Jack Walton Stephenson

B: July 12, 1924
D: June 3, 2019

Graveside Services will be held on Saturday, June 8 at Resthaven Gardens Cemetery in Oklahoma City at 2:00pm. On June 3, 2019 Jack Walton Stephenson 94, passed in his sleep. He was born July 12, 1924 to William Henry Stephenson and Anna Bell Stroud in Drumright Oklahoma.

On June 7, 1943 he entered the Army at Fort Sill Oklahoma and attended boot camp at Camp Fannin Texas. Reporting to Fort Meade Maryland in November and in December was at Camp Myles Standish in Massachusetts the point of embarkation where he boarded a ship in Boston Harbor at midnight December 27, 1943. He was assigned to Second Infantry Company E 2nd Battalion 9th Regiment based in Bridgend, South Wales where he boarded a ship on June 2, 1944 to participate in the Normandy Invasion. On June 7, 1944

Jack landed in Normandy, at Omaha Beach on D-Day plus one. He served in Normandy until being wounded on July 27, 1944 near St. Lo France. Jacks squad was pinned down behind a hedgerow as an enemy sniper sporadically trimmed the hedges with his Burp Gun and Jack was hit during one of these bursts. He was wounded in the neck. The round severed his carotid artery, jugular vein, and trachea and the bullet stayed in him for all his life. Jack's awards and citations were the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals. The Combat Infantry Badge, European Theater Medal with Bronze Invasion and Arrow Head and two Bronze Campaign Stars, American Theater and Victory Medals. He graduated from Okmulgee Tech and was employed by Phillips Petroleum Company as a Drafting Engineer for 35 Years.

He was married to Betty Darlene Lemming on March 9, 1951 and had four children. He is survived by his wife Betty of the home, daughter Jacquelyn Karen Stephenson DeKinder of Yukon, OK, sons John Walton Stephenson, Bartlesville, and Brian Kirk Stephenson, Wichita, KS and has nine grand children and seven great grand children.

Jack was preceded in death by his son Dana Mark Stephenson.