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<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif;"><a href="https://usmalibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/assembly/id/6334/rec/24">https://usmalibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/assembly/id/6334/rec/24</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Assembly,</span></em><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> January 1990, vol. 48, pp. 156–157.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center; line-height: 115%;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">JOHN FREDERICK STONEBURNER</span></strong></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center; line-height: 115%;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">NO. 19347<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Class of 1953</span></strong></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center; line-height: 115%;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Died December 9, 1964, in Vietnam, aged 34 years.</span></strong></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center; line-height: 115%;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Interred at West Point Cemetery</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">John Frederick Stoneburner came to West Point from his beloved Ohio State University. He was full of life, fun loving, yet determined, and fiercely competitive in everything he did. During cadet life, Stony was great to be with, and was extremely popular in our class and with all classes in our company and barracks areas. As an Army officer, husband, father, and son, he was always doing more than was expected or required of him. This restlessness and urge to do more ultimately put him in the path of enemy fire in Vietnam.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Even in early cadet days, Stony's estimate of the situation resulted in timely and accurate decisions in F-1 intramural athletics, races against tactical department deadlines, and overcoming the heavy odds posted by academic standards. He consistently recognized the most pressing threat to his surviving the four years of academy life, took the appropriate course of action, and achieved the results he sought. His aggressive approach to problem solving characterized his leadership qualities and potential for unselfish service to his country.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">His unforgettable and sometimes outrageous sense of humor warmed the cold gray 14, 15, and 16 divisions of barracks in old Central Area for four gloom periods in a row. Many believed it was the King of the Beasts calling us "to arms" the first time plebe Stoneburner bellowed the minutes for a formation. In the days of company assignments based on height, the booming voice did not befit the mid-range stature of Company F-1. We learned, through time, that his big voice reflected the size of his heart.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">John's special stride through life was mirrored in the fact that during the hundreds of parades and reviews conducted in the course of four years, he marched with a slight up and down bobbing movement while the rest of the formation glided through the maneuvers. Some said it was his bowlegs, or that he marched to a different drummer, or that he was just different from the rest. Perhaps all three ideas are true, in a sense. He interpreted the established cadence of cadet life in a slightly modified tempo, and he was a distinctive individual whose principles and values, even after four years at West Point, remained slightly unique and absolutely unforgettable. His meeting and courtship of the lovely and talented Barbara Borden, also of Columbus, Ohio, was the highlight of his young life, and Stony lost little time in deciding that Barbara was to be his wife, so they were engaged during cadet days.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Stony selected Field Artillery Branch and duty with the 11th Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He and Barbara were married in Columbus, Ohio, in June, before departing for the Field Artillery Basic Officers Course at Fort Sill. There, with our Field Artillery classmates, with their wives and other new lieutenants and wives, they huddled in tiny apartments for a few months, having cookouts, study sessions, going to drive-in movies, playing cards, and generally making friendships which would last a lifetime.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Upon arrival at the 11th Airborne, even before he had the opportunity to become airborne qualified, his battalion participated in a form of adventure training in the cold, snow, and altitude of Camp Hale, Colorado, where he dodged avalanches during the days, and dodged tracked Army snow "Weasels" at night while sleeping in the snow under the stars.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Airborne divisions in those years were well up to strength in senior battery grade officers, so John gained considerable experience as forward observer and reconnaissance officer, along with a steady diet of motor officer, supply officer, mess officer, and a myriad of other extra duties. John loved the challenges, adventure, and esprit of airborne life. Again, in the on-post Wherry housing, there was great opportunity for friendships and camaraderie in which Barbara and John were very active participants. Columbus, Ohio, was just a few hours’ drive, so there were visits by the elder Stoneburners and Bordens. Into this happy and exciting world, John and Barbara brought their first daughter, Leslie.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Then the Army made a decision that brought about one of the major permanent change-of-station moves in peacetime. The entire 11th Airborne Division moved to southern Germany. Planning and implementation at both the family level and the unit level were busy times. John now had the responsibilities of battery executive, a challenge he had prepared well to assume and accepted happily. He was invigorated and pleased to be in Germany, his link with his ancestral name and homeland. There were times for the Stoneburners to sight see, enjoy old world customs, buy some Hummels, and continue making Army friends. Their second daughter, Jeanine, was born during their tour in Germany.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">John was next assigned to Fort Sill for the Field Artillery Officers Advanced Course. This was an opportunity to see old friends and their families while gaining new friends and families who could relate already to half a decade of interesting and productive Army life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">John was then selected by the Army to attend graduate school at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Another new adventure and another opportunity for competition. His course work was in pursuit of a master of science degree in nuclear engineering. Many, many hours were devoted to study, research, problem sets, laboratory work, and the thesis. John labored along with classmates and friends, but in the end, he accomplished what he and the Army had in mind; he graduated with his degree.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">However, there was still some time available beyond group study sessions where couples got together socially. There were times for family outings and Leslie and Jeanine grew. The first Stoneburner son was born and named Karl, for a good friend and fellow officer from 11th Airborne days.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tucson started a love affair for John with the desert southwest that he was able to pursue in earnest at his next assignment with the Defense Atomic Support Agency, DASA, at Sandia Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. John became a nuclear weapons staff officer at Field Command, DASA. He applied himself diligently to learning the characteristics of the stockpile weapons for which he was assigned action officer, as well as for new weapons, where requirements were generated and research and development was ongoing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">John was also happy on the handball courts at Sandia Base gym, but was perhaps happiest when he and his family, or just he and his daughters, would go hiking or camping in the Gila Wilderness or other plentiful outdoor recreation areas of New Mexico.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Even with the responsible high technology job that John had, the good friends on Sandia Base, the sports, the opportunity for outdoor recreation with his family, the restlessness within John burned to accomplish even more. Then in the early fall of 1964, John received orders for Vietnam. The fact that he could request not to go to a hostile area because he was the sole surviving son after his brothers, Billy and Richard, were killed in action in World War II, did not enter his mind seriously. His life of accepting every challenge and wanting always to do more than was expected steeled his resolve to make his contribution to the Vietnam effort. Only a few days after his assignment as a sector advisor, he was striving to get to a rendezvous point, when his life ended by enemy fire from an ambush along a lonely road in central Vietnam. He was awarded, posthumously, the Bronze Star Medal with V device.</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Barbara and their daughters, and many classmates and friends, buried John with full military honors at West Point. Back at Field Command, DASA, the chief of staff, and John's frequent handball companion and fellow academy graduate, led in the successful campaign to honor John and his brothers by dedicating and renaming the post gymnasium, Stoneburner Fieldhouse. The commemorative plaque closes with these words: </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 37.4pt 6.0pt 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"These brothers demonstrated the noblest trait known to man—the unselfish giving of one's life that his nation may exist and his fellow men may live in peace and security. By their valor and sacrifice they have brought credit upon themselves, their families, and the United States Armed Forces."</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Stony, we miss you. You would have been fun to grow old with. If the meaning of immortality has anything to do with being thought about very often by your many friends and loved ones, you have achieved immortality. Be thou at peace.</span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: right; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Some F-1 roommates. </span></p>
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