He didn't live no hum-drum life.

Recently, Donny sent me a letter I'd written him while he was in studying in Barcelona in 1969-1970. In it, I announced, "Guess what, Marion (Radcliff) had a baby boy..." 

I emailed the now grown baby boy, George III, to tell him of the recently discovered birth announcement. "Little George" and I have struck up a correspondence in the last year. As family, we're the best kind of buddies. 

George's answer included an invitation to the Radcliff Memorial Polo Tournament at which his father, George Jr. will be honored. 

As an ex-husband of my mother's first cousin, George is, technically, the most distant relative I know personally. The family tree doesn't take into account the deep affection and connection we feel to him. 

George Radcliff, Jr.. and two of his children, Fontaine, and George, III

My mother grew up with her cousin, Marion, in Mobile and always said she was the true belle in the family. I adored Marion. Adored. When I was eight, right after my dad was shot down, she took me to a big toy store and told me to pick out whatever I wanted. I chose Mr. Potato Head. She tried to talk me into a bike or a doll house, but I wanted Mr. Potato Head. I clearly remember playing with it on the oriental rug in their living room. Marion is beautiful and delightful and the romantic story of her elopement with a young George Radcliff captivated me. The times I spent visiting her family are among my happiest childhood memories.

I've read this article about George Radcliff many times. I like its rhythm and the way I can picture Fontaine and George in the wooden rocking chairs on his porch. Clearly, George Radcliff, like Forrest Gump, "didn't live no hum drum life."

I won't ever be able to mention Big George without saying that the last time I saw him, maybe five years ago, he said, as I was walking away, "Madeleine... you still have that look in your eye." There are those who are tired of me telling the story but, dammit, it was the best compliment I've ever gotten and I'm not letting it go.

This is a good article about Winston Groom who wrote Forrest Gump and dedicated it to his schoolmates, and lifelong friends, George Radcliff and Jimbo Meador. 

In it, Groom is described as someone who preferred to have intimate conversations on the fringes of a party. Don't I wish. I'd like to ask him about his book, Conversations with the Enemy about Robert Garwood. I just started it and am interested in what Garwood revealed about seeing POWs who were reportedly not released with those in Operation Homecoming in 1973. 

One more thing...

Among my mother's papers there are a couple of letters referencing Winston Groom, Sr., the author's father, a Mobile lawyer. In 1965, weeks after my dad was shot down, Mr. Groom contacted Alabama Senator John Sparkman to find out what was being done on Dad's behalf.

In response, one letter, signed Douglas MacArthur II, said:

"Official, as well as Red Cross and other unofficial, efforts are being made to ascertain their welfare of these men, to establish a channel of communication between them and their next of kin in this country, and to negotiate their release."

(This Douglas MacArthur was a diplomat and Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, the nephew of the World War II general.)

Vice Admiral Jackson response to Sparkman's inquiry expressed the thinking behind the order of the day which was, basically, Keep Quiet:

"While of course the U.S. government and the Navy are not insensitive to the plight of prisoners of the communist regimes or to the worry it brings their loved ones, it must be recognized that to the degree this is built up as a public issue it imposes a higher price for the release and safe return of such prisoners." 

If I'd ever been able to corner Winston Groom Jr. at a party, I would've asked if he'd known of his father's efforts.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/books/winston-groom-dead-forrest-gump.html