The Tenino No. 564 Fraternal Order of Eagles in downtown Tenino was bustling on Saturday, March 1, for James “Jim” Gardner’s 100th birthday celebration, which was attended by multiple generations of his family from across the country along with local friends, neighbors and fellow veterans.
“If I had known I had this many friends, I would’ve ran for governor,” Gardner said while addressing his party’s attendees.
His celebration featured his favorite meal — beef brisket with baked beans, macaroni and cheese, and more — prepared by members of the Tenino Eagles. Attendees spent several hours mingling and sharing stories with Gardner.
A World War II U.S. Navy veteran, Gardner was born on Feb. 27, 1925, in St. Louis, Missouri, and enlisted in the Navy as soon as he could after graduating from high school in 1942 to serve in the war effort.
Growing up on the banks of the Mississippi River, he had a love for sailing already, and he also had brothers already serving in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. He said he knew if he joined the Navy, he wouldn’t end up having to sleep in the mud somewhere.
While the beds were nicer, little did Gardner know that he would end up witnessing first hand the D-Day invasion at Normandy, France.
“When Jim was blown off the ship in WWII the day after D-Day on the USS Tide when they hit a mine, he likes to say he got baptized in the English Channel,” Glenn Fleming, Gardner’s son-in-law, said.
After surviving his ship being sunk, Gardner would go on to serve in the island hopping campaign in WWII’s Pacific Theater.
Following a 20-year career in the Navy, Gardner retired from military service in 1962 and eventually ended up settling in Tenino after first moving to Lewis County.
During his time here, he worked at the Yard Birds Shopping Mall and served in the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, before once again sailing the seas while working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
To learn more about Gardner, read The Chronicle’s feature article on him at https://tinyurl.com/y2nam2pf or read about his time in the Navy during WWII in “The Fate of the USS Tide: The Forgotten Sailors of D-Day,” by Mark Zangara, available on Amazon.
