Not Forgotten: Adm. Joseph M. Reeves

Review by Bill Doughty––

“Saratoga’s bow cut through the black water, her stern leaving a luminescent trail in her wake as she moved through the darkness in the early hours of 26 January 1929 … On her flag bridge, standing in the cool night air, stood Rear Adm. Joseph Mason Reeves, the commander of the Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet.”

That’s from the opening paragraph of a book that takes readers back nearly a hundred years to the nascent development of aircraft carrier warfare tactics and strategies: “All the Factors of Victory: Adm. Joseph Mason Reeves and the Origins of Carrier Airpower” by Thomas Wildenberg (Naval Institute Press, 2003).

This not-to-be-overlooked book covers more than a half-century of Admiral Reeves’s service in a Navy uniform and beyond.

Aboard Saratoga, as described in the book’s prologue, Reeves demonstrated the power of a carrier task force. It was “a stunning success of the aerial operations” under his command, according to Wildenberg, who presents an indispensable biography and history of Reeves and his achievements.

The author takes us into the U.S. Naval Academy with Reeves, who became a star on the Navy’s football team, especially against Army. Wildenberg describes how Reeves developed his own football headgear –– made of moleskin –– the first helmet used in collegiate football.

As a junior officer, Reeves saw action in the Spanish-American War at the Battle of Santiago. His career was “intertwined” with that of his colleague and fellow junior officer aboard USS Oregon (BB-3), William D. Leahy. Leahy would later become Reeves’s chief of staff in the spring of 1946.

Reeves and Leahy (NHHC)

This book shows Reeves’s connections with cryptanalyst Joseph Rochefort, well-before the intelligence officer reported to Station Hypo, Pearl Harbor, and cracked the code to help the Navy win at the Battle of Midway. We see the admiral's influence on Adm. "Bull" Halsey, Adm. Marc Mitscher, and Adm. Ernest J. King, among others.

In an unadorned style, Wildenberg introduces us to the people, places, and events that shaped the early days of naval air power and the man considered “the father of carrier warfare” and a stickler for training and preparedness. “[H]e was a major, if not the leading, proponent of readiness in the entire prewar Navy.”

Reeves's aggressive style was a double-edged sword, winning praise from some but alienating others, especially those who were stuck to the past or worried only about making rank. One of the best Reeves quotes is: “A commander who stops to appraise the impact of a military decision upon his personal fortunes has no right to be entrusted with command.”

Prior to USS Saratoga becoming his flag ship, Reeves commanded the U.S. Fleet aboard USS Pennsylvania (BB-38).

Admirals assemble aboard USS Pennsylvania, which would become flagship of Adm. Reeves (front, second from left). The full caption is at the bottom of this post.

Reeves, Wildenberg notes, was the first U.S. naval officer qualified in aviation promoted to flag rank; the first officer in the Navy to carry the title of Carrier Commander, U.S. Fleet; and the first flying officer to be selected as Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Reeves to lead “lend-lease” efforts to supply Navy ships to Great Britain.

Lend-lease was FDR’s way to legally equip Churchill’s Royal Navy in the early months of World War II, prior to United States’ entry into the war after the attack by Imperial Japan on Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941.

Reeves also played a pivotal role for the Navy and the nation in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor and other targets on Oahu.

SECNAV Frank W. Knox and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson selected Reeves, along with Admiral William H. Standley, as Navy representatives on a commission directed by FDR to investigate readiness failures at Pearl Harbor. The Army appointed two senior general officers. Supreme Court Associate Justice Owen J. Roberts led the commission.

At Fort Shafter, an Army base near Pearl Harbor, the commission members interviewed their first witness, Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, commander of all Army forces in Hawaii.

“It was obvious from his responses to the commission’s questions that Short, veteran infantry officer, did not have a good grasp of the Army’s mission to protect the fleet while it was anchored in Pearl Harbor. When Reeves’s turn came, he ‘raked the general over the coals’ with his probing questions about the status of Hawaii’s air defense system, the Army’s inability to detect the threat of a carrier attack, and its communication procedures with the Navy. Short, who had been obsessed with sabotage and training, freely admitted that he had made a serious mistake by not placing his forces on alert against the threat of an all-out attack.”

