thedrifter
03-03-08, 07:30 AM
Article published Mar 3, 2008
Veteran left school to join Navy in '38
By Ron Simon
Telegraph-Forum staff
LEXINGTON -- George Stafford, 87, still remembers that $490 million worth of gold is a pretty heavy cargo, even for an American cruiser.
Stafford, a deck crewman aboard the USS Vincennes, recalls the day, June 10, 1940, when crews loaded that much gold aboard his ship while it was docked in Casablanca.
"There was so much gold that we could see we were riding a lot lower in the water than usual," he said.
Even as France fell to German forces, that nation's gold supply was being sent out.
"We had six destroyers as an escort on our way to the Brooklyn Navy Yard with the gold," Stafford recalled.
"We had a lot of Marines on duty too."
By 1940 Stafford, a seaman first class, was a Navy veteran.
A native of Hayesville, he left high school in the 10th grade to join the Navy in August 1938.
"Things were kind of tough job-wise then and I had the permission of my parents and my principal to join up," Stafford said.
He picked the Navy simply because he enjoyed looking at pictures of American warships.
He and a buddy named George Ambrose went through basic training at Great Lakes Naval Base near Chicago.
"I got sick and was in the hospital for awhile I wasn't able to go with George. Later I heard he was killed when his destroyer was sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey during the war," Stafford said.
After he got out of the hospital Stafford was sent to Long Beach, Calif., where he joined the crew of the Vincennes.
Like any tourist, Seaman Stafford toured Los Angeles and Hollywood while he was stationed at Long Beach. "I remember that Chinese theater (Grumman's)," he said.
Before he was through serving on the Vincennes he would have shore leave in New Orleans, Boston, New York City, Panama City, Pernambuco, Brazil and Cape Town, South Africa.
At Cape Town the Vincennes took on another huge cargo of gold, this from Great Britain, to pay for American armaments.
Otherwise, Stafford said the Vincennes was on "neutrality patrols" that took her up and down the east coast and into the Caribbean.
Stafford left the Vincennes in late 1940 to join the crews handling Navy blimps at Lakehurst, N.J.
"I was on leave at Toms River, (New Jersey) to visit a lady friend when the news about Pearl Harbor came over the radio," he said.
Stafford signed on for another four years of service at that point and would eventually rise to the rank of boatswain's mate third class.
He was on leave and visiting his family in Hayesville when he met his wife-to-be, Garnet, who was waiting tables at the Cottage Restaurant in Ashland.
The two began exchanging letters and eventually married in 1946.
While he was still at Lakehurst, Stafford got the news that many of his former shipmates had been killed or injured when the Vincennes was sunk during a night battle with the Japanese off Savo Island on Aug. 9, 1942.
"It was sad news," he said. "A lot of good friends went down with her and that didn't feel very good."
In 1944 Stafford was reassigned to Guam, where he worked in a supply dump.
He remembers watching huge B-29 bombers taking off for bombing raids on Japan.
"There were still a lot of Japs hiding in the hills and caves on Guam," he said. "Sometimes they would come down and join local workers in the chow lines. I couldn't tell which was which but the Marines could."
Off duty, he explored the island and its caves, always careful to avoid booby traps. "They were everywhere," he said.
He still has a few of the souvenirs he found in those caves, including Japanese currency, a page from a book, a wooden "dog tag" and a blood-soaked piece of cloth that once held gunpowder.
Along the beach he came across a one-man Japanese sub.
"All that was left of the crewman was a leg and a boot," he recalled.
One day a letter from his mother informed him that his brother, Richard, also in the Navy, was stationed in Guam. The brothers were able to get together for a few beers, Stafford said.
One other memory of service on Guam was getting the news that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died.
When the war ended Stafford came home and passed on a third enlistment. He chose to become a civilian and get married.
"We've made it for 62 years," he said.
The couple has a son, Jeffrey, who lives in Marietta, Ga.
"It was hard to get settled and I held a lot of jobs," Stafford said. He did work for Page Dairy for 22 years until that business folded. "I managed to find a job working as a custodian for Lexington Schools and stayed there for 14 years until I retired."
The Staffords live in a comfortable home on Valley View Drive in Lexington.
"We've lived here for 46 years. There wasn't another house around when we moved in," Stafford said.
The Staffords are members of First English Lutheran Church and Stafford is a Mason.
These days he is spending his days visiting a heart clinic.
