Lunch over WW2 and Korea

John Stoll of Stoll and Son Heating and A/C.  Pensacola. Retired.  He is widowed. His son passed away recently.  Jim and I had the honor of taking him to lunch this week. He wanted to dine at the same table at the Fish House that he and his son had shared a final meal only weeks before. Yes there were moments of remembrance as we sat outside in great weather and found ourselves amidst some tremendous seafood.  He would enjoy Grits a YAYA while Jim had Grouper bites and I had some crispy shrimp sushi.

I had my recorder going to gather some of his history. WW2 Veterans are a treasure and I have a habit of trying to capture a bit of history any way I can.  It seems John Stoll beat the system and joined the Navy in 1942 at the age of 15.  Soon out of boot camp he was 16 and by 1945 he was an 18 year old FIRST Class Petty Officer.  Machinist's Mate. Refrigeration specialist.

He spent a lot of his time aboard ship. Making money by taking the watch for others when they hit a port.  Saving his money. Not wasting it.  He found a destroyer for the war.  USS Cummings (DD 365).  He would serve without a rating for  a time on this ship.  They escorted marines to land on Guadalcanal. He could see the Marines offload and go into the beaches.  At some point they met up for some work with the USS Juneau (The Sullivans Brothers) and he talked repairs with some of the crew. He later would wonder more about that meeting.When the sea battle at Guadalcanal occurred and the Navy was sunk (The Juneau included) - leaving the Marines without support for months -- his ship had already moved on to another area.


 He had to leave the Cummings at one point for an appendix operation. The ship was sailing away as he came out of the hospital. He could see the stack smoke as she left Pearl.   (It was in later battles at Iwo Jima and Leyte Gulf) So -- he got orders to a new construction ship out of Corpus Christi, Texas. USS Odom (APD 71)which was a "DE" type ship  (labeled as an APD) made into a fast attack troop vessel to haul 150 marines to critical beach sites. He developed his craft for refrigeration in that ship and ended the war with it.

He came home to Pensacola.  He met his bride and they married and began a family AND a refrigeration business.  But then - having only been out of the navy a few years -- he was ripe for recall when Korea grew hot.  He left his wife and son to go to Korea for the Navy and soon found himself assigned to Yokosuka, Japan where he spent several years managing Japanese teams that repaired the air cooling and refrigeration systems on the many ships that needed attention before they could make the trip back to the West Coast for full overhauls.  He had an interpreter with him the whole time.  Early on - working without an interpreter, he left for some instructions to be followed and came back to find the entire machinery taken apart with a week of study needed to figure out how to get it back together. 

His leading Chief guaranteed him a promotion to Chief if he would re-up - but his wife and child awaited. So -- he returned to Pensacola and his family and business.  From all accounts he was very good at it.  In addition to his business - he also worked for the NAVY air rework facility at the Naval Air Station.

The death of his son has affected him. He is a gregarious man and needs to enjoy the company of others.  Jim and I could see that.  His daughter had promised he would treat US because we are Navy and I was a tag-along because of the destroyer connection.   So - we slipped past him and Jim managed to get his card sent toward the bill.

BUT .... the bill came back "ALREADY PAID".  A man a table nearby had heard our conversation and saw his hat (well, ours too) -- and wanted to buy the meal for us all.  He thanked us for our service. Well great. And then we discovered he is a Marine - inactive now and working with industry.  So we thanked him for his service too! 

It was a nice ending to a great meal and especially to have the Navy enjoy a treat from a Marine. But we would repay it in a heartbeat.

The Navy was sadly unable to help those Marines much at Guadalcanal after they got sunk. At least ... for awhile.

SEMPER FI ! Marine !

And THANK YOU Mr. Stoll !

Jim and I discovered that Mr. Stoll is actually good bait for meeting people. The hat draws women much like babies or dogs.  HE admits his status has helped some of his younger relatives to find more opportunities to begin conversations with persons of interest.   PICTURE ALBUM