Adm. Joseph M. Reeves

The commission also heard from Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, the Navy commander of Pearl Harbor who was faulted for lack of preparedness, even though the Navy had held simulated air attacks on Pearl Harbor, led by Reeves himself. Kimmel was faulted for not protecting the harbor against torpedo attacks and his failure to order 360-degree air patrols.

Reeves insisted on the need for accountability for the military’s lack of readiness at Pearl Harbor. Wildenberg writes, “Reeves regarded the debacle at Pearl Harbor as a disgrace to the United States Navy.”

You’ll find captivating vignettes, photos, leadership examples, and a sweep of history in this excellent and timeless book.

In All the Factors of Victory's: epilogue, Wildenberg discusses the leadership qualities that made Reeves a great admiral:

“...knowing the job thoroughly, setting examples, and taking care of one’s personnel, gaining their confidence, and then making them feel stronger than they actually are.” Reeves, he said, could both take initiative and delegate authority, always thinking about new, innovative ways to achieve goals. Wildenberg lists a number of other key qualities Reeves possessed, “well-versed in all aspects of naval science … a teacher and a tactician who had a lifelong commitment to learning.”

“Perhaps Reeves’s greatest legacy to the Navy, however, lay in the contribution he made to carrier warfare. As historian William F. Trimble was quick to note, ‘Reeves more than any other single figure, pointed the way to making carrier aviation an indispensable part of the fleet.’ He was a farsighted man who did more to shape the future role of carrier aviation than any other officer in the Navy. His ‘Thousand and One Questions’ fostered the development of a host of innovative doctrines and tactics that laid the foundations for all of the major tenets of modern carrier doctrine. He was the first flag officer to employ the aircraft carrier as an offensive weapon that could be used to mount long-range attacks on an enemy’s coast. Under his leadership, carrier commanders began to exercise the freedom of movement that later [would] become the hallmark of U.S. naval operations in the Pacific during World War II. Most important of all, Reeves deftly fashioned an offensive role for carrier aviation that did not threaten the supremacy of the battleship, thereby assuring that the resources needed to further the development of carrier-borne air power would continue to be allocated during the lean years of the Depression.”

In other words, Reeves’s insistence in readiness and training, coupled with his commitment to innovation in carrier aviation, would lead to the U.S. Navy’s success in the Pacific War, especially in the Battle of Midway. That success would be carried forward into the Cold War by USS Midway (CV-41), among other great aircraft carriers.

USS Reeves (CG-24) underway in the Indian Ocean, Aug. 20, 1975. (PH1/AC R. H. Green, NHHC)

I was working for the Navy when USS Reeves (CG-24), namesake of the great admiral, transferred from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to Yokosuka, Japan, arriving Aug. 14, 1980. Reeves swapped with USS Worden (CG-18), to become “the Only Cruiser in Town” of the Forward-Deployed Naval Forces.

Reeves was the anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) picket for Battle Group Alpha for Midway.

USS Pennsylvania photo caption: Aboard USS PENNSYLVANIA, flagship of the U.S. fleet. Quoted from the Long Beach Press-Telegram: The largest gathering of flag officers of the United States Fleet was recorded aboard the USS PENNSYLVANIA. Twenty Rear Admirals, Vice Admirals, and Admirals assembled at the request of Admiral David Foote Sellers, Commander in Chief of the Unites States Fleet, to discuss final details of the Atlantic Cruise which begins Monday morning. L to R (seated): Vice Admiral Harris Laning, COM Cruisers, Scouting Force; Admiral Joseph M. Reeves, COM Battle Force; Admiral Sellers; Vice Admiral Frank H. Brumby, COM Scouting Force; Vice Admiral Walton R. Sexton, COM Battleships, Battle Force. (Standing): Rear Admiral Manley H. Simons, Chief of Staff to Vice Admiral Laning; Rear Admiral Sinclair Gannon, Ordered AS COM Minecraft, Battle Force; Rear Admiral A.E. Watson, COM Destroyers, Scouting Force; Rear Admiral H.E. Lackey, COM CRUDIV 4, Scouting Force; Rear Admiral Edward B. Fenner, COM CRU Battle Force; Rear Admiral John Halligan, COM Aircraft, Battle Force; Rear Admiral Henry V. Butler, COM Battleship DIV 3; Rear Admiral Charles P. Snyder, Chief of Staff to Admiral Sellers; Rear Admiral Thomas T. Craven, COM Battleship DIV 1; Rear Admiral W.T. Tarrant, COM 11th N.D; Rear Admiral E.C. Kalbfus, COM DES, Battle Force; Rear Admiral C.E. Courtney, Ordered as COM CRU, Battle Force; Rear Admiral Frederick J. Horne, COM Base Force; Rear Admiral Adolphus Andrews, Chief of Staff to Admiral Reeves; Rear Admiral W.S. Pye, Chief of Staff to Vice Admiral Brumby. Photo taken April 6, 1934. (NHHC)

