ARLINGTON -- One seat will be empty at a Veterans Day observance this year.
Retired Army Col. James L. Stone Sr., who received the Medal of Honor for bravery under fire in Korea, died Friday at his Arlington home. He was 89.The veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars had been ill for some time, family friends said."On Veterans Day, he'd always go out to the ceremony at the cemetery," said Stone's wife, Mary Stone. "He was promised that there would always be a chair put out for him even if he wasn't there."Col. Stone was a 28-year-old first lieutenant when his 48-man platoon was attacked by Chinese troops on a hilltop near Sokkogae, South Korea, during the night of Nov. 21-22, 1951.Shot twice in the leg and once in the neck, he carried the platoon's only working machine gun from place to place on the hilltop and repaired a flamethrower by himself while under fire, according to his Medal of Honor citation. When it was over, half his unit had been killed and most of the survivors were wounded."Only because of this officer's driving spirit and heroic action was the platoon emboldened to make its brave but hopeless last ditch stand," the citation states.The next day, advancing American troops found hundreds of enemy soldiers dead. But they didn't find Lt. Stone.Captured along with six other survivors, Lt. Stone spent 22 months in a prisoner-of-war camp near the Manchurian border. He was freed in September 1953."You can't imagine what it's like to see that flag again. It's like being reborn," Col. Stone said in a Star-Telegram interview. "It really makes you appreciate your country."He went on to serve in Germany, was in charge of ROTC units in Fort Worth during the mid-1960s and did a tour of duty in Vietnam in 1971."I met Col. Stone about three years ago on Veterans Day," Brent Carr, the judge in County Criminal Court No. 9, said Friday. "He always wore a suit and always proudly wore his medal."Carr and his band, the Cowtown Music Club, often play for veterans' groups and patriotic holiday celebrations. "My son was a bass player at the time, and he was in ROTC," Carr recalled.The Carrs became friends with Col. Stone, who later helped the son, Edward Carr, swear his oath when he was commissioned into the Army at TCU."He always tried to instill in the young folks, 'Of course you're patriotic and you're doing this for the right reasons,'" Carr said. "But he'd also say you should enjoy your time in the service, wear your uniform around."The Rev. David Mosser, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church of Arlington, said Col. Stone "was a very faithful church member. And he was a celebrity -- an outgoing, gregarious, friendly kind of human being."James Lamar Stone was born Dec. 27, 1922, in Pine Bluff, Ark., and grew up in Hot Springs. He studied chemistry and zoology at the University of Arkansas, where he was in the Army's Reserve Officers' Training Corps.He graduated with a bachelor's degree and worked for General Electric in Houston before being called to active duty in 1948. He was sent to Korea in March 1951 and was repatriated in September 1953 in a prisoner exchange. A month later, on Oct. 27, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower presented the medal to him and six other men.He retired from the Army after nearly 30 years and went to work with his son, James Stone Jr., in the home-building business.He and Mary Stone met after Col. Stone had retired from the Army. She said she didn't know about the Medal of Honor until after the wedding."He was a humble person and didn't talk about that part to me," she said.Last year, 60 years after the battle at Sokkogae, the Army 90th Aviation Support Battalion in Fort Worth dedicated the Col. James L. Stone U.S. Army Reserve Center in his honor. Korean War veterans joined soldiers and Stone's family to honor him.Besides his wife and son, survivors include son Raymond Stone of Euless; stepdaughter Amy Rodriguez of Arlington; one grandchild; and two stepgrandchildren.Funeral plans were incomplete Friday night. He will be buried at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, Mary Stone said.This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.Shirley Jinkins, 817-390-7657Twitter: @startelegramHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
