Ben the Survivor
There are some fellow employees that I miss more than others. Ben is one of the people. Sadly, Ben passed away a few years ago and the world lost a great person but Heaven gained a very interesting soul.Ben was a survivor. No, he was not on the Survivor television show but actually survived the Bataan Death March during World War II. Ben was an Army officer during World War II and was unfortunate enough to be stationed on the island of Bataan in the Pacific combat theater. The Allied soldiers (American, Brits,and Aussies) basically ran out of all provisions such as potable water, food, and ammunition. "Dug Out Doug" surrendered Bataan and the Allied forces to the Japanese forces. Now for all of you college kids, "Dug Out Doug" refers to General Douglas MacArthur. He surrendered the Allied forces as soon as he was safe and sound in Australia. The Japanese soldiers had no plans to treat the Allied soldiers in a humane manner as it is the Japanese mentality that surrender is cowardly and that all soldiers should fight to the death. The Allied forces were forced to march across Bataan to the prison camp. A huge percentage died due to thirst, their wounds, and being bayonetted by the Japanese. Ben survived the Death March and also survived two years of living hell in a Japanese prison camp.
Ben was a crusty old dude but was very likeable once you got to know him. We also had another supervisor in the section named Nancy. She, like Ben, was a WWII veteran but Nancy had been a Marine officer. Naturally, she was not a combat soldier but was an officer in charge of a women's basic training camp in South Carolina during the war. Nancy was not a person to mess around with! She and Ben had a mutual dislike for each other and it showed every day. Nancy retired from the Agency in 1976 and moved to Port St. Lucie, Florida. Ben wrote, "Good riddance and it is about time you left" on her retirement card. Ben retired from the Agency in 1977 and moved to ... Port St. Lucie, Florida. No one thought anything of it at the Agency.
About 4 years later, one of Ben's former staff members was in Port St. Lucie after completing a site audit in Miami. Karen knew Ben's address and decided to make a spur of the moment unannounced visit early one Sunday morning. According to Karen, it was hard to tell who was the most surprised when Nancy answered the door of Ben's house. Nancy was wearing only her bathrobe and then Ben came to the door in his robe. After all initial shocks wore off, they invited Karen in for coffee and explained the situation. Ben explained that his wife had passed away two years earlier and that Nancy had shown up at the funeral after seeing the death notice in the local paper. They began talking and one thing led to another and from companionship to friendship and now they were sharing ... everything.
Ben has passed on and Nancy followed a short time after that. They found friendship in retirement. Retirement brings wonderful things!
posted by Ex-Fed @ 11:40 PM
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