‘Undaunted’

Review by Bill Doughty––

Sometimes an old book can inspire a new understanding.

Stephen E. Ambrose’s “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” (Simon & Schuster, 1996) has been sitting on my library shelf for more than 20 years. Ambrose is no McCullough, but he was passionate to the point of near obsession about this subject. I finally slogged through “Undaunted” over the summer because I wanted to learn more about the Lewis & Clark trail.

Written primarily as a biography of Lewis, “Undaunted Courage” also explores the age of empire in North America and European Americans’ encounters with indigenous peoples –– the actual descendants of discoverers of the continent. We meet the peaceful Mandans, humble Shoshone, helpful Nez Percé, wily Ciatsops, friendly Chinooks, and warlike Teton Sioux of the early 19th century. We meet 15-year-old pregnant Sacagawea, who provides lifesaving medicine, care, and guide skills to the mission. (The Sacagawea statue, right, at Cascade Locks, Columbia River Gorge, was created by artist Heather Söderberg in 2010.)

The mission itself was an unsuccessful attempt to find a water route across the continent. The Lewis & Clark team was an infantry company of the U.S. Army called the “Corps of Discovery.” Jefferson commissioned the expedition as the Louisiana Purchase came to light and efforts were made to fend off French and British claims. An objective was “to establish American sovereignty, peace, and a trading empire.”

This book comes with wonderful charts by A. Karl and J. Kemp showing the various routes the team took along the Missouri River, through what are now Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

At the time, Virginia pointed toward the West, and St. Louis was the very edge of the American frontier in the early 1800s.

Trained in exploration, armed with mapping tools, and taught how to preserve specimens, Lewis discovered species of animals and plants previously unknown to Europeans. He received help from Clark and two dozen enlisted soldiers, from many civilians who lived among or traded with the Indians, and from hundreds of Indians themselves.

Jefferson was inspired to commission the expedition after reading a book by Alexander Mackenzie, a Scotsman who explored parts of the Pacific Northwest and called for a British claim to a Northwest Empire in 1793. Both Jefferson and Lewis were inspired by Capt. James Cook’s 1784 book, “A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean.” 

Ambrose paints a time of antiquity –– where slavery, patriarchy, and hardship were normal and accepted. Where time itself was measured in how long it took to travel by horse. No telephones. No engines. No antibiotics. No mosquito repellant. No sunglasses or sunscreen. No GPS.

How most of the members of the expedition managed to survive the arduous journey is a story of luck, grit, and resilience. And it’s a story of the abundance of the North American continent in the early 1800s. The expedition killed thousands of deer, buffalo, elk, beaver, and other wildlife. They gorged on salmon and, when necessary, ate horses and dogs.

Lacking humility but with an abundance of confidence, Lewis met with various tribes and tried to “coerce through commerce,” trading beads, tobacco, and tools for horses, information, and services. He promised the Indians their “father” in Washington would take care of them. He gave them American flags, certificates, and medals. He cajoled and threatened.

“Lewis did all this with the utmost seriousness,” Ambrose writes. “It never occurred to him that his actions might be characterized as patronizing, dictatorial, ridiculous, and highly dangerous.”

But, “Virtually all Indian parties proved resistant to change and suspicious of American motives.” Nevertheless, many tribes helped the expedition find food, trails, and water routes. Lewis and Clark astutely tried to identify the chiefs and deal directly with them. As with U.S. military leaders, the chiefs were often chosen from those who had proved themselves in combat.

