Stinson was born in Columbia, Alabama. After he and his classmates graduated from high school in 1943 they joined the armed forces. Stinson chose the Navy and was shipped to San Diego for boot camp. After boot camp, he was selected and attended Torpedo School in San Diego. He was then selected for Advanced Torpedo School in Keyport, Washington. From the Torpedo School in Keyport, Stinson volunteered for PT Boat School and headed to Melville, Rhode Island at the Motor Torpedo Boat Training Center. They trained there for 3 months. All aspects of the PT boat were covered in training. After finishing in Melville, Stinson shipped out to the Pacific in November 1944. He was a replacement but did not know what boat he was assigned to right away. Eventually he was assigned to Squadron 28 which was active in the Lingayen campaign in the Philippines. Stinson was assigned to PT-379. They operated out of a small fishing village in Luzon. Their responsibility was to keep the traffic clear from the base to the northern tip of Luzon. The US 6th Army had invaded Luzon and was pushing the enemy north. Most of their activity took place on the west coast of Luzon. They picked up a lot of small boat traffic-- shot up some of them and investigated others. 1 of their concerns was pulling alongside small craft that they could not identify as friend or foe right away. They had to be mindful of someone throwing a grenade into the boat. In the northern part of Luzon there was a hotly contested area near a city named Aparri. They chased small craft in and around the river that led into Aparri. Sometimes they would draw fire from the shore. In 1 instance they were strafing the place and were using a 60-millimeter mortar to clear out the gun emplacements along the bank. Suddenly a star shell exploded on top of them and there was enough light to read a newspaper. They were being spotted so the artillery could zero in on them. The captain ordered the boat out of the area and a minute or 2 later a beautiful artillery barrage lit up the area they had just been in. It was a case of friendly fire. The Army advance team saw Stinson's boat firing on the enemy, but they got confused and ordered an artillery barrage on them. They were lucky and got out of the area. There was another instance of friendly fire in Luzon. A P-61 night fighter [Annotator's Note: Northrop P-61 Black Widow, US night fighter] strafed them. They operated strictly at night. During the day they would head to various supply depots that were set up and would refuel and rest. After the battle off of Leyte, the Japanese did not have any capital ships in the area. The only thing they had to contend with was small craft. Stinson and the crew did find 1 ship that was camouflaged and tied up near the edge of the coast. They decided to make a torpedo run on it. They were patrolling with PT-551. 551 fired 4 torpedos at the boat and they ended up hitting a reef short of the boat. They strafed the boat and disabled it. They called in the Air Force and they finished the boat off in the morning. Sometimes they would go inland and barter with the natives. In 1 instance a farmer showed them a freshwater creek. It turned out to be a delightful place to take a freshwater bath. The farmer who lived in the area had caribou that lived on his farm. Stinson tried to ride a caribou 1 time, but it threw him off. The farmer instructed Stinson to a more placid caribou. They had to go ashore every once in awhile to get some rest. They would patrol long hours at night with their radar going. They searched for enemy movements. That continued until July. They pulled out and were sent to PT Base 17 on the island of Samar. They left their base on Luzon, 2 boats at a time. Stinson was in the last pair to leave Luzon. Stinson was in Subic Bay when the war ended. The end of the war was a great celebration.

They proceeded to Samar to the repair base. The boats had already begun to be renovated because they had been assigned to the invasion fleet that was being organized on Okinawa to go into Japan. Needless to say, they were glad the atomic bomb was eventually dropped. Stinson does not question that decision like some of the revisionists have. Their boats were decommissioned in October. All of the guns and armaments were taken off of the boats. All of the boats were taken off the shore of Samar and burned. The Navy said that since they were wooden boats, they could not be maintained so they needed to be burned. Stinson pulled guard duty on an ammunition depot. The natives tried to get gunpowder because they would fish with it. There were a couple of businesswomen who came from a neighboring island and they set up 2 different brothels. They kept the brothels pretty well cleaned out. Stinson lived in a tent with some of the crew from the 379. They were killing time before they were to be sent home. Most of the PT boats were 80 feet long. They were powered by 3 1500- horsepower Packard aircraft engines. A typical crew consisted of 12 men and 2 officers. Everyone who served on the boat was well trained in their duties. They were all taught general aspects of everyone's job. They all had to learn radar, engines, communications. Everyone was also well versed in gunnery. As a result, they established long standing relationships and comradery. Stinson notes that there are only 4 guys remaining from the PT boat they served on. They remain in contact to this day. It was quite an experience. After they burned the boats, Stinson got orders in February 1946 to return home. It took 25 days to sail from the Philippines to San Francisco. Stinson got a 30-day leave to go home to Alabama. Stinson walked into his parents' home unannounced and it was a joyous occasion. Stinson then reported to Algiers in New Orleans and retired on 25 April 1946. Stinson went back home and packed up all of his memorabilia and wartime articles into a box and for 30 years forgot about it. In the mid 1970s , Stinson thought it might be a good idea to let his family know what he did during the war. He took the box out of the closet and showed his family. Stinson has shared his war box with many people. After the war, Stinson attended the University of Alabama and joined the corporate world and had a successful 35-year career. Stinson retired at the age of 55. Stinson was located in Arkansas and they decided to stay in Arkansas. Stinson has been wonderfully blessed with a wife, 3 children, and some grandchildren. The training in Melville for PT boat school was good. They were given opportunities to learn how to handle different functions of the boat. They learned everything from how to pull the boat up to a dock properly, to how to properly fire a torpedo. They also practiced gunnery from the boat. They learned how to operate the radar. They learned every aspect of the boat. It was an excellent training program in addition to various subjects they were assigned in school. The hands-on boat work was vigorous and they learned how to maintain the boat. They also did calisthenics. Stinson felt that they were well trained for deployment. They also had to learn the various intricacies involved in setting and firing a torpedo. Everyone had an assignment for when the ship was called to generals quarters.

