103-year-old Dearborn resident and WWII vet honored with biography in milestone birthday celebration
DEARBORN, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- With the help of a ceremonial sword, a symbolic and long-held tradition of Navy celebrations, friends and family cut the cake on a historic milestone for one former Navy pilot and revered patriot of Dearborn, Missouri.
On Sunday, a gathering of more than 80 friends and family of 103-year-old WWII veteran Harold Searcy amassed at the Dearborn Christian Church to honor a man whose life has spanned some of nation's most pivotal moments, from the Dust Bowl of the 1930s to the Pacific Theater and atomic bomb testing of World War II.
Of the 16.4 million Americans who served in WWII, less than 1% are still alive today. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Searcy is one of 900 surviving WWII veterans living in the state of Missouri and one of 45,418 still alive in the U.S.
"I never dreamed I'd have the respect of so many people in the church and in the community," said Searcy, a recipient of both the WWII Victory and Naval Reserve medals.
His accounts of the war and the many events that unfolded throughout his time in Northwest Missouri, from piloting F6F Hellcats to tobacco farming and raising a family, were recently chronicled as part of a special biography written by local author Milt Toratti for Searcy's birthday Jan. 24, a book that now resides in the Weston Historical Society.
Family members across four generations, including son Terry and daughter Jody, gathered for Searcy's celebration Sunday after winter storms forced the family to reschedule it last week.
"It's amazing, I just couldn't imagine someone being able to write something that quick," Harold's son, Terry Searcy, said. "He was able to learn as much about our family as I think I did."
Born on a farm outside of Weston, Missouri, in 1923, Searcy grew up working for his parents on a tobacco sharecropping farm, a once thriving industry in the area, before graduating from Dearborn High School in 1942.
Harold’s great-grandfather, Private William Ibzan Searcy, fought in the Civil War and died during the battle of Baton Rouge in 1862. In 1900, Harold's grandfather Joseph "Newt" Searcy was murdered in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, leaving his 9-year-old son (Harold's father) to care for four younger siblings and overseeing their relocation on foot to Weston, Missouri, later enduring the trials and tribulations of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
Like so many Americans in the early 1940s, Searcy's life was changed forever after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an event that inspired him to enlist in the Navy two years later in 1943 once out of high school.
"I was a senior in high school right when it occurred. We woke up on Dec. 7 and they said that Pearl Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese," he recalled. "Enlisting, I thought No. 1, it was the patriotic thing to do. The war was bad. It taught us to be more patriotic and to think about the future of our country."
To this day, one of his proudest accomplishments is serving four years of active duty as an aviation cadet and a Navy pilot during the Great War. Despite having no previous flight experience prior to enlisting, Searcy passed the V-5 Flight Program after extensive testing and later became qualified for aircraft carrier landing and take-off, including piloting diver bombers, Hellcats and the F4U Corsair.
"I stepped aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid in September of 1945 and prepared for the invasion of Japan," Harold said in the book. "It was December when we rescued people at sea who were POWs and placed them on the hanger deck."
Searcy would ultimately never participate in the invasion of Japan, as the country surrendered not long after his arrival following the use of atomic weapons in August. He was later assigned as an assistant officer with the Aircraft Services Unit in support of Operation Crossroads, a pair of nuclear weapons tests conducted at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946 to study the effect on warships.
"Our unit helped decontaminate the Hellcats that were radio controlled and flew and observed the atomic blast," he said. "Being in the service, it taught us discipline, to get along with others and support each other, our comrades in arms, our next door neighbors. It's like JFK saying not what the country can do for us, but what we can do for our country."
In all, Searcy served as a member of the Navy reserves for 20 years. After the war, the 24-year-old Searcy graduated from William Jewel College and St. Joseph Junior College in 1948, living on St. Joseph Avenue for a number of years before moving to Dearborn with his wife Beverly in 1957.
The couple had three children together, Patrick, Jody and Terry.
"St. Joseph has always been a nice town," he said. "I got my flight instructor ratings in 1948 up at Rosecrans Field. I lived on St. Joe Avenue. I always enjoyed living in St. Joseph."
Searcy's passion for aviation never wavered after the war, later working for Trans World Airlines for the next three decades in key management positions. His responsibilities included tracking aircraft and handling paperwork with engineers to manage airworthiness directives.
"Some of the stories were new for me," daughter Jody Brown said of the biography. "Flying was always an important part of him."
Now, even at 103 years old, Searcy maintains an active role in his church and the community, a testament to his determination and resilience. The last name Searcy is associated with individuals known for resilience in the face of significant challenges, a discovery made during research for the book.
"I was just amazed that this gentleman was able to put it all together. He's added a new phase to the final phase of my life," he said.