Ambrose praises Lewis’s ability as a “near-perfect army officer” and a “great company commander, the greatest of all American explorers, and in the top rank of world explorers.”  The U.S. Navy has named several ships related to the expedition. Most notably, the current class of dry cargo replenishment ships is known as Lewis and Clark and includes the namesakes USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE 1) and USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE 2).

Airman Brandy Phillips, aviation boatswain's mate (fuels), stands watch in primary flight control aboard the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan during a vertical replenishment with the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Sacagawea in support of Operation Unified Response off the coast of Haiti after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, Jan. 12, 2010. (CPO Tony Sisti)

Lewis’s journals were eventually published. His book inspired the great movement West and creation of the American Empire that Jefferson envisioned.

After his return, Lewis went to Philadelphia and went to parties and dinners with his best friend, Mahlon Dickerson, a lawyer who later served as governor of New Jersey, Senator from New Jersey, and Secretary of the Navy under President Andrew Jackson. Lewis, who showed signs of depression, became a heavy drinker and took opium at night.

Lewis, Clark, and Jefferson

Jefferson appointed Lewis governor of Louisiana, but Lewis was not good at politics. His depression got worse. Ambrose writes, “He was tortured” and “his pain was unbearable.” Ambrose describes a gruesome suicide.

Ambrose does not shy away from showing the shortcomings of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Thomas Jefferson. All were privileged and dedicated slave owners who also took advantage of native Americans. They wanted to “civilize” and move the Indians out of the way so white settlers could move in a set up a fur trade and land trade. Lewis’s policies were, in Ambrose’s words, “nothing short of genocide.”

Sometimes an old book can inspire a new understanding. Today is Native American Heritage Day.

A True Patriot and Statesman: Max Cleland

By Bill Doughty––

When Joseph Maxwell "Max" Cleland spoke at the 72nd Pearl Harbor Day commemoration ceremony, Dec. 7, 2013, with Pearl Harbor itself as a backdrop, he was nearly overcome with emotion. He saw the dozens of World War II veterans seated in the front rows of the audience, and he thought of his father. Cleland spoke without notes, from the heart, about the sacrifice of military service and the joy of homecomings.

Army CPT Max Cleland in Vietnam

Hugh Cleland, Max’s dad, joined the Navy after the attack on Oahu in 1941. In 1965, Max volunteered for the Army to serve in combat in Vietnam, where he earned the Silver Star and Bronze Star.

Cleland was severely wounded and nearly killed. Yet, he personified resilience to become head of the Veterans Administration and a U.S. Senator.

Cleland died earlier this week. He was a great statesman, military veteran, and advocate for veterans, especially those with lasting physical and mental wounds.

President Joe Biden issued a statement November 9 on Cleland’s passing:

“Max Cleland was an American hero whose fearless service to our nation, and to the people of his beloved home state of Georgia, never wavered.

As a 25-year-old serving in the 1^st Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, Max lost both of his legs and his right arm in a grenade explosion at Khe Sanh. After grueling months in the hospital, enduring multiple surgeries and a long road back to recovery, Max turned his pain into purpose. He continued his distinguished public service, becoming a lifelong champion of the dignity and rights of working people and America’s wounded veterans. His leadership was the essential driving force behind the creation of the modern VA health system, where so many of his fellow heroes have found lifesaving support and renewed purpose of their own thanks in no small part to Max’s lasting impact... He was a man of unflinching patriotism, boundless courage, and rare character... He will be remembered as one of Georgia’s and America’s great leaders.”

I was fortunate to help plan the Navy’s Pearl Harbor Day commemoration ceremony in 2013 and to hear Max Cleland speak about honor, courage, and commitment –– as well as true family values and patriotism.

In 2013 I posted a Navy Reads review featuring Cleland’s autobiography, “Heart of a Patriot.”

Cleland, who chaired the armed services subcommittee on personnel in the Senate, was known for working closely with both Democratic and Republican colleagues.

Cleland reads about JFK.

From Navy Reads: “His colleagues, mentors and friends in the Senate included fellow combat veterans Chuck Hagel, Dan Inouye, John Kerry and ‘my Vietnam veteran brother’ John McCain. Cleland describes the pride of wearing his dad's WWII Navy peacoat as a U.S. Senator during a presidential inauguration.”