As far as a specific routine, they knew what had to be done when they woke up in the morning. The crews were very resourceful. They did not have the luxury of a big galley. They depended on the base for food when they were on base, but when they were off of the base they had to make do. It was sufficient but it was not like base food. One time the base cooks accidentally left some flour opened and it became infested with weevils. Eventually they capitulated and made bread filled with weevils. Stinson is living evidence that the consumption of a few weevils is not fatal. There were a lot of merchant ships in the area and a lot of times they would trade souvenirs for food. 1 time a Navy cruiser pulled up next to them. They asked if they could go aboard but the man on the ship said they could only get on the ship if they were wearing the uniform of the day. Stinson notes that their regular uniform was a hodgepodge and that they always had different articles of clothing from different services. They managed to outfit 2 crew members with the uniform of the day. They went aboard and were able to buy items from the ships store. The crew of another Navy ship was standing along the rail as Stinson's PT boat passed. The cook peered over the side and asked the guys if they wanted a ham. The obvious answer was yes. They threw a ham and 2 loaves of bread to the PT boat. Stinson notes that they were the most delicious ham sandwiches ever. Usually half of the crew would go ashore to find beer and food. They had some rather intense volleyball games. Some of the Filipinos had never seen volleyball before. Sometimes the games would become heated, but they were just letting off some extra steam. There was a real comradery among the crew. They speak mostly of the good times when they get together and almost never speak of the bad times when they are together. When Stinson got home and entered college, he was more mature than the people who were coming out of high school. In the small town of Columbia, 5 of Stinson's friends have their names carved into a monument outside of the courthouse. Stinson feels that it is his generation's responsibility to make their story known. Stinson believes that people need to not take their freedom for granted.There were 2 types of boats, the Elco boat, which was built in New Jersey, and the Higgins boat which was built in New Orleans. The hull design was different on the 2 boats. The Higgins boat had more of a V-shaped hull. The Higgins boat was much smoother riding in smooth water. The deck of the Higgins boat was not as nice as the Elco boat. The senior members of the crew were able to get portholes that could open. The Elco boat had the portholes that could open, but not the Higgins. Both the Higgins and the Elco were not designed to stay at sea for long periods of time. They had to rely on bases that were on shore or mother ships that would come around and supply the PT boats. Both of the boats attained pretty much the same speed. Most of them were armed nearly alike. They had a 37-millimeter on the bow, a 27-millimeter on the port side, a twin set of .50-caliber machine guns. On the stern they had a 40-millimeter cannon. They also carried depth charges and a smoke generator. Pat Ebling from New York was the trainer on the 40-millimeter gun. The 40-millimeter was an excellent gun. They could load the clips with explosive or armor-piercing ammunition. An armor-piercing 40-millimeter round would easily cut down a coconut tree.

