Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue

Based on years of writing about veterans, my endorsement of both the War on Terror’s American Sniper movie and the World War II battle for Iwo Jima should be clear.  Wars happen.  Forces mobilize.  Warriors do what they have to do.  They come home as veterans or casualties.  The cycle repeats.


The American Sniper movie was politicized from its record-breaking first showing forward.  The likes of the battle for Iwo Jima are showing some adverse affectations – whether from age or political correctness is unclear.

February 19, 2015 marks the 70^th anniversary of the battle for Iwo Jima.  Affectations aside, a 75^th anniversary, and a 100^th anniversary will likely be commemorated, but why take the chance? 

Here’s to commemorating the 70^th anniversary of the battle for Iwo Jima!


Here’s to Greensboro’s Andy Symmes, who now lives with a High Point, North Carolina daughter and her family.  Symmes’ 105mm howitzer battery landed on Iwo Jima’s D-Day and fought 36 of the most deadly days in the history of the Marine Corps.  Japanese resistance finally ended on March 26th.

TOM GIBBS (L) WW II CORSAIR CREW CHIEF
SOLOMONS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, OKINAWA
ANDY SYMMES 105MM HOWITZER BATTERY – IWO JIMA

Here’s to Fairmont, West Virginia’s Hershel “Woody” Williams, who traveled over the country to secure the 2014 Annual Convention of the Marine Corps League for his home state. (Greensboro, North Carolina hosted the 2010 Convention)   Williams was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on Iwo Jima.

Here’s to the Iwo Jima Survivors Association of Winston-Salem, North Carolina as they commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima on February 21, 2015, at the Maple Chase Golf and Country Club. 

Here’s to Colonel Sheldon Scales, the last surviving company commander on Iwo Jima.  Colonel Scales, a North Carolina native from Stokes County, passed away in 2014 in a retirement facility in Martinsville, Virginia.

Colonel Sheldon Scales, Iwo Jima Company Commander

Here’s to John Murphy, an Iwo Jima Marine from the same regiment as my cousin, PFC Walter Ray Thetford, who was killed on the 14^th day of combat.  Murphy traveled from New Castle, Delaware to meet my son and me at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C to review Iwo Jima records.

CAPTAIN HARRY THETFORD JR. (THEN LCDR) AND IWO JIMA
PURPLE HEART SURVIVOR JOHN MURPHY AT NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON, D.C.
WITH BOTH FLAGS THAT FLEW FROM MT. SURIBACHI

 And here’s to PFC Walter Ray Thetford.  He was the only son of a Mississippi farmer who served in World War I.  Of 17 first cousins who served in World War II, Walter Ray is the only one who made the supreme sacrifice.  Three sisters survived him, all of whom married World War II servicemen.

PFC Walter Ray Thetford, died of wounds
during the battle for Iwo Jima

Here’s to the memory of PFC Jacklyn Harold Lucas, a graduate of High Point University.  Lucas earned the Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima at the age of 17 years and six days – the youngest Marine in history to win this award.  He planned to present his medal to High Point University on Alumni Day, 2008.  He passed away before that date, but his widow made the presentation.

Here’s to Greensboro’s Delmas Bearden, who now lives with his son and his family in Burlington, North Carolina.  Bearden, a Navy yeoman, was wounded on D-Day at Normandy when his minesweeper struck a mine and sunk.  He recovered in time to serve on a supply ship on D-Day for the invasion of Iwo Jima.

Delmas Bearden

Here’s to the three Marine Corps generals who led the charge at Iwo Jima: Graves B. Erskine, Clifton B. Cates and Keller E. Rockey – for their World War I heroism alone, these three had been awarded four Purple Hearts, three Silver Stars, and three Navy Crosses.  

Here’s to the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, and to the Marines who perform sunset parades at the Memorial.  There is no more stirring sight than a company of dress-blued Marines suddenly appearing from behind the Memorial.  Arguably, the world’s tallest bronze statue, the six flag-raisers are 32 feet tall.  The National Park Service does not make mention of a 13^th hand – an urban legend too often forwarded.

Sunset Parade at the Marine Corps War Memorial

Here’s to Marines of the Iraq War, still driven and inspired by Iwo Jima as the gold standard of combat heroism.  General James T. Conway, Marine Corps Commandant at the time, said when a young Marine was asked about the possibility of U.S. troops wresting control of Fallujah from insurgents, he replied, “Of course we can take Fallujah, we took Iwo Jima!”    


