A Memorial Day Man

It was fitting that he would pass on Memorial Day, a time when we pause and remember, and we thank those who have served and are serving their country.  But this man was a genuine hero—whether it was his distinguished service in World War II or his equally distinguished service to his community.

 On Memorial Day, two years ago,  Jack C. Curtis, of Battle Creek, Michigan, passed away at age eight-five, after living a life that epitomizes what Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation”.

Residing in Battle Creek since 1923, Jack was graduated from Lakeview High School in 1941.  He enrolled at Western Michigan University and took night classes while he worked. 

World War II was raging and in December of 1942, Jack enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps.  He flew thirty one missions over Europe, until he was shot down over then Yugoslavia.  He spent the next eight months as a hospitalized prisoner of war.

After the war, he spent two more years in military hospitals including one in his hometown of Battle Creek, The Percy Jones Hospital.  In Robert Dole’s One Soldier’s Story, Jack appears in a photograph with several other convalescing soldiers, including a young war hero by the name of Daniel Inoue.

After his recovery, Jack retired at the rank of Captain.  His excellence in service to his country was evidenced by the Purple Heart, the Air Medal with six clusters, and a whole garden salad of other decorations.

He returned to civilian life as a student at Albion College.  He then joined the Kellogg Company where he would spend the rest of his work life in numerous corporate positions until his retirement in 1981.  Jack was active in the community as a Kellogg executive, but the time afforded an opportunity where he would take community service to the same lofty level as his wartime service.

Thus launched an era, when this man, always involved with his church, would serve in so many different civic, charitable, and community causes that space limitations make it impossible for me to name them all.  I knew him through our service as Urban League board members where he proved to be a ferocious champion for equal opportunity.  His crowning moment in community service came when he, along with two others, founded the Food Bank of South Central Michigan. Again, I was privileged to work with him as the Food Bank rapidly grew in size and stature.

 I bring all this up because we are losing large numbers of the Greatest Generation every day.  I recall family stories and how they involved struggling through a Great Depression and then, sacrifices everywhere, here, at home, in the form of rationing and other limitations, while brave men, like Jack Curtis confronted totalitarianism overseas.  I remember my mother, consistently through the years, telling me, “You have no idea what we went through.”

She was right.  I have no clue.  To put things into a comparative perspective, while the Greatest Generation knew nothing but sacrifice, a whole generation of Americans was told to go shopping in the immediate wake of the worst attack on American civilians in our history.  And now, we have the Entitlement Gneration.

As I tally up the triumphs of the Greatest Generation, their contributions to their country and community defy calculation.  For these brave people, returning from the horrors of war, quietly assumed their places back in peacetime America and used their wiles to create great American communities.

It is important to remember people like Jack, not just on Memorial Day, but everyday.  When the call came for service, they answered.  When the call came for sacrifice, they paid the bill.  When the call came for them to reintegrate into civilian life, they did so with great purpose and quiet dignity despite the horrors they must have known.

I will never see another like him.  I honor and salute him.  I thank him from the bottom of my heart for what he did for his country and his community.