Prior to serving in the Navy for three years during WWII, Max Cleland’s father, Hugh, had served in the Civilian Conservation Corps, an environmental infrastructure program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. FDR was an inspiration to a young Max Cleland. Cleland loved books and reading. He authored several books.

Like Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a statement about Senator Cleland’s passing; fittingly, Austin includes references to literature.

In part, SECDEF Austin says:

“The Department of Defense stands united in mourning the loss of Senator Max Cleland, an extraordinary public servant and a great patriot…He served his country and his community from a wheelchair, following in the gallant tradition of his hero President Franklin Roosevelt.”

SECDEF Austin notes that as head of the Veterans Administration, Cleland “fought fiercely for his fellow veterans, made PTSD an official VA diagnosis, and helped create the groundbreaking Vet Centers program. Later, after being elected a U.S. senator from Georgia, he continued his passionate focus on defense and veterans' issues, serving with distinction on the Senate Armed Services Committee and leading on such issues as health care, bioterrorism preparedness, and homeland security. He also served on the 9/11 Commission before being nominated for the board of the Export-Import Bank. His final act of public service was leading the American Battlefield Monuments Commission. When battle maps of Vietnam were added to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, he asked to add an inscription from the poet Archibald MacLeish: ‘We leave you our deaths: give them their meaning.’

With courage and grit, Senator Cleland struggled with PTSD and depression—seeking help through counseling, medication, and attendance at a recovery group. He said that he drew strength from being around his fellow veterans and wounded warriors, including those from Iraq and Afghanistan. As the head of the VA, he made psychological counseling available to his fellow veterans. And I hope that his example will encourage others carrying unseen wounds to seek out the help they need and deserve. 

Senator Cleland liked to quote Hemingway, who wrote, ‘The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.’ He surely was. Max Cleland's civic-minded spirit, optimism, and resilience will stand as an inspiration to every American.”

Funeral services are planned for early next week.

Senator Max Cleland, RIP.

Vietnam War veteran Max Cleland, a triple amputee, holds a photograph of himself as a child with his father, Hugh, and mother, Juanita, at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl in 2013. (Jamm Aquino, Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

The Senate had six Vietnam combat veterans in January 1997. Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., is in the front. Behind him, from left: Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., John Kerry, D-Mass., Chuck Robb, D-Va., and John McCain, R-Ariz. This photo was taken by The World-Herald during Senate orientation the previous month. (Kiley Cruse, The World-Herald)

Top photo: Secretary Max Cleland, American Battle Monuments Commission, delivers keynote remarks during the 72nd anniversary commemoration of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Oahu. This year’s commemoration theme, “Sound the Alarm,” examines how thousands of Americans answered the call to duty in the wake of the attack. More than 2,500 people attended the Pearl Harbor commemoration. (MC2 Nardel Gervacio)

The Will of an ‘Unruly Torrent’

Review by Bill Doughty––

Venerable thinker George Will unleashes a storm of opinions in “American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent, 2008-2020" (Hachette Books, 2021), proving he is still sharp in his observations while cemented in his positions of right and wrong.

This is a book of nearly two hundred essays about everything from military history and life-and-death issues to Will’s thoughts about the Beach Boys, Baptists, baseball, and blue jeans. (Regarding the latter, he claims to have only one pair, worn only once. He believes men should dress like Fred Astaire, women like Grace Kelly.)

While Will shares some acerbic humor, mostly he offers a ribbon of melancholy that ties these essays together. So many in this collection are devoted to past wars and their aftermath. Others lament culture wars still happening. And a final section, “Farewells, Mostly Fond,” features obituaries, including to fellow conservatives William F. Buckley, Charles Krauthammer, Gerald Ford, and George H.W. Bush, as well as, surprisingly, liberal-of-liberals George McGovern.

The most poignant remembrance is the final essay in the book, written July 6, 2008. Will honors the memory of Army Lieutenant Colonel Jim Walton, killed in Afghanistan. The essay is also a tribute to casualty assistance calls officers, CACOs, including LtCol Walton’s spouse, Sarah, herself a CACO who had to receive the terrible news of her husband’s death.

An epigraph by CACO Maj. Steve Beck, United States Marine Corps, at the beginning of the Walton essay contains a “found haiku”:

...curtains pull away.