"I have to live a very limited existence," he said.
Ellie
Veteran left school to join Navy in '38
By Ron Simon
Telegraph-Forum staff
LEXINGTON -- George Stafford, 87, still remembers that $490 million worth of gold is a pretty heavy cargo, even for an American cruiser.
Stafford, a deck crewman aboard the USS Vincennes, recalls the day, June 10, 1940, when crews loaded that much gold aboard his ship while it was docked in Casablanca.
"There was so much gold that we could see we were riding a lot lower in the water than usual," he said.
Even as France fell to German forces, that nation's gold supply was being sent out.
"We had six destroyers as an escort on our way to the Brooklyn Navy Yard with the gold," Stafford recalled.
"We had a lot of Marines on duty too."
By 1940 Stafford, a seaman first class, was a Navy veteran.
A native of Hayesville, he left high school in the 10th grade to join the Navy in August 1938.
"Things were kind of tough job-wise then and I had the permission of my parents and my principal to join up," Stafford said.
He picked the Navy simply because he enjoyed looking at pictures of American warships.
He and a buddy named George Ambrose went through basic training at Great Lakes Naval Base near Chicago.
"I got sick and was in the hospital for awhile I wasn't able to go with George. Later I heard he was killed when his destroyer was sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey during the war," Stafford said.
After he got out of the hospital Stafford was sent to Long Beach, Calif., where he joined the crew of the Vincennes.
Like any tourist, Seaman Stafford toured Los Angeles and Hollywood while he was stationed at Long Beach. "I remember that Chinese theater (Grumman's)," he said.
Before he was through serving on the Vincennes he would have shore leave in New Orleans, Boston, New York City, Panama City, Pernambuco, Brazil and Cape Town, South Africa.
At Cape Town the Vincennes took on another huge cargo of gold, this from Great Britain, to pay for American armaments.
Otherwise, Stafford said the Vincennes was on "neutrality patrols" that took her up and down the east coast and into the Caribbean.
Stafford left the Vincennes in late 1940 to join the crews handling Navy blimps at Lakehurst, N.J.
"I was on leave at Toms River, (New Jersey) to visit a lady friend when the news about Pearl Harbor came over the radio," he said.
Stafford signed on for another four years of service at that point and would eventually rise to the rank of boatswain's mate third class.
He was on leave and visiting his family in Hayesville when he met his wife-to-be, Garnet, who was waiting tables at the Cottage Restaurant in Ashland.
The two began exchanging letters and eventually married in 1946.
While he was still at Lakehurst, Stafford got the news that many of his former shipmates had been killed or injured when the Vincennes was sunk during a night battle with the Japanese off Savo Island on Aug. 9, 1942.
"It was sad news," he said. "A lot of good friends went down with her and that didn't feel very good."
In 1944 Stafford was reassigned to Guam, where he worked in a supply dump.
He remembers watching huge B-29 bombers taking off for bombing raids on Japan.
"There were still a lot of Japs hiding in the hills and caves on Guam," he said. "Sometimes they would come down and join local workers in the chow lines. I couldn't tell which was which but the Marines could."
Off duty, he explored the island and its caves, always careful to avoid booby traps. "They were everywhere," he said.
He still has a few of the souvenirs he found in those caves, including Japanese currency, a page from a book, a wooden "dog tag" and a blood-soaked piece of cloth that once held gunpowder.
Along the beach he came across a one-man Japanese sub.
"All that was left of the crewman was a leg and a boot," he recalled.
One day a letter from his mother informed him that his brother, Richard, also in the Navy, was stationed in Guam. The brothers were able to get together for a few beers, Stafford said.
One other memory of service on Guam was getting the news that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died.
When the war ended Stafford came home and passed on a third enlistment. He chose to become a civilian and get married.
"We've made it for 62 years," he said.
The couple has a son, Jeffrey, who lives in Marietta, Ga.
"It was hard to get settled and I held a lot of jobs," Stafford said. He did work for Page Dairy for 22 years until that business folded. "I managed to find a job working as a custodian for Lexington Schools and stayed there for 14 years until I retired."
The Staffords live in a comfortable home on Valley View Drive in Lexington.
"We've lived here for 46 years. There wasn't another house around when we moved in," Stafford said.
The Staffords are members of First English Lutheran Church and Stafford is a Mason.
These days he is spending his days visiting a heart clinic.
"I have to live a very limited existence," he said.
Ellie