Harrison family, B. McGinnis and A. Zadilka

“Mom liked to tell the story that one day, while Dad was driving an ambulance, taking someone from a ship to the hospital with siren and lights going, he almost ran over the actor Robert Taylor (in his Army Air Corps uniform). If he had, Mom never would have forgiven him, because Robert Taylor was her favorite.

Dad caught tuberculosis and ended up in ‘his’ Navy hospital as a patient on his birthday, August 14, 1945 — the day that Japan surrendered to the Allies. Betty Grable was touring the hospital that day, and sat down on Dad’s bed and talked with him for a bit.”

— Brian Harrison ‘80, and wife Cathey Harrison ‘75

The Harrison family, B. McGinnis and A. Zadilka, remembered by Brian and Cathey Harrison

Alumni Brian and Cathey Harrison had several family members in WWII, including three uncles as well as Brian’s parents.

Brian’s parents, Charlotte and Tony Harrison, met during WWII while serving at the U.S. Navy Hospital in Philadelphia — with Charlotte, a Navy Nurse, outranking Tony, who was a pharmacist’s mate. While neither went overseas, Tony trained with a number of Navy Corpsmen who distinguished themselves at Iwo Jima.

James C. Harrison, Brian’s great-uncle, served with the Army Air Corps with the 584th Bomb Squadron, 395th Bomb Group in the European Theater of Operation. A B-26 Bombardier on the aircraft Wingless Victory, he and seven other crew members were shot down killed over Germany on November 21, 1944. The only survivor was tail gunner Howard W. Mote, who traveled to Charlotte after the war to visit the Harrison family and families of other crew members.

Another uncle, Albert “Albie” Zadilka, served under General George Patton as part of the 10th Armored Division during the Battle of the Bulge. While overseas, Albie and his buddies traded cigarettes for pistols; by the end of the Battle of the Bulge, they’d stuffed more than 125 Lugers and Walther P38s in their half-track. Albie said the going exchange rate was three to five American cigarettes per pistol.

Cathey Harrison’s uncle, 2nd Lieutenant Broadus R. McGinnis, was killed March 11, 1944, during the Bougainville Campaign on the Solomon Islands. In the face of concentrated machine gun fire, McGinnis led his platoon up a steep slope. When they reached the summit, McGinnis charged over the crest and captured a strategic pillbox, a point from which he could observe hostile dispositions and direct his team’s troops. Visible to the enemy while communicating orders, he was killed by machine gun fire. McGinnis was awarded a posthumous Silver Star for “gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.”