My Grandfather passed away on March 1st at 91yrs old. I was on my way from Tulsa to OKC to visit him. He had been in the hospital twice with a broken hip in the last month or so. The last time he was there we were told he had cancer and would only make it about 2 more weeks. Less than a week later he was gone.
When I was younger I knew my grandfather was a WWII vet and I knew he had been a paratrooper. As I got older I learned that he was in the 11th Airborne Division in the Philippines. I learned later that he made 3 combat jumps during WWII. At his funeral on Friday I learned something else. There was an older lady at the service who I had never seen before. I thought she must have been a friend of my grandparents who was coming to pay her respect. During the funeral those that were gathered were asked to share a story or just really anything about my grandfather. After a couple of small stories this lady spoke up. Her name was Patty Kelly Stevens. She was a survivor of the Japanese internment camp at Los Banos in the Philippines. My grandfather participated in the raid that freed her and approximately 2100 other prisoners hours before they were to be executed. I was completely floored.
Later she explained that he found her after reading a story about her in The Daily Oklahoman. He got in contact with her and they had lunch on the anniversary of the raid for the last few years.
I have some artifacts from WWII that my grandfather passed down to me. Now I have a new mission of reading any and everything I can get my hands on about that raid.
When I was younger I knew my grandfather was a WWII vet and I knew he had been a paratrooper. As I got older I learned that he was in the 11th Airborne Division in the Philippines. I learned later that he made 3 combat jumps during WWII. At his funeral on Friday I learned something else. There was an older lady at the service who I had never seen before. I thought she must have been a friend of my grandparents who was coming to pay her respect. During the funeral those that were gathered were asked to share a story or just really anything about my grandfather. After a couple of small stories this lady spoke up. Her name was Patty Kelly Stevens. She was a survivor of the Japanese internment camp at Los Banos in the Philippines. My grandfather participated in the raid that freed her and approximately 2100 other prisoners hours before they were to be executed. I was completely floored.
Later she explained that he found her after reading a story about her in The Daily Oklahoman. He got in contact with her and they had lunch on the anniversary of the raid for the last few years.
I have some artifacts from WWII that my grandfather passed down to me. Now I have a new mission of reading any and everything I can get my hands on about that raid.
