Gordon Stone got a double dose of appreciation on Veterans Day. At high noon the Tualatin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3452 made the 103-year-old World War II Navy veteran the guest of honor at their lunch meeting. In the afternoon, the Summerfield resident was honored along with other veterans at Summerfield’s annual Veterans Day celebration.
At the VFW Post, Commander Jason Potter told the gathering that included some of Stone’s relatives and neighbors, “We are here to honor Gordon. All of us have many reasons why we joined the service. When you leave your family at home, overseas your family becomes those you serve with. We want to make sure we honor you and your service in WWII.”
Post Adjutant Paul Maidel presented Stone with several tokens of appreciation, including a certificate, a poem, a Challenge Coin and more, and he read from the “Band of Brothers,” quoting, “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother… ”
The event came about thanks to Luther Staton, who said he has been Stone’s plumber for the last 25 years. “My dad is a veteran, and Gordon told me how proud he was to serve in the Navy,” Staton said. “I just came here to the VFW Post one night and told them about Gordon. It’s very important to me to honor him because he put his booty on the line for me. Gordon is special.”
After the celebrations on Veterans Day, Stone had the chance to share more of his story a couple days later. He was born and raised in Lake Grove and ended up joining both the U.S. Navy and United States Coast Guard on the same day; Stone got a deferment but decided to enter the Navy anyway. “All my buddies were going in, and I’m so glad I didn’t sit back and not join,” he said.
Stone went to three different schools for training to be an aviation machinist in Chicago, Oklahoma and San Diego. After training, he was assigned to the USS Ticonderoga, an aircraft carrier “that was the biggest ship at the time,” Stone said.
He was in a squadron on the ship that was part of the United States Pacific Fleet until the war was over. “The day I was assigned to it, it was hit by two kamikazes, and we had to go to Hawaii for an extended leave,” Stone said. “The ship went on to Bremerton for repairs, and we stayed in Hawaii for training. We went all over in Jeeps, and I would swipe pineapples. I was going to get my pineapple.”
After Japan surrendered, “the ship went into Tokyo Bay, and I got liberty for a couple days,” Stone said. “The little kids wanted cigarettes. We went into a shrine and took our shoes off. It was wonderful.”
Stone met his future wife Mabel on his first night in Chicago, and they married before he shipped out. “I loved being in the Navy,” he said. “That ship was a good old girl. I’m proud of her. I enjoyed every minute I was in the Navy. I would have stayed in the Navy, but I got married and had to come home to her.”
Stone worked for Standard Oil for 49 years and retired early to care for Mabel who became ill and later died. They had a son and a daughter, and Stone now has “lots of grandchildren,” he said. “I think I have about eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.”
He loves living in Summerfield and golfed every day for many years. Summerfield golf pro Rob Lindsey was at the VFW event and said that a party on the putting green was held for Stone on his 100th birthday.
