family on Sunday mornings. His specialty was pancakes and he could eat a stack a mile high. Summer was not summer to him unless he had watermelon and strawberries.

On March 25, 1953 he passed from life in his own home. He was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Henrico County, Richmond, Virginia.