STERLING HEIGHTS — When Jack Jones graduated from high school in 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy to serve in World War II. His wife, Vera Rhodes, worked as a riveter for Briggs Corp.

“She was a riveter for Briggs Corporation, which at that time made car bodies, but they switched during the war,” said his son, Alan Jones. “We always joked that her middle name was Rosie.”

He served for three and a half years and spent 18 months serving as a dental technician aboard the U.S.S. Meriwether at its commissioning.

The first time he heard gunfire was while the ship was delivering troops to Okinawa. He also sailed into Pearl Harbor after the attack, and his ship delivered troops to Nagasaki after an atomic bomb was dropped there.

After the war, he returned to work at Burroughs in Detroit.

“I

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