Ronda Rich

Syndicated Columnist

Tink and I were at lunch recently with a friend who started talking about his grandfather’s bravery and medals won during World War II.

When the war began, he was initially deferred because of college. But several months later, he was drafted. He then requested to become a pilot. Once trained, he asked to go to the toughest war zone for pilots. That was the South Pacific because of Imperial Japan’s daring Zero pilots. They considered it a high honor to die for their country. As a result, they played tough.

Our friend’s grandfather was shot down but survived — then went right back to the South Pacific skies. He was shot down again after shooting down two Zeros. He ejected and opened his parachute. As he was falling through the skies, the Zeroes were shooting at him but missed. He landed in the midst of a jungle.

Thirty-two days later, he stumbled out of the jungle, pulling his parachute along with him. He was burned to various degrees over 80 percent of his body.

“My Grandfather was the toughest man I ever knew,” he said.

Yes, he was. Tom Harmon, who played halfback for the University of Michigan won the Heisman in 1940, was the leading scorer in the nation, and won every other award possible. After the war, he came home to marry one of Hollywood’s most beautiful starlets, Elyse Knox. Her wedding dress was made from the white silk fabric of his parachute. Her husband became a famous pro football player and broadcaster.

Tom Harmon instilled his grit into his son who, as a junior college quarterback, was offered scholarships by several schools, including Oklahoma, which was number two in the nation. He chose to play for UCLA, which had only won two games the previous year. The Harmon men loved a good challenge.

In his first game, he led UCLA to a stunning upset of the reigning national champions, the Nebraska Cornhuskers. During his two years, with Coach Pepper Rodgers, UCLA compiled an impressive 17-5 record.

Tink is close friends with Harmon’s son. When he heard that Tink had married a Southerner and moved to the South, he was wonderfully supportive.

“When I graduated from college,” he said, “the only job offer I got was from Pepper Rodgers to join his coaching staff at Georgia Tech. I thought about it, but turned it down.”

That turned out to be an excellent decision because Mark Harmon was the number one star in television for many, many years, thanks to his role on NCIS. He and Tink developed a close friendship when both were working on St. Elsewhere, then Chicago Hope.

A few months ago, I was looking for something in a cigar box where Mama kept all of her important papers. (Where she got a cigar box, I have no idea, but it was always her “safe deposit box.”) She kept it in the top drawer of her chifforobe. It’s interesting what she kept in there such as a note showing their mortgage was paid off, her Daddy’s obituary, and a picture of her with her sister, Ozelle.

I also discovered Daddy’s discharge papers from his World War II service. Since Daddy volunteered, he was allowed to choose his branch of service. Without hesitation, he picked the Navy. He was always fascinated with ships and the sea. Before joining the service, he had worked at the shipyard in Newport News, Virginia.

I gently opened the fragile paper. Honorable Discharge. I expected that but lower in the document, I saw something stunning.

Daddy had been honored with five medals. Neither I nor my sister had ever heard that.

“Where do you suppose they are?” she asked.

My supposition is that Washington couldn’t keep up with all the medals awarded so some warriors never got theirs. But men like my Daddy and Tom Harmon didn’t fight for medals.

They fought solely for their country.

Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of the Stella Bankwell series. Visit www.rondarich.com to sign up for her free newsletter.