Show 'A'Vv' 'W tmZSia 'fr-T- ww itiwti P4 -- mm wiijiiin Mia v&m a—ii partes iii The Herald Journal Looin ui liy October - ii-i- 16 1996 — Page 15 War widow gets to say goodbye 53 years later 1 By Bill Thomas Scripps Howard News Servlcs December day in 1943 when Lt Andrew ‘Pop’ Calhoun a World War II fighter pilot kissed his y a the wife goodbye in Wrightsville Beach NC put her on a train gh en bound for Memphis and then proceeded from there to eternity It ends S3 years later — only a few weeks ago in fact — when his wife Theresa who never saw her husband again finally learned the whole story of his last hours in the air and of a surprise ending with an O Henry twist tile ren the led ter the long-delay- ir-- exploits during the next six months from one news dispatch after another In one of the stories Calhoun landed his damaged P-Thunderbolt on an unfinished airstrip still cluttered with Army bulldozers and scrapers His squadron leader followed him ed down and made a historic pickup Both men squeezed into the cockpit of the undamaged plane — a cockpit built for one — and flew back to their base in England with one pilot sitting on the other’s lap In another story Calhoun and two fellow fliers were credited with destroying a convoy of eight Nazi supply trucks heading for the German line in Normandy By June 21 1944 Calhoun wrote his wife that he had flown 160 combat hours in 30 missions For Calhoun’s widow who remarried and changed her name to Theresa rcr Leggett news from the front was the last thing she expected to get after more than a of silence But she said the other day in Memphis “it’s a wonderful shock To understand the story you have to go back to the early ’40s te ne nc half-centu- ry of I TS when young American couples everywhere were being pulled apart by the war In those days Theresa was married to football he - shot down on June 22 sunicw here over France Theresa said she hoped ihe luck that brought her husband safely through his first crash had held again “If he made it onee maybe he has made it again" she said But three week later the War Department confirmed its initial report that Calhoun was missing and went on to say that “experience has shown that many persons reported missing in action are subsequently reported as prisoners of war” In time however the War Department confirmed Calhoun's death and reported that his body had been moved and buried in a government cemetery in France and the train was crowded with servicemen A sailor gave me his seal and then stood up beside me talking all night long By the time we reached Memphis I had this terrible stiff neck from trying to look up at him” Although she never saw her husband again she learned of his The story begins on a cold ncr n- W i But details were skimpy and Theresa was never able to learn much more She didn't even know where her husband's plane went down Five years later after the war was over she met and married another airman Murray Ixggett lines He’d been awarded the Air Medal with 10 Oak Leaf Clusters a decoration that he sent home She in turn had delivered a baby boy — he too was called optometrist put the war behind them and settled down to raising Andy as well as three children of their own For all they knew the Mnr nl Pop Calhoun was over and the final details of his death were probably lost forever And that’s where the surprise comes in: Roughly 32 ycart after her hus- band was reported missing World Nir fated nil I i r uunii!! l:i il Frenchman iuhl In bolls wcic ini i I"' i !u rif! jumped In ( urnI lying in tin1 'l the l(irmiliiiii ( - in ' I ‘ ’I Andv and the two are planning to isii ihe French town where Cal i licun has been hailed a hero With that visit she will dose the hook on a chapter of her life she thought was over long ago Ii i I' Calhoun cinn Oil iinuiil 2 con ini I called her son immediately I !Tiii"toii Mormon History 1 ret tire Scries I I'iym'IiIs iih::t ' Oi Tiiesdi' 'llll LixIcn i Ideas of Sacred Geography in Joseph Smith’s America" i:i Si I: nlc ( !' -- I f D: Making Space for Ihe Mormons: il l I Ilusliniaii i’hI) fl I V Iiitf IV ' Ii I WTslln un Vi vr Ii DjIi I a if i Cjftniji!' a!k hi: I M rn hi nr-- i’ tfc”l every wife and mother dreaded: “We regret to inform you that Lt Andrew Calhoun is missing in Memphis to await the birth of ( S 1 I she received the telegram that their first child while he went off to war She still has vivid memories of that train ride “It was just before Christmas 'I ' child’s pictures and heard that her husband had gotten them before Dothan Ala in July 1943 Five months later he sent her home to ! t 'I Ills i i !i ' ! n' a speech anl icmiiks l w ui i - il mor I I'llll: I l the action Theresa