Stone Square

in Memory of
S 1/C George L. Stone
Born: March 16, 1919
Killed in action aboard USS Quincy, Sayo Island
August 9, 1942

The beginning of World War II found the heavy cruiser USS Quincy in the Atlantic on convoy duty. In 1942 whe was transfered to the Pacific fleet to take part in the ivasion of Guadalcanal. The Japanese had taken the Philipines from the US, Malaysia from the British, and the East Indies from the Dutch, and were gobbling up the rest of the Pacific. They had taken Guadalcanal, the largest of the Solomon Islands, in May. US Marines landed in August, and the ground fighting would continue for six months before the final Japanese evacuation.

The invasion began August 7th. The Quincy shelled Japanese positions before the landings, and provided anti-aircraft fire and artillery support for the troops once ashore. By the end of the 8th, she was stationed to the north of the beachhead. Before sunrise on the 9th the Japanese fleet attacked, and the Quincy's battle turned into an old fashioned ship-to-ship artillery duel.

The USS Quincy was the first ship to sink in an area that became known as Ironbottom Sound. She has been reported to still be sitting, upright, though missing her bow forward of the gun turrets, in 3000 feet of water. Nearly half her crew, including her captain and Seaman Stone, went down with her.

George Stone's memorial stands at the intersection of Hamilton and Almont streets.