LYNN – From being born to Canadian parents, then serving in World War II, to raising five children and having a long career with General Electric, Lynn’s Joseph “Lenny” Atkinson has led a full life.
On Monday, Atkinson celebrates his 101st birthday.
“I’ve had a good life,” Atkinson said. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just very lucky.”
Atkinson was born in a Boston hotel room on Nov. 27, 1922, but his parents lived in Moncton, New Brunswick, a maritime province in Canada.
“When she was about six months pregnant, they took a train and came to Boston, where I was born so I’d be an American citizen,” Atkinson said. “They took me back to Canada, and we came back here when I was about nine years old.”
When the family moved to the United States, they settled in East Saugus, where Atkinson attended school.
“I was always a couple of years behind, and I was bigger than everybody,” he said.
While attending Saugus High School, Atkinson started working for General Electric in Lynn, but World War II interrupted his career and education.
“I left in the 11th grade to go into the service in World War II,” he said.
He joined the U.S. Navy, which sent him to the University of Illinois to learn to work on ship engines. He was then deployed to the Pacific Theater to help fight the Empire of Japan.
Atkinson served on the USS President Adams, an attack transport ship.
“When they did the invasion of the island of Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, I brought the third and fourth marine raider battalions,” he recalled. “We formed a boat pool there. For about six or eight months there, we were on call whenever they needed us to try to keep the Japanese on the other side of the island. If (the Japanese) tried to make a move against us, they’d call us to move the troops over there.”
Atkinson was an engineer for the Higgins boats, the landing craft that transported U.S. Marines ashore.
“My job was to make sure the engine was in proper working order,” he said. “I also had a 30-caliber machine gun, which was part of my job, too. It was mounted on the rear of the landing craft.”
The USS President Adams was part of a group of four transport ships: the USS President Jackson, the USS President Hayes, and the USS Crescent City.
“They made every invasion from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima, and they never took a hit,” Atkinson said. “They nicknamed them the Unholy Four. They figured God didn’t want us.”
Following the Solomon Islands campaign, Atkinson was sent to the Philippines.
“I was there for a few months until they got things cleaned out,” he said. “We did a few runs there to keep the Japanese at bay.”
When he left the navy at the end of World War II, he held the rank of second-class motor machinist mate.
Atkinson returned to Lynn and his job at General Electric as a technical engineer. After his shifts at GE, he worked a second job in a Lynn machine shop. He retired in 1985.
“It was a good career,” he said. “I kept busy.”
With five children, the family also kept him busy.
He said he always tried to include them in his love of the outdoors.
“I did a lot of hunting and fishing up in New Hampshire and Maine,” Atkinson said. “ I used to take my kids with me most of the time if they wanted to go. I also did some lobstering and enjoyed it.”
Now a centenarian, he still keeps busy and leads an independent life.
“I’m very lucky to still be able to rake leaves and mow my lawn,” he said. “I still drive and do everything. I really have no big problems.”
He admitted, though, that he seldom cooks for himself.
“I don’t do too much cooking,” he said. “I’m a ‘heater-upper.’”
Atkinson said that he does not know the secret of living long other than luck and possibly a daily concoction he has taken for the past 30 or 40 years.
“One of my hunting buddies was doing it, so I figured, what the hell, I’ll try it,” he said.
The drink has four tablespoons of vinegar and two tablespoons of honey.
“I take a big swallow every morning,” he said. “I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, but it hasn’t hurt.”