Leggett received a telephone call from a former fighter pilot Oucntin Aanenson who has put together a film history of Calhoun's outfit the Ninth Air Force He told Mrs to expect a letter from a Frenchman who knew the whole story of her first husband's last (light In his letter Rcmy Chuinard told how he had found the crash site near the village of Ia Rnscrie and talked with eyewitnesses lie then persuaded the village council to put up a plaque honoring the American pilot r1 ( was atlu'hi V-- Hit he will iliiinpi to jump just as his plane clashes on the bank of a cow path next to I i Koseiie The one whose Iricnds called him 'Pappy' has ended his war lie has died simply lor Ihe freedom of a conn-ti- e that wasn't his" Deeply moved Mis Leggett iig mi altitude plnpn Andrew I t Andy — and she had sent the Calhoun joined the Army Air Corps earning his wings at lie I became an and he and Theresa Leggett THINGS THREADS! coupon- plus 106 sorties over enemy star Pop Calhoun whom she met while both were students at what is now the University of Memphis They graduated in 1941 and after the attack on Pearl Harbor lin'd been a bombardier on w ALL FABRIC action” Later a newspaper story said the flier had been officially listed as “missing” since his plane was i m i 'd ! IlfiUlDf! r mi 7 i i IaI I :i the IfiiCituie uf ‘Mk’f ilHril This IciMf’ S t ' ii Mivlnrv u United to Stock on Hand Expres October 26 1996 Huuiriiui Ph (J l I I: i Hi Kkiitf M :i- n nfi’l In kx iurl) Amcnitfi vir'i Smith and inJodin On- of America hi r iin ns 4fui Ariliites and LSL: f jli 423 :ri -- 1 '? One guy who likes the Brits Last Three Days Lancome skin By Edison Allen Scripps Howard News Service Younger-lookin- g MC' A begins in 8 days If you were testing word associations and said “Great Britain’ Lancome’s patented Nanocapsuk-thriilog- Iilid-100 Botanically Pure Vitamin E a niiori! tree ri'l-'i- l Acid iPrimordial- Solution and Gentle many subjects would reply “Charles and Diana” fh- c What a shame that the British a great people should be best known for two such and dysfunctional individuals I would like to tell you why I like respect and admire the Brits This will annoy some Americans who are still brooding over the Boston Massacre and the Stamp Act But it’s how I feel - ss-?- - : skin with neutralizer moUrt ifu eo-s- m - Lipo-Hydro- smjo'h line nnev Gatuline (Primordiale Yeux help omfortaijlx The appearance of surface lines and wrinkles i self-center- i i and diminished c JCstf I t- New! PRIMORDIALE YEUX Visibly Revitalizing Ew lre:meni Net Vt 05 () (1 jml s4ii v i ’ 7 PRIMORDIALE Visibly Revitalizing Solution lor The Fa e 10 FI Oz Tfiml- 4J 50 17 FI Oz i50mL' 0450 Commentary V - - ’ i - Blood may have something to do with it mine being of Scottish and English origin as far back as I know For the maximum shock effect Your Gift 'f With any 1 750 Lancome Purcfiase want to say early that I like Queen Elizabeth II Lady MarI i ' I 'J-'- t ' iV y- - W'f y tI ' tv'-- ' ti'F - j l'i — V garet Thatcher and John Major I suppose that certifies me as a Tory I like the Brits because most of them I have met have been cool and reserved but also polite civilized intelligent and capable of great effusions of friendship One night in San Francisco I met the town crier of the City of London at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel bar While we were not previously acquainted we talked and drank together until 3 a m i - " t t m i kyi'ii A' ' - - M ' v ‘ ' ' ' A I " na- ' I Ij r- - v A ‘ Stir - TV nk s i - jV11 v Tw - ?'e i Geoffrey Greer international agent for Wilkinson Sword gave all of his time to my w ife and me on our first trip to London yean ago Geoff was bombed out of three different houses in three different towns during the blitz and buzz-bom- b business “Every lime I tried to hide Hitler would find me” he said Let me tell you about British “cool " I was in the lobby of the Royal Westminster Hotel when an alarm sounded After a minute or two it stopped Then it went off again Seme of the staff paid any mention I asked a bellman what it was “Fire alarm sir” he said “but ’ i A suppk blark ffSmr-f- a uy of makeup j'i- - w "u f are Yor ? ad PARIS far- lOvaVai 0 r hw samw imolM - Shop two H- f C LANCOME asked how they could tell if n was a real fire He answered “Then sir I imagine we should smell smoke” I like the Bnts because of those I have known and all of those buned in Wesumnster Abbey St and Paul's Stratford-upon-Avo- n elsewhere I joumWwi 'r r s - I'M i s it's defective” E Omar Man a mer wm prOaOn( ':! - a j'v j ALL STOtS MONIjv h S- - '1 1" Zj 4 s ST ' ’ L: cm: i 1" D" S 579- - '00 L-- O '" l' L‘1a Zfv ASJ s T'-- ( - i LS 1 r- 1' fr-rf"- ! laMtru COPY J |