Lately I
find myself sitting in General James Van Fleet’s rocking chair; more so than I
have in the past. The general served in WWI, WWII and the Korean Conflict, (and during this conflict he was given command of the U.S. 8th Army and all the U.N. Forces engaged in Korea).
During the Vietnam War, (nine years after his retirement) Gen. Van Fleet was
recalled to active duty, and served as a consultant to the defense department.
He was possibly the only senior officer in the military who served during all
four major wars; beginning with WWI and ending with the Vietnam War. President
Harry Truman referred to him as “the greatest general we ever had.”
I bought the
general’s “cane and barley” rocking chair from his daughter, well, to be
precise from an estate sale company which a friend owns. Calvin had been
contracted to sell numerous items from Van Fleet’s Polk City home; as his
daughter and granddaughter were in the midst of moving to North Carolina, and
needed to divest themselves of some of his personal property.
The
general’s granddaughter told my friend that the rocking chair had been part of
the furnishings of a rental house in California in the 1920’s, and that when
the then captain or major moved, he bought that piece of furniture from the
owner and took it with him.
No doubt, he
cherished the chair for the remaining plus or minus seventy years of his life;
(for Gen. Van Fleet lived to be 100, the longest-lived general in the history
of the United States).
On a visit to
the old courthouse in Bartow I came across a photograph mounted on the wall of
General Van Fleet sitting in his beloved rocking chair. I had hoped I would
eventually find such a picture. My patience paid off.
I wonder
what sort of thoughts he had, and what kind of decisions he made while relaxing
in his favorite chair. (No doubt weightier thoughts and decisions that any I
will make as I sit in that old chair).
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