They come to the door. And they

know. They always know

George Will concludes his Walton essay –– and his book –– with this:

“When the Army CACOs came to the Arlington door or Sara Walton, my assistant, she was not there. She rarely forgot the rule that a spouse of a soldier in a combat zone is supposed to inform the Army when he or she will be away from home. This time Sarah forgot, so it took the Army awhile to locate her at her parents’ home in Richmond.

“Her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Jim Walton, West Point Class of 1989, was killed in Afghanistan on June 21. This week he will be back in Arlington, among the remains of the more than 300,000 men and women who rest in the more than 600 acres where it is always Memorial Day. This is written in homage to him, and to Sarah, full sharer of his sacrifices.”*

George Will

Sacrifice on behalf of the nation is tied to the ribbon of sadness in the nearly 500 pages of this collection.

Will writes in “A Nation Not Made by Flimsy People” of the grit required to win the Revolutionary War. Readers will be reminded of the great historian David McCullough’s “1776,” one of the first books we featured on Navy Reads.

In “The Somme: The Hinge of World War I, and Hence of Modern History” he contextualizes the “reverberations” of that war. The First World War influences Will’s thinking and inspiration for topics, including in the penultimate essay, “The Last Doughboy.”

In “Haunted by Hue” and “Vietnam: Squandered Valor” he properly acknowledges the sacrifices of brave young Americans, while castigating the mendacity of the power structure that sent them to a war that was ultimately a “tragedy,” including for the people of Vietnam.

Color guard of 442nd in 1944

In “The 442nd,” written in 2010, he pays tribute to the most decorated unit for its size in American history, the Japanese-American soldiers who fought against Fascism and Nazism in Europe in WWII while many of their families were imprisoned in internment camps back in the States. George Will met some of these patriotic veterans.

“Such cheerful men, who helped to lop 988 years off the Thousand Year Reich, are serene reproaches to a nation now simmering with grievance groups that nurse their cherished resentments. The culture of complaint gets no nourishment from men like these who served their country so well while it was treating their families so ignobly. Yet it is a high tribute to this country that it is so loved by men such as these.”

Will has no time for political correctness and what’s now called “cancel culture.” He takes on some of the debates about political and social topics dominating college campuses. On the other hand, he also has no tolerance for racism, terrorism in the name of religion, and attacks on democracy.

He shows how the values of Frederick Douglass won out over Woodrow Wilson's bigotry. But he has little compassion or understanding for renaming professional sports teams such as the former Washington Redskins or for “coercing” bakers who refuse, for religious reasons, to provide a cake for a same-sex wedding. 

He celebrates books and “binge reading” while condemning new technologies and platforms that rewire the brains of young people, shorten attention spans and erode the ability to think critically and independently.

To say George Will is sometimes like the grouchy old man yelling at youngsters to get off his lawn is to state the obvious. But he cares about what he believes in, and he communicates with passion and conviction. His ribbon leads through a pursuit of happiness that ends ultimately to a reward for readers.

*(Lost at first reading is George Will’s epigraph to the entire book: “For Sarah Walton –– To whom I am indebted for her many years of indispensable assistance. And to whom the nation is indebted.”)

Grieving and Honoring

Colin Powell

I finished this book as I heard the news of an icon of conservative leadership passed away: former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell. Flags fly at half staff for the great principled patriot and warrior-diplomat. But General Powell would want us to pay tribute to the person he most looked up to and respected in his life, his wife Alma. Powell told author Bob Woodward that Alma was his moral compass and inspiration.

Alma Powell is sponsor of USS Kearsarge (LHD-3). She is also the namesake of Kearsarge's airfield. 

According to the Navy, "Throughout her life of civic leadership [Alma] Powell has helped young people in need of educational resources for more than four decades. While serving as Chair of the Board of Directors for America’s Promise Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the education opportunities of disadvantaged children, Ms. Powell helped to lead more than 450 partner network’s efforts to help tens of thousands of young people by connecting them with resources essential for academic success."