With all of the different kinds of huts that the Filipinos used they mainly used armor-piercing ammunition because sometimes the explosive ammunition would cause fires. The crews lived in very close contact with 1 another. Most all of the boats in the Pacific managed to acquire a tarp. They would sleep under the tent at night because it was usually too hot below deck to go to sleep. Whenever they had bad weather they would go on deck below the tarp. They played cards, wrote letters, and did other things while aboard ship. The radar that they had was very primitive. It improved throughout the war. On 2 or 3 occasions they picked up a sizeable blip on the radio but it turned out to be severe squalls. The Alamo Scouts [[Annotator's Note: 6th Army Special Reconnaisance Unit] were an elite group that used PT boats sometimes for their activities. The Alamo Scouts were commissioned by the 6th Army. They were well trained physically and mentally. They were also well versed in guerilla warfare. A lot of times the PT boats would come and drop the Alamo Scouts off discretely on Japanese-held islands. The Alamo Scouts would spend 2 or 3 days on the island. Their job was to gather information on troop strength and locations. Stinson worked with them on numerous occasions. 1 of the islands off of the northern tip of Luzon was Fuga. The island was literally bare; no roads, no communications, and no stores. Some of the citizens on Luzon fled to Fuga. Shortly after, about 500 Japanese soldiers occupied the island. It was a touch-and- go situation. 1 of the people in Manila contacted MacArthur talking about the plight of the people on Fuga. The 6th Army came to Squadron 28. 2 boats were selected, PT-551 and PT-379. They were selected to go to Fuga with the Alamo Scouts. They slipped them in under the cover of darkness. 24 hours later they rendezvoused and picked up the scouts. They slipped ashore on small rubber dinghies. Stinson helped pull the rubber dinghies back. There were 2 Japanese prisoners that the scouts had captured. They tied them up and put them on the deck of the PT boat. They tied them off to a platform. They ended up getting the people to an Army occupied area near Manila. Stinson got an email 60 years later from a woman who was saved from the island of Fuga. The rescue has been written up and is on the Alamo Scouts website. They called it the "Miracle Mission." Stinson is proud to be associated with the Alamo Scouts.

It was a wonderful experience. Stinson would not trade a million dollars for his experience in World War II. On average, they would arrive in a combat zone around dusk and operate until the sun came up. After the sun came up, the submarine crews and the air force were responsible for patrolling the area. Stinson and his boat were strafed 1 time by an Army plane that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fortunately he missed Stinson's boat. During the day they would go to their naval compound and rest. Then at night they would be back at it again. They rarely went on daylight missions. Stinson had a radio aboard his boat and they could catch the Armed Forces Network. That is how they kept up with stateside news. They would also listen to Tokyo Rose. Tokyo Rose always had a few comments, but she also played American music. They found out about President Roosevelt's death via the radio. They found a new American flag and put it at half-staff when Roosevelt died. They listened to the radio quite a bit. They were still patrolling when the atomic bomb was dropped. Stinson had no conception of the atomic bomb and how devastating it was. The radio reports kept coming in speaking of the devastation in Japan. They knew that the operation in the Philippines was coming to a close. When Stinson got the news about the war being over he was elated. They had a little bit of a celebration because they knew they would be heading home soon. Stinson ended up getting attached to a base and was not able to head back home right away. Life was easier after the war because they did not have to go about their normal combat operations. The biggest nuisance at PT Base 17 was mosquitos. The best thing about the war being over for Stinson was that they no longer had to operate in blackout conditions. On Samar, after the war was over, they played touch football and volleyball. Every now and then they would bring in a movie for the guys to watch. For the movies they would spread coconut logs on the ground so guys had places to sit. Sometimes the local population would come and watch the movies. They had beer available for the guys that wanted it. The guys had some great parties in the tents because they had beer and good food. 1 time Stinson caught a couple of Filipinos that had stolen some gunpowder. Stinson suspected that they could speak English and that they knew what they had done. Stinson threatened to shoot them but he only threatened them with their lives to see if they could really speak English. Once the 2 Filipinos heard that they were going to be shot, they began sputtering in English.

Most of the time, they got along with the Filipinos. Stinson notes that any foreigner who comes in and occupies another person's country will have a problem here and there. Stinson was the only 1 from PT-379 who was put ashore for shore duty. Their cook was assigned to a mess hall. The gunner's mates were assigned to the gun shack where they were collecting all the guns. They all had different tasks. The guys from the boat were told to do other jobs once the war was over. For some reason they selected Stinson for shore patrol. When he was in Algiers about to get out of the Navy, he was told he had to do shore patrol for 3 to 4 days at a movie. For some reason shore patrol duty was attracted to Stinson. It was a fun time when they got out of the Navy. There was a lot of celebrating while waiting to board the trains to go home. Stinson recalls how good it felt to get on the train and go home. He had a friend in Gulfport and stopped for a few days to visit him and then continued on home. Stinson started college after the war. Most of the people starting college, according to Stinson, were G.I.s. The University of Alabama did a fantastic job accomodating the soldiers who were coming home looking for an education. Stinson feels fortunate to have served when he did because he made lifelong friends. Stinson has no regrets about his service and is very pleased that the World War II Museum is renovating a PT boat.