Visit with Don Malarkey

Yesterday, I had the priveledge and honor to visit with Mr. Don Malarkey (of Band of Brothers fame) at his home in Salem, Oregon.

I became aware of Don living in Salem after an article was published in the Corvallis Gazette Times about him. Two years ago, when I had my second hernia surgery, I purchased and watched the entire Band of Brothers series. I have always been a World War II movie fan, and I found this to be one of the very best re-enactments that I'd ever seen (next to Saving Private Ryan).

I wrote to Mr. Malarkey back in May of 2005, and received a very nice reply from him, inviting me to visit sometime. So I called about 2 weeks ago and made an appointment with his wife to visit yesterday.

I drove to Salem and met him at his home at 1:00pm. Don met me at the door and welcomed me into his modest home of 30 years. I sat on a couch opposite to him and listened as he recounted some of his stories to me. Don started out by telling me that he has a friend in Lousiana who wrote him recently and told him that much of the news coming out of the south about Hurricane Katrina is not true, and is an attempt to discredit the Bush administration.

Don then told me of a story when he was 12 years old about a huge fire on the Oregon coast. He was taken and required to help fight the fire by carrying buckets of water to the firefighters. Fifteen years later, the owner of a farm that was saved by his efforts came to thank him for all he had done. Don was a hero at a very young age. His comment to me about the fire and the war was "I did what had to be done."

It was a tremendous honor to meet and talk with Don Malarkey; one that I will never forget.