Ol'Harry

MCKEESPORTERS ENJOY CALLING NORTH CAROLINA HOME

The late night radio message from an east-bound B-17 from Tokyo was stark but calm, “I am 25 minutes from Oahu with 20 minutes of fuel.”  A second message followed a few minutes later, “Now ditching.” 

SEAMAN BILL MCKENZIE AT SEA

Within minutes, air traffic controllers directed search planes and rescue ships to the anticipated crash area – an extremely remote area 65 miles west of Honolulu.  Additionally, four Navy destroyers in route to Japan via Pearl Harbor were ordered directly to the crash scene at flank speed.

USS MCKEAN DD-784

Aboard the ditched B-17 was a contingent of top officers from General Douglas MacArthur’s Tokyo headquarters, including Ambassador George Atcheson Jr., Chairman of the Allied-Council for Japan.  Hand-cuffed to Atcheson’s wrist was a briefcase filled with sensitive Japan treaty information to be personally delivered to President Harry S. Truman.

The next morning, three survivors were picked up by a Coast Guard cutter after a Marine Corps fighter pilot spotted the wreckage and an overturned raft.  Navy and Coast Guard ships recovered five bodies and another sank during recovery efforts. 

Among the four bodies never recovered was Ambassador Atcheson, a World War I veteran, 27-year Far East diplomat, and General MacArthur’s top adviser. 

Gunnery Controlman Bill McKenzie was standing bridge watch aboard the USS McKean, one of the four destroyers mentioned earlier.  “We were looking forward to a liberty call in Hawaii when ordered to bypass the Islands and go directly to the crash scene.  We searched for three days and nights, with specific orders to watch for a survivor or body with briefcase containing highly confidential documents.”  

SEAMAN MCKENZIE TESTING U.S. NAVY'S ORIGINAL
FAIL-SAFE FIRE-DIRECTION SYSTEM

McKenzie entered the Navy in June, 1946 after high school graduation in McKeesport, PA.  (McKenzie, from McKeesport, aboard the McKean, has to be a linguistic analogy of mention!)  “After the B-17 crash diversion, the remainder of my enlistment was spent on occupation duty out of Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan.  The Japanese people were very nice to us – any problems were brought on by our own troops.”

A former high school classmate invited McKenzie to Tokyo, “We met accidentally on a train.  He was an Army draftsman in the Supreme Commander’s Headquarters in the Dai-Ichi Building.  It was a memorable event for me to see General MacArthur in the flesh!”

Following his Navy discharge, McKenzie graduated from Muskingum College (now University), a United Presbyterian school in New Concord, OH.  He later earned a Master’s Degree in finance from University of Pittsburgh.

Realizing I knew less about Muskingum College than they knew about the Mississippi Southern College my wife and I attended, the McKenzies filled me in.  “John Glenn dropped out of Muskingum during World War II to become a Marine Corps aviator – on his way to earning six distinguished flying crosses and becoming the first American to orbit the earth, U.S. Senator, etc.  His dad was a New Concord plumber, and John married a Muskingum coed.  They were faithful in returning for school reunions.

I deferred mention that Hall of Fame kicker, Ray Guy, came from our school -- punting and orbiting the earth don’t have a lot in common.

After working initially with Gulf Oil Company, Bill McKenzie spent most of his business career with US Steel Corporation, “I primarily did real estate work, which involved heavy travel all over the country.  I slept on business in all but three states!”

McKenzie’s father was a 54-year old school teacher when Bill was born, “He made $60 per month and made me promise: don’t swim in the river; don’t play in the old coal mine; don’t hop freight trains; and don’t marry a school teacher.”

In addition to his livelihood, McKenzie found his life’s mate at US Steel – the former Carol Newcome and Bill McKenzie have been married 57 years.  According to Carol McKenzie, “We have three children -- a son and daughter in the Triad -- another daughter in Texas.  At the moment, all our grandchildren are in Texas – one in high school and three in college.”

BILL & CAROL MCKENZIE MAKING MANY MORE
NEW FRIENDS @ FRIENDS HOME-GUILFORD

The McKenzies are pleasant and enthusiastic folks, but most pleasant and enthusiastic when sharing about their grands, “Our twin grandsons are at Southern Methodist University – one is a kicker on the football team, the other is earning two engineering degrees.  Our other grandson is a Sam Houston State University senior and hopes to become a professional golfer.  Our only granddaughter is a high school junior who is a competitive dancer.

After two of their three children settled in the Triad, and after extensive travel around the world, it isn’t surprising that the McKenzies found Greensboro in 2007.  They are members of Fellowship Presbyterian Church and relatively new residents at Friends Home Guilford.

Harry Thetford is a retired Sears Store Manager who enjoys writing about veterans.  Contact him at htthetford@aol.com