Here’s to the Americans of the greatest generation who served on the home front.  According to James Bradley, a best-selling author and son of an Iwo Jima flag raiser, “The three Iwo Jima flag-raisers came back to the states and sold $26 billion in war bonds in two months.  That compares to the U.S. budget for that year of $56 billion.”


Five months after the Iwo Jima flag-raising, the Post Office issued an Iwo Jima stamp.  The cost was three cents each.  People stood in lines for city blocks to buy Iwo Jima stamps on the first day of issue.  For many years, it remained the biggest selling stamp in the history of the U.S. Post Office.

Here’s to Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, whose quote immortalized the battle for Iwo Jima, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.”

Here’s to the patriots who won’t wait until Memorial Day to memorialize almost 7,000 Marines and Navy Corpsmen who made the supreme sacrifice on Iwo Jima.

God Bless!  Ol’Harry

This Sailor Had High Mileage

It wasn’t surprising to find the Kernersville home of James and Helen McBride pristine and comfortable.  After all, they have been married over 63 years.  They have no children, grands, cats, or dogs – how could their home be anything other than pristine and comfortable?

James McBride

 It was surprising to hear the home and acreage they had enjoyed most of their 63 years had been taken by a roadway relocation.

The McBrides seem enviably purposeful and organized.  They both retired from Western Electric, with combined service of over 71 years.  They are active members of Cherry Street Methodist Church in Kernersville.  They do have diverse interests, however, which could account for their marriage longevity.  Helen McBride enjoys inside crafting and painting, while her husband enjoys outside gardening.

James McBride’s purchase of several memorial pavers in the Carolina Field of Honor initiated our conversation about his military service.  “I was the youngest of four boys and wanted to go in, but my parents would not give their approval.  Eventually, I was drafted into the Army.  After two days, I had enough of the Army and heard the Navy needed men, so I volunteered.” 

“After boot camp I was assigned to machinist’s mate school at Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, MI.”  Concurrent with his graduation, the Navy was commissioning USS Zaurak in New Orleans.  McBride became a member of Zaurak commissioning crew and remained a crew member until the ship was taken out of service after the war.

It would be easier to list the World War II Pacific Ocean venues not frequented by Zaurak than those visited, but that would slight the ship’s service.  According to McBride, “Zaurak was a cargo ship.  We carried troops, supplies and equipment.  We weren’t in on many initial invasions but we were on several of them just days afterwards.”

I wondered about the large stack of blue binders on the floor of the McBride living room until McBride invited me to help myself to them – they were the official ship’s log of USS Zaurak – from commissioning to decommissioning.

The complete set of Ship's Log from the USS ZAURAK

Just glancing backward through the binders, venues such as Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Leyte, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Eniwetok, Bougainville, Munda, Guadalcanal could not be missed.

Even though McBride had secured the ship’s log from National Archives for a healthy fee, he did not want the log’s entries over-rated, “Sometimes, what the ship’s log doesn’t say is more interesting than what it does say!”  He reminisced about two such incidences.  I concurred that they were truly interesting – but best not ship’s log material.

McBride and his Zaurak crewmembers took part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which many sources call the largest naval battle in World War II.  Others call it the largest naval battle of all time.  Without argument, it introduced Japan’s use of kamikaze warfare against Allied forces. 



James McBride as a Third Class Petty Officer



While Zaurak wasn’t the highest profile target for the Japanese suicide bombers, they were not immune.  McBride remembers the early November days of 1944, “We were there for about ten days and under air raid attack just about constantly.  It wasn’t unusual for “general quarters” to sound several times during the day and night.  On November 3, a kamikaze was headed directly towards us.  Our gunners shot the tail off the Japanese plane.  It went right over us but struck another U.S. Navy ship just 200 yards away -- 26 men were killed, many more wounded.” 

McBride doesn’t begrudge spending the vast majority of his sea duty below deck on Zaurak, “I missed seeing lots of the action because when something exciting is happening, that’s when machinist’s mates are urgently needed in the engine room.”

An Army draftee, James McBride had never been to sea when he sailed out of the mouth of the Mississippi River below New Orleans.  Within two years, he had sailed the equivalency of three times around the world.

Zaurak shipmates had a 50^th reunion in Ponchatula, LA, a crewmember’s hometown.  The unlikeliness that another Zaurak reunion will be held brought McBride, who served as reunion treasurer, to the Carolina field of Honor.