Capt. Neil Koprowski, commanding officer of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), delivers remarks during an airfield dedication ceremony in honor of Alma J. Powell, May 28, 2021. Alma Powell, Kearsarge’s ship sponsor, is a military spouse, a civic leader and civil rights activist who has advocated for women, children, and minorities for more than four decades, and has helped tens of thousands of disadvantaged people around the world. (MCSN Gwyneth Vandevender)

TOP PHOTO:Gen. Colin L. Powell speaks at the 26th National Memorial Day Concert on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., May 24, 2015.to help unite the country in remembrance and appreciation of the fallen and to serve those who are grieving. (MC1 Daniel Hinton)

Tammy Duckworth: Life’s Whole “Gift”

Review by Bill Doughty

I have a good American friend in Japan who bristles when people call his sons “hah-fu” –– half Japanese, half “gaijin” (foreigner).

“They’re not half,” he explains. “They’re doubles!”

The first chapter of “Every Day Is a Gift: A Memoir” by Tammy Duckworth (Hachette Book Group, 2021) is titled “Half Child.”

As a mixed race child, Tammy Duckworth was bullied by Thai kids (and even her cousins) for being larger and whiter and freckled –– a “half,” a “less-than.” She was called “farang” (“whitey”). But that would be one of the least of the problems she would face –– as presented in her deeply personal story of overcoming discrimination, disability, and disappointment.

Duckworth’s mom is Chinese by birth; mom’s family escaped Mao’s persecutions in Communist China by immigrating to Thailand. Duckworth’s dad is a former United States Marine who became an officer in the Army and eventually a federal civilian worker. The family lived in Bangkok and Jakarta as well as Phnom Penh, Cambodia, during the Vietnam War.

Tammy and her family escaped Cambodia in 1975. She remembers vividly watching Operation Frequent Wind on TV from the safety of Bangkok –– the evacuation of Saigon by American helicopters to U.S. Navy aircraft carriers in the South China Sea.

Tammy, age 3, in Bangkok

Later, nearly penniless, she and her brother and father came to Honolulu. Like many DoD brats, Duckworth had to move a lot. Eventually she would live in Winchester, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and DeKalb, Illinois.

In “Every Day Is a Gift” Duckworth shares both her adventures and her many difficulties growing up with a patriarchal and domineering father and devoted but sometimes distant mother.

After her father lost his job and the family’s savings, Tammy lived a harrowing life as a teenager in Hawaii. Her first Thanksgiving in the States was at the Waialana Coffee House (which closed down during the COVID-19 pandemic).

As for prejudice and discrimination in her new home, fortunately in Hawaii people embrace the concept of “hapa” for mixed race people, but of course in Hawaii most folks aren’t “halfs” or “doubles”; they’re “multiples.”

Duckworth attended McKinley High School, whose alumni include multi-talented Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and legendary Senator Daniel K. Inouye. In high school she met Inouye, whose arm was blown off by a Nazi soldier in World War II. Tammy had no idea that one day she, too, would be a wounded warrior and, in her case, a double amputee.

Her association with the military started tangentially when she got a temporary position with the U.S. Naval Institute, famous for publishing Tom Clancy’s first blockbuster, “The Hunt for Red October.”

She attended ROTC for a summer at George Washington University and was propelled to enroll full time in ROTC at Georgetown University. That’s where she fell in love with military life in general and the Army specifically. She met her future husband in uniform in a humorous encounter highlighted in the book.

At 23 she pursued international diplomacy studies at Northern Illinois University and found her home.

In the National Guard as an Army Reservist, Duckworth was able to follow her passion, pursue post-graduate studies, and work while serving her country. She says this about the sacrifices and service of Guardsmen and Reservists:

“There are several reasons people prefer the Reserve forces. Some don’t want to give up civilian jobs that pay better than military service. Some don’t want to commit to moving around every two or three years, which active duty servicemembers have to do. Some of them have already served on active duty and enter the Reserves after finishing their commitment.

One thing we all have in common, though, is our desire to serve. Being a member of the United States military is a privilege and an honor. When our country calls us to undertake a mission, we stop up, even if there’s a personal and professional cost to us. Citizen Soldiers do this over and over and over again –– and nonmilitary people don’t even know about it.”

