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.
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.
Monday, Jan. 6, 2014:
Former columnist, Marine Corps hero, and Washington insider Phil Brennan passed away on Monday. He was 87 years old.
Born in New York City, Brennan served with the Marines during World War II before tackling a series of jobs in the nation’s capital, beginning with a campaign to win statehood for Alaska. —More…</em>
