Community is Invited to Celebrate 99-year-old WWII Veteran’s Birthday

Honor Flight San Diego will be hosting a drive-by birthday party for WWII Veteran Stu Hedley, U.S. Navy.

The community is invited to attend and the drive-by parade will be from 11 a.m. to noon at:
3665 Conrad Ave, San Diego, 92117.

The community is encouraged to send birthday cards to the same address.

The 99-year-old Chief Petty Officer served over 20 years and was stationed on the U.S.S. West Virginia when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was in the #3 gun turret and could hear machine-gun fire raining on the ship and could feel the torpedoes striking the hull. When it was time to evacuate the ship, he survived the attacks by swimming underwater through flames to shore. He then went on to serve in the Battle of Guadalcanal where his ship lost over 200 men.

Hedley is a pillar of the San Diego Veteran’s community. He stood up the San Diego Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association which recently disbanded due to the members passing away. He spends his time talking to schools about Pearl Harbor and estimates he has spoken to over 200,000 people about the Dec. 7th attacks.

Hedley was the 2012 San Diego County Veteran of the Year and was one of the first WWII veterans to go on the Honor Flight when the San Diego hub was started in 2010.

Stu was selected as the December 2019 Veteran of the Month for San Diego Veterans Magazine and his full story can be read here: Stu Hedley – Veteran of the Month

There will be plenty of space for the media to set up outdoors at Hedley’s home.

He will be in his front yard and wave to all the well-wishers.

Interviews may be conducted before or after the event.