Friends and neighbors wish U.S. Navy veteran Oather Gardner a happy 100th birthday Sunday. (Photo/Terry Lloyd)
Oather Gardner, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a 17-year-old just in time to serve in the Pacific theater in World War II, celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday in St. Cloud.
Sunday afternoon, Gardner witnessed a parade of well-wishers from the Osceola veterans community, escorted by the St. Cloud Police Department, roll by his house on the state streets.
In 1943, Gardner left his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, bound for training in San Diego. He was sent to Bremerton, Washington, to begin serving on the aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Lexington, one of the largest aircraft carriers in the Navy fleet. It was quickly sent into harm’s way against Imperial Japan in the Pacific. Although his official duty was in the ship’s post office, his battle station was serving as a loader as part of a five-inch anti-aircraft gun crew.
He was with the Lexington through heavy combat, including being struck by a kamikaze aircraft, throughout 1944 and 1945. The ship was instrumental during campaigns in the Philippines and Okinawa and was attacking the Japanese mainland when the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki abruptly ended the war. He was struck by shrapnel during one action, was patched up, and went right back to his gun crew. Although most likely entitled to the Purple Heart medal, no paperwork was filed.
“We also went through some very heavy storms, typhoons, and our task force lost a destroyer to the weather, and another carrier had severe damage to its bow; that was frightening!” Gardner said.
He was also a witness to one of the very few successful attacks by two-man Japanese “kamikaze” submarines.
“We were at a rear island base for resupply and repairs. I woke up when they sounded General Quarters (battle stations),” he said. “We looked out and saw a huge column of black smoke from a refueling tanker ship that had exploded.” His ship was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrender ceremony took place on the battleship the U.S.S. Missouri, ending the six-year-long Second World War.
After leaving the Navy, he used his G.I. Bill to learn upholstery and woodworking. In 1960, he opened his own upholstery business in Dallas. He moved to Virginia after retirement and then moved to St. Cloud eight years ago.
When asked for advice for living a long life, he replied simply, “hard work and clean living.”
Happy 100th birthday, and a salute to Mr. Oather Gardner!
