Rostraver man's war memories remain vivid 60 long years later
It's a long way from Long Branch to Hawaii to the South Pacific.
But John "Jack" Stockton made the trip, crossing the equator eight times in the defense of his country.
More than 60 years later, Stockton resides in Rostraver Township.
But the memories of his service reside in his home as they do in his memory.
There are subtle signs of his service, like the LST-986 cap that sits on his kitchen table, or the etching of the ship he served aboard during World War II.
Stockton grew up in Long Branch. He attended Charleroi High School for two years and spent the next two years at Rostraver High School, where he was president of the class of 1941.
Within six months of his graduation, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and the U.S. entered World War II.
Stockton volunteered for service in the Navy by 1942.
"I wanted to go where I wanted to go," Stockton said. "I didn't want to be drafted. I wanted to go into the Navy."
While training in Great Lakes, Mich., he was a member of the Navy's Great Lakes Choir.
The choir would sing "Meet the Navy" every Friday, he recalled.
Even after he left the service, Stockton sang for many years in a barber shop quartet until health problems caused him to retire.
After training in Michigan, Stockton boarded a Landing Ship Tank and traveled down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, where the men tested all of the guns and equipment aboard.
Stockton then rode aboard a Pullman train to Boston, where he was assigned to LST-986.
The ship traveled along the East Coast, through the Panama Canal to San Francisco and then to Pearl Harbor.
Although Stockton's stay in Hawaii was brief, he did catch a glimpse of the damage caused by the Japanese sneak attack.
"I'll never forget that," he said.
Stockton was involved in five invasions: Guam, Leyte, Mindora, Luzone and Okinawa.
The LST made trips between Hawaii and the South Pacific battles, delivering men, supplies and ordinance.
A cook and gunner, Stockton fired an anti-aircraft gun during the invasions. At Guam, for example, they delivered howitzers.
"When those howitzers hit the ground, they started firing," Stockton recalled.
Stockton was never wounded, although shrapnel from a bomb dropped from a Japanese plane did land on his craft at Guam.
At the Mindora Islands in the Philippines, Stockton's LST was circling off shore, waiting to land, when he recalled seeing five LSTs ahead of them take hits on the beach.
"We were concerned, but we were lucky," Stockton said.
After he was discharged from the service, Stockton worked on a farm in Long Branch. He also worked at the family grocery store, Stockton's, in Fayette City until it was destroyed by fire years later.
A widower, Stockton has a son, Shane, in Westerville, Ohio.
He served as finance officer with the Fayette City American Legion for more than 50 years. He still drives into Fayette City daily.
He enjoys making craft art, like the framed replica of the farm house in Long Branch that today serves as the borough offices.
