Ardell (center), Doris (right) at the WWII Memorial |
In the War, the second big war, he flight tested P-51
Mustangs, the fighter plane.
When the war was over, he returned to Iowa, where distance is
shortened by the past. He planted his land a farmer-stone’s throw from Lum Hollow where he grew up, where I like to think he hung
the tire swing from the cottonwood tree for his younger brothers and sisters,
for the grandchildren, where he watched his mother’s narrow back and wide hands
on a wooden board on dough.
Dessert first, I can
hear him say.
With the gift of the rising sun, he survived the
all-too-common small farmer’s demise because he ran the farm with a
businessman’s head. His land like all the land around the town opens up in one
long field of alfalfa and corn and soy beans, squares of green patched up
against pale gold, stretching so far you’d think the world was flat.
He took me, a Baltimore girl, inside the waving wheat,
inside the fields he’d plowed and planted.
Hard work, blisters on the hands, aches in the back of his
legs, the smell of sweat and dirt reverberate in the sight of his neck,
wrinkled with years and sun. And in the story:
The caper during the second World War when he flew repaired
planes to see if they were safe. He and his buddies were pilots who could fly
larger planes and did: Planes filled with officers they took down from Kastl,
Germany, where he was stationed, to the French Riviera to give the heroes
R&R.
He and his buddies didn’t get that R&R but they did get
time off and the P-51s were theirs. The Doris Lea,
the one he named for his love, I think of as glory. Here’s what he and a buddy
did on a whim. Got into his P-51 and flew to Paris with the glory of the Eiffel
Tower in their heads: Its arch, its height, its span and the span of their
wings and their own foolhardiness. They flew to the arch of the tower that
looked smaller and smaller as they approached, when there was no turning back,
when through it they would go or die. Only those on the ground who saw would ever
know. Those on the ground and we who’ve heard the story told over and over and
over again.
I saw tears in his eyes only once when my husband and I took
him to The Smithsonian’s outpost of the Air and Space Museum way out by Dulles
airport, not where the Apollo 11 command module sits, not where the Wright
Brothers’ 1903 Flyer hangs or the Spirit of St. Louis, not where the McDonnell
FH-1 Phantom holds court inside the museum that sits on the National Mall. His
P-51 requires a long drive out to Chantilly, Virginia, where he stood and saw
his Doris Lea.
He risked.
Every pilot who flew and shot and saved and won
Congressional medals and Purple Hearts owes him. The second big war that was
won in part with some five hundred enemy aircraft shot down by P-51s, the lives
that were saved, the lives that were lost owe him.
I see him inside the church in town, a simple wooden
structure with stained glass windows on two sides. I see his gait down the
center aisle, the collection plate in his rough hewn hands that speak of the
one who gets things done and can’t be bothered with those who don’t.
How lovely. It moves me greatly and brings a tear.
ReplyDeleteHarvey
Your comment means more than you can know. Thank you, Harvey
DeleteHe sounds like the kind of person we all would be privileged and honored to know. Wishing all of you peace and love, Daisy
ReplyDeleteDaisy, Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. Blessings, Mary
DeleteMary, you clearly love this man you write about so wonderfully. I love what you write and the way you write it. I know he will draw strength from your words -- and from future writings. May he live to read them.
ReplyDeleteWhat a dear and thoughtful reply. Bless you, Michael Johnson, for reading what I wrote and for giving me courage in my writing and for your kindness, as I say as best I can the things that need to be said before a loved one departs.
DeleteHow beautiful, to edge toward the end of life with this kind of love ringing in one's heart. You write with such deep affection and appreciation, giving honour to a life well lived. I am deeply touched by your words and by your love.
ReplyDeleteCathryn,
DeleteArdell lived well and died with dignity today. Thank you for honoring him with your words and me with your generosity and kindness. Bless you, Mary
Lovely!
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful tribute to one of the great men of the Greatest Generation who showed so much courage and heroism in the service of our country and humanity as a whole. Losing a father is always so painful. We are left with a lifetime of memories of all the love and wisdom he provided us - and all he did to show us the way in life. We can only try to live as best we can according to the standards he set for us in his life.
ReplyDelete