In the early fall of 1944 when I was in Pearl Harbor, en route back to the States to attend the Naval Academy Prep School a front page story in a Honolulu newspaper caught my eye.
David Fitzsimmons / Arizona Daily Star (click to share)
It was about one of the heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune who had shot himself in his head in an apparent suicide attempt. While I did not know him, I was slightly acquainted with his daughter who would a few years later become my wife and the mother of our seven children and he would thus become my father-in-law.
When we began to date her dad was recovering from his head wound which like Rep. Giffords’ penetrated his brain and exited his skull, the bullet lodging in the ceiling.
Although there had been serious doubt that he would survive the wound surprisingly he had almost a complete recovery with about the only after effect some problems with his vision. He lived for many years after suffering the head wound.
As grim as the outlook seems to be at this moment hopefully Rep. Gifford will have a similar recovery from a similar wound and I am praying she will.
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Phil Brennan is editor & publisher of Wednesday on the Web and was Washington columnist for National Review magazine in the 1960s. A WWII U.S. Marine he served as a staff aide for the House Republican Policy Committee and helped handle the Washington public relations operation for the Alaska Statehood Committee which won statehood for Alaska. He is also a trustee of the Lincoln Heritage Institute and a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. He can be reached at pvb@pvbr.com
