Sharing the rest of the story
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Editor,
In a recent obituary column for Tom Needham, there is a paragraph about Tom doing a memorial service for his brother Robert at the Ronan Cemetery 72 years after his brother’s death. Unfortunately a key part of the story was omitted and the “closure” mentioned would not have been possible without what I am about to share. Paul Harvey might say, “Here is the rest of the story.” Actually, it is the beginning of the story.
In Tom’s involvement over 20 years with the Miracle of America Museum, he donated items, which we put on immediate public display. His sister, Rachel, would always include a visit to the MOAM when she made her annual trek back to Montana from Arkansas. One of those visits started out like previous visits, but on this one, as she stepped through the door into our military room, she heard a man say, “look, there’s an A20,” referring to a photo of Robert with his twin engine bomber.
Rachel rushed down to investigate and question these two male visitors and explained that it was her brother in the photo. She was subsequently invited to an A20 reunion in an eastern state where she met some of Robert’s barracks mates. The following reunion would find Tom also in attendance where he personally met a fellow crewmember of the same plane. After bailing out over the English Channel and inflating their personal life rafts, he told Tom that a huge wave had engulfed Robert’s raft and he was never seen again.
While this report did not bring Robert back, it brought closure to a question the family had for over 60 years. To the family familiar with this story, they consider it a “miracle” that Rachel just happened through that door at the very instant the man commented on the displayed photo. Coincidence or miracle? Those things happen occasionally at the Miracle of America Museum.
Gil Mangels
Polson
