I Put Together Clues about My Father's WWII Past to Discover An Astonishing Story that Changed My Life.

Using the few facts I knew, one old family photo, and the latest technology, I recreated my father's flights during battles in the Pacific.

Over the past few years, I’ve been trying to discover what my father did during WWII. At the beginning of my information search, I knew he was a navigator stationed at Barking Sands on the island of Kuai in Hawaii. I knew that seeking and discovering this information would improve my sense of self.

That’s it…Recently, I gathered all the muster I had and commenced with the project:

My father never mentioned much about his military service. He didn’t talk much, as most family discussions concerned my mother’s views of the Vietnam War. Our dinners were spent watching Walter Cronkite, listening to my mother speak on the television set, and talking to my older brother about how she would keep him from getting drafted. My father mostly supported her beliefs about politics.

After five decades, I’ve gotten a good picture of his harrowing WWII experience.

My father remained silent, passive, and subdued. There were occasions when I went on bike rides with him. Our communication was limited to smal…