American Legion Beaufort Post 207 brings you Richard Bone, 38, who joined the U.S. Navy in Tucson, Ariz., in 2006. After Boot camp at Great Lakes, Ill., he first trained to be a Torpedoman, but changed to Gunners Mate.
His first of five sea duty assignments was aboard the USS Boxer (LHD-4) where he participated in the rescue of Capt. Philips off the coast of Somalia. His next served aboard the USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) visiting Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Australia; and in 2011 helped in the rescue of multitudes of Japanese swept to sea after the tsunami that destroyed coastal towns and a nuclear power plant.
In 2012 he retrained as a Cook Specialist and served at Naval Base Ventura, Calif. After three years, it was back to sea aboard the USS Porter (DDG-78), homeported in Rota, Spain, visiting Mediterranean and UK ports. Assigned next to Naval Hospital Portsmouth, Va., he worked as a cook for the OB-GYN clinic.
Going back to sea aboard the USS Bainbridge (DDG-96), he deployed to the Mediterranean again visiting Spain, France, Italy, and Greece. His final sea assignment was aboard the USS John P. Murtha (LPD-26), seeing service in the Western Pacific and Hawaii, with typhoon recovery operations at Guam, and with NASA on the Artemis II shakedown test.
Today he serves at Naval Hospital Beaufort with a variety of duties including mail, food for recruits at the hospital, managing the command’s 27 vehicles maintenance and in the laundry.
Compiled by John Chubb, American Legion Post 207. For Veteran Of The Week nominations, contact jechubb1@gmail.com.