National Geo "Spitfire"

[Gil Boyd]

Bob,
Looks like he came up through the ranks the hard way like my dad. How did he finish up?

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[Bob Womack]

Bob,
Looks like he came up through the ranks the hard way like my dad. How did he finish up?

He ended up as a sergeant pilot. The pic above is from his time with OTU 57 at Hawarden. He literally ran across the border between the U.S. and Canada. As such, he knew no-one and had no pull. It also made him a pariah to the U.S. government because the U.S. was maintaining its neutrality. We visited Harry's grave in 1996. Interestingly enough, it was decorated with a poppy, and was the only one decorated so. A girlfriend? We'll never know.



I'm on the right in red, my late father (U.S.N. WWII) is behind me. While we were standing in front of the grave my dad just sort of froze up. That evening at the hotel he began talking. He lost his father and brother Harry that year within six months and had to become the man of the house at fifteen years old. He gave away his older sisters at their weddings and took care of his mom until he joined the Navy in '44. He'd compartmentalized his grief in order to cope and the finality of his brother's death hadn't occurred to him until he stood there at the grave with us in 1996.

Harry wrote home from Hawarden shortly before his death:

‘I’m certainly enjoying flying the Spitfires. They are wonderful little airplanes, and Germany is going to have to go strong to make anything better. I have just finished making application for admittance to the American Eagle Squadron here. I’ll certainly be glad to get with some American fellows…

‘Everyone here still says that England is sure to win, and I was always inclined to be an optimist, so I heartily agree with them. If you folks at home keep the airplanes and ships and guns and food rolling this way, I’m sure Germany can’t win.’

Interestingly, the taint of pariah still lingered over Harry through 1999 when a group decided to create an East Tennessee Veteran's Memorial to all of her sons who had died in wars. As the project progressed, my father inquired into Harry's inclusion. He was told that since Harry had joined a foreign service at a time when the U.S. was neutral, the association wasn't interested in including him on the memorial. Being the gentleman that he was, my father wasn't interested in pressing the matter and left it at that.



Right around that time my father was contacted by a retired U.S. Air Force officer who was undertaking making sure that all East Tennessee airmen from WWII were recognized and memorialized in various places around the country. Somehow this gentleman had come across a wartime obituary for Harry. From his research it appeared that Harry was the first wartime casualty from East Tennessee. When he heard that Harry was to be excluded he got hacked off and spearheaded an effort that succeeded in getting Harry's name included on the memorial. Hilariously, the association got the last laugh, in a manner of speaking. When you look for East Tennessee's first casualty, the honor is given to a man who died six months later at Pearl Harbor. Son or not, they just couldn't stand to hand that off to a Canadian Air Force pilot!


Bob