Heroism is where you find it...

My first job after my master’s degree was with GTE Lenkurt in San Carlos, CA, in quality control. There were a many World War II vets without degrees working as engineers with their military skill training in the plant. One quality engineer, Jack Swanson, befriended me and confided how he could never live up to his father's expectations. Jack's father was a famous inventor in the Seattle area who devised a gun and turret system protecting Puget Sound during the war.

There was much more to Jack than he allowed. Everybody’s friend, Jack was quick to laugh and quick to anger. When Jack saw injustice, he acted on it. We were alike that way. A devoted family man, Jack and Lois quietly helped out those unfortunate through their church. His home was my home, and we spent evenings together with Jack trying to teach me chess until I finally beat him. I returned his favors by tutoring him in statistics so that Jack could his certification from the American Association for Quality Control.

During WW II, Jack was a submariner assigned to a submarine used to collect intelligence. One day Jack showed me a hunting knife that he said saved their lives. Their submarine was at a dock in a harbor in Southeast Asia when someone saw a Japanese destroyer entering the harbor. Jack took that knife and cut the rope tied to the front of the sub while another sailor cut the rope tied to the back. They got under way and submerged in the harbor. After hours of depth charges they finally escaped.

We became fast friends and he invited me over one morning to see Neil Armstrong step onto the moon while we had breakfast in his backyard. When I left California to teach at my alma mater, I took Jack and his son with me to Seattle where his father, in his 80s was making sewing machine parts in a garage workshop and chandeliers with crystals from China.

Shortly after retirement at 65 or so, Jack developed an arthritic spine and died young. His wife, Lois, still keeps in touch with me via e-mail and lives in Lake Havasu Arizona. Jack’s three sons live in California and Arizona. His adopted daughter lives in Texas. They can be very proud of their father, a veteran and hero of mine.