Lt. Col. Duckworth joined the military before women were authorized to serve in combat, but she got as close as she could by becoming a helicopter pilot. She describes flying over the Egyptian desert and passing the Great Pyramid of Giza in Operation Bright Star. She flew low over the Amazon rainforest in Guyana  in Operation New Horizon. And she piloted missions in Iceland to clear glaciers of rusting equipment from World War II in Operation Northern Viking.

But the most harrowing experience, of course, was what happened on Nov. 12, 2004, when Duckworth’s Black Hawk was shot down in the Iraqi desert.

Both of her legs gone. Her arm badly mangled. Shrapnel in her face and body. Her fellow soldiers thought she was dead, but they refused to leave her body behind.

U.S. Army Warrior Ethos comes alive in the aftermath of the shootdown as Duckworth’s teammates extract her nearly lifeless torso and arrange for a medieval to Baghdad, where troops lined up to give blood. She needed 40 units of blood, plasma, and platelets.

Duckworth’s recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is told in painful detail –– how she bore a “wall of pain,” learned to walk with two prosthetic legs, and came to terms with her new circumstances after the tragedy in Iraq, where she says, “There’s a piece of me there, both literally and figuratively.”

At Walter Reed she had to have parts of her body surgically removed and used to repair her mangled arm. She showed unimaginable grit and toughness, mixed with typical wounded warrior morbid humor and resolve.

Duckworth’s story is one of superior resilience. “I had no choice but to power through,” she writes. “It made no sense to lie around and feel sorry for myself. I had to accept my situation, then start working to change it.”

Found Haiku in “Every Day Is a Gift”:

When the obstacle

is effort, then there is no

obstacle (at all)

Something bad happens

you can either let it own

you, or you own it

(And) no matter how

grievous the wound, healing is

always possible

I found this book at Barnes & Noble bookstore on Memorial Day. It is a perfect companion book to one recently featured in Navy Reads: James Patterson’s “Walk in my Combat Boots.”

In fact, Duckworth’s missing combat boot is symbolically returned to her by fellow soldiers in a pivotal part of her story.

During her recovery and after meeting Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, Duckworth resolved to enter politics. 

She was influenced personally by wounded warrior public servants Senators Bob Dole and Max Cleland, who helped her confront post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Senator Max Cleland, who lost his legs and an arm in Vietnam, sought treatment for PTSD three decades after his injury, when he lost an election in 2002. I met Max while at Walter Reed, and talking to him helped me to truly understand that the best we can do is take life one day at a time.

In the summer of 2005, when I realized I would never fly for the Army again, that advice from Max helped save me. I was no longer sure what my purpose in life would be, but I had to just take it one day at a time, and be open to whatever came my way.”

Obama, Akaka, and Duckworth

She fought for reforms at Walter Reed and the Veterans Administration, first in Illinois and then in President Barack Obama’s administration. She fought to make a national difference, first as a representative in the U.S. Congress and then as a senator. And she fought to become a parent.

Lt. Col. Duckworth’s struggle to become a mother and her realization that there is no such thing as “work-life balance” can be an inspiration to women and a revelation to men.

In Congress Duckworth was helped by Senators Kristen Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar, among others. The late Senator Daniel K. Akaka honored her by bestowing Hawaiian names for her two daughters.

Her choice to enter politics so she could help people is not surprising.

Early in her life she saw first-hand the need for a social safety net and equal opportunity for people of color. Fifty-four years ago, in June 1967, the Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia that interracial couples, like Duckworth’s parents, could marry.

Her father’s hero was President Ronald Reagan. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Reagan signed the AmerAsian Immigration Act that allowed many Southeast Asian “half-children” into the United States. Of course, they were not “halfs.”

In “Every Day Is a Gift” Senator Tammy Duckworth, who lost nearly half her body in combat, shows that every person can be part of a greater whole. She lives the teamwork ethos –– no one left behind.

This is a marvelous and powerful book filled with tears, smiles, revelations, and inspiration. Like “Walk in My Combat Boots,” this book comes with an endorsement from Adm. William H. McRaven (U.S. Navy, Ret.): 

“Raw, unfiltered, powerful –– a compelling story of courage and determination against overwhelming odds. Tammy Duckworth is a true warrior who overcame a difficult upbringing, a glass ceiling, and a horrific helicopter shootdown to become one of the most respected senators on Capitol Hill. Nothing can stop her.”