|
|
Home
News
Sports
Social
Obituaries
Events
Letters |
Bonners Ferry native feted for WWII service
|
| April 18, 2011 |
This article and photo gratefully
re-published with permission of the
News-Review,
Douglas County, Oregon.
 |
| Photo by
MICHAEL SULLIVAN The News-Review |
| Deputy
French Consulate Corrine Pereira
presents Jim Stone of Riddle with the
French Legion of Honor at Roseburg VFW
Post 2468 Friday. |
By JOHN SOWELL
The News-Review
Nearly seven decades after France was liberated
from the occupying Germans during World War II,
the French people have not forgotten the
sacrifice by soldiers from the United States and
other allied nations.
On Friday, the French government thanked Riddle
resident Jim Stone, 87, for his efforts in
winning the European nation back its freedom by
awarding him the French Legion of Honor. Created
by Napoleon in 1802, the Legion of Honor is
France's highest honor. With the pinning, Stone
was declared a “chevalier,” or knight of the
Legion.
Before a standing-room-only crowd of more than
100 people, French Deputy Consul Corinne Pereira
pinned the gold-and-white medal with a red
ribbon on the U.S. Air Force uniform Stone wore
to the ceremony, held at Post 2468 of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars in Roseburg. While
Stone served with the U.S. Army during World War
II, he later enlisted in the Air Force and spent
18 years in that branch, until retiring in 1966
at the rank of chief master sergeant.
“As young men, you and your comrades left your
country, your families and friends to risk your
lives in defense of our common values — freedom,
rights and democracy,” said Pereira, who
traveled from the French consulate in San
Francisco for the ceremony. “You can be sure the
people that you didn't even know have not
forgotten. We will never forget.”
Stone grew up in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, a small
town near the Canadian border. He was drafted
into the Army in 1943, when he was 19 and was
shipped to Europe with the 75th Infantry
Division. He fought in Normandy and at the
Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes region, as
well as other locations in Northern France,
Germany and Central Europe. He served under the
commands of famed Gens. George S. Patton and
Omar Bradley.
Stone, who said he doesn't look at himself as a
hero, only as a soldier doing the job he was
called to do, said he often thinks about his
fellow soldiers who didn't return home.
“Those were the real heroes,” he said.
Others believe Stone fits the bill, as well. Jim
Fitzpatrick, VFW Post 2468's adjutant, read
letters praising Stone from Sens. Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley and Rep. Peter DeFazio. Wyden sent
Stone a U.S. flag that had flown over the
nation's capitol in Washington, D.C.
Jim Willis, a Roseburg native who serves as
director of the Oregon Department of Veterans
Affairs, noted that 16 million men and women
served the nation during World War II, with
400,000 giving their lives. Today, 30,000 World
War II veterans are left in Oregon, with their
numbers dwindling every day.
“They are a national treasure and one of them is
sitting here,” Willis said.
George Insley of Green, who was awarded the
French Legion of Honor in 2009, attended the
ceremony and congratulated Stone. Insley, 89,
piloted B-24 bombers during 53 bombing missions,
twice as many as most pilots.
“It's fitting that Stone received this
recognition,” Insley said.
Jason Carroll, the VFW's judge advocate from
Molalla, called Stone a “real American hero.”
Bill Duckett, Riddle's mayor, also praised Stone
in comments after the ceremony.
“He's really deserving of this honor,” Duckett
said.
Other dignitaries who attended the ceremony were
Douglas County Commissioners Joe Laurance and
Susan Morgan, Sheriff John Hanlin and state Rep.
Tim Freeman.
Stone's daugher, Diana Stone-Poore from Federal
Way, Wash., smiled as she watched Pereira pin
the medal on her father's chest.
“It's really a nice honor for my dad,” she said.
You can reach reporter John Sowell at
541-957-4209 or by email at
jsowell@nrtoday.com. |
|
Questions or comments?
Click here
to email!
|
|
|
|
