Golfing With the Father I Never Knew

  • 📰 WSJ
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 47 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 22%
  • Publisher: 63%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

For Father’s Day, William Damon tells the story of how a set of inherited golf clubs helped him connect with the father who abandoned him before he was born

For most of my life, I had no interest in learning about my father. On a stateside leave from the German front in 1944, he had married my mother, impregnated her and returned to the war. He never came back. Until I was in college, all my mother told me about him was that he was “missing in World War II.”

The diplomat answered yes, he did know Damon from their days in Germany and Thailand. My father had joined the Foreign Service in Germany after his discharge from the army and, having divorced my mother, soon married a “delightful” French ballerina, the diplomat said. In the 1950s he was transferred to the USIA branch in Bangkok, where he and his second wife became close to the king and queen. The diplomat also noted that my father was a “great golfer.

What I discovered surprised and relieved me but also filled me with regret. There was much to admire. At the end of the war, he was called on to testify as a witness at a high-profile war crimes trial, and accounts from the time show that he had acted with courage and integrity. He then had a notable career promoting democratic values in cold-war Germany and Thailand. He started a second family with wonderful daughters who are now my treasured half-sisters.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

wow

Mine lives in Kentucky…name’s Okie. Tell ‘im I’ve been looking for him

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 98. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

My Father Was Never There. My Father Never Left Me.“After the divorce, my father’s world would only become increasingly alien to me. Mostly, I experienced him as an absence, a mystery filtered through my mother’s mythologizing eye.” Losing my dad 23 years ago, I had a complicated relationship with my mama. Feeling often distant, disdain and more often than not blaming her for the struggles I had to endure. But I lost her too recently, and can’t shake the deep lying guilt and regret. This piece hit hard. 😔💔 rosalindamfd Mine as always at the bar - was at my first topless bar at 9
Source: voguemagazine - 🏆 715. / 51 Read more »

‘The Father Who Moves Mountains’: Film Review | Shanghai 2021An ex-intelligence officer (Adrian Titieni) combs the wilderness for his son in Daniel Sandu’s second feature, produced by Cristian Mungiu. Awful movie
Source: THR - 🏆 411. / 53 Read more »

Father and daughter reunite after 40 years apart: 'It's about forgiveness'A void that Dan Bowers and Cande Coulter felt for decades has been filled thanks to a poignant reunion.
Source: TODAYshow - 🏆 389. / 55 Read more »

'You stabbed me,' boy tells father during unusual moment in Florida courtroomA man accused of killing his girlfriend and his disabled daughter is representing himself. On Wednesday, he questioned the sole survivor of the attack, his 11-year-old son. I wonder who he voted for I'm usually not for the death penalty, but this one got me. That poor kid. Killing his mom and sister wasn't enough? You gonna cross examine him and call him a liar too? Jesus From the looks of his hair he’s already thinking about the electric chair
Source: NBCNews - 🏆 10. / 86 Read more »

'You stabbed me,' boy tells father at double-murder trialRonnie Oneal III claimed in a dramatic opening statement that the evidence would reveal “some of the most vicious, lying, fabricating, fictitious government you ever seen.” Assistant State Attorney Scott Harmon countered that prosecutors would prove Oneal wounded Barron with a shotgun, then beat her to death. Harmon also said Oneal used a hatchet to kill his 9-year-old daughter — who had cerebral palsy and could not speak — and wounded his son, then 8, with a knife. 💩🤮🤢😷💩
Source: YahooNews - 🏆 380. / 59 Read more »

Show your father figure how special he is with these 17 giftsStepdads, uncles or any father figure in your life will love these unique gifts.
Source: TODAYshow - 🏆 389. / 55 Read more »