On dedication day, May 31, 2014, memorial pavers for USS Zaurak (AK-117), and three more for crewmembers: LCDR John S. Kapuscinski, the singular commanding officer of the ship, Pinckney Webber, a Navy-Marine Corps medal winner at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and for Machinist’s Mate Second Class James McBride were prominently displayed beneath the Navy monument.  McBride carefully pointed out that while the first three pavers were purchased from remaining Reunion funds – he happily supported his hometown veteran’s memorial by paying for his personally!

God Bless!

Ol’Harry  

According to this Army Nurse, It Can Be Done!

Lieutenant Colonel Paula Kay Trivette U.S. Army (Ret.) has been written about often in numerous venues of numerous disciplines – appropriately so.

Most recently, she was the keynote speaker at the 2014 Veterans Day Ceremony at the Guilford County Veterans Memorial, Greensboro, NC, sponsored by the Steve Millikin Black Caps group.  With a general, several World War II colonels, and numerous Korea, Vietnam and Gulf War veterans in the audience, I wondered how a young lieutenant colonel would handle this assignment.

LtCol (retired) Trivette at the 2014 Veteran's Day Ceremony

I should not have wondered.  She won me over with the casual mention that she came from a Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin family of 19 children.

Later, I asked her about the huge house the family must have lived in, “Oh, the house my siblings and I grew up in was much, much smaller than the house my husband and I live in now.”  Afterwards, she mentioned her grandmother shared the family home as well.

For the record, there were three sets of twins.

Early in her Veterans Day presentation, it was obvious she would not need a DD-214 to establish her military credentials.  Her husband, Bill Trivette, is a well-known Greensboro attorney, West Point graduate, retired Army lieutenant colonel himself, and president of the West Point Society of the North Carolina Piedmont.

Then there are the Trivette sons.  Their older son, Evan, graduated from West Point in 2002.  After three years in the 82d Airborne Division as an Infantry Officer, he attended medical school and is now an active duty Army physician at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.  He and his wife, Lindsay, have gifted Paula and Bill with their three pride and joys, their grandchildren:  Isabella, William & Ronnie. 

Their younger son, Eric, graduated from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in 2006.  He and his wife are helicopter instructors at Fort Rucker, Alabama – Eric flies Apaches, Alicemary flies Blackhawks.

Militarily, we should not miss Paula Trivette’s siblings – three brothers were Army, a sister and brother were Air Force.

Now that even the general was paying close attention to the young lieutenant colonel, she spoke more intimately – like when she not only fell in love with intensive care nursing, but intensely fell in love with a young infantry officer turned Army lawyer (Judge Advocate General’s Corps) as well.

In the privacy of her home, she told my wife and me, “Bill and I first met through mutual Army Nurse Corps friends.  He later asked me out for a date.  On our first date, I knew he was the man I would marry.  He asked me to marry him two weeks later.  We married six months later -- 38 years ago.” 

Trivette’s career as an Army nurse included assignments in San Antonio, Texas, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Frankfurt, Germany and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C. 

“After years of night shifts as a staff nurse and leadership positions in critical care, I told my supervisor I was ready for a less stressful position.  My supervisor asked if I would be interested in a nursing position at the White House.  With the support of my husband to “go for it,” my application was submitted.  I was selected as a White Nurse in 1987,” recalls Trivette.  She served over two years for Ronald Reagan, all four years for George H.W. Bush, and briefly in the Clinton administration, before retiring in 1993.       

With President Reagan in the White House

Trivette treasures her memories of President Reagan, “When he broke his hip after leaving the Presidency, Mrs. Reagan asked me to come to Bel Air to help.  I cared for him from eight p.m. until eight a.m. for a month, taking only one day off.”  That begged the question, what did you do on your day off?  “I visited the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.”

As a token of appreciation, Nancy Reagan gave Trivette a small plaque that had been on the President’s oval office desk the entire eight years of his Presidency, it read, “IT CAN BE DONE.  “If I ever write a book about my White House experiences, the title will be:  IT CAN BE DONE.” 

Nurses aren’t prone to exaggerate, but as for President George H. W. Bush, Trivette says, “There is no finer man in the world.  He often visited our medical unit, we thought because it was a place he could escape the pressures of the Presidency and just relax.  We loved him – he treated us like family.”

Paula Trivette has worked at Greensboro’s Moses Cone Hospital since 1993.  She currently serves as a flexible resource nurse and relief hospital-wide Rapid Response Nurse – on the night shift, no less.

God Bless - Ol'Harry