“I lost my best friend Tuesday,” said Dan Halloran, Raymond “Hap” Halloran’s son.
In an email to this reporter, he said his father was ready to go last Tuesday.
“The staff put him to bed. He shook everyone’s hand and said ‘thank you’ and half an hour later let go. My sister Peggy, brother Tim, and myself will miss him. But we have him in our hearts to keep forever,” he said.
Hap, who was born on Feb. 4, 1922, was 89.
He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease about two years ago. Dan Halloran said they kept their father at their Menlo Park home until it became too dangerous for him.
“We moved dad to the Veterans Affairs long-term care facility in December after a bad fall. One would think the last seven months would have been difficult. But in fact not having to worry as much about the care we could just be there for dad and take walks in the rose garden, talk, sing, attend church, or just hold his hand,” he said.
For Dan, Hap was not just a father, but his best friend. Since he retired in 1988 “or at least semi retired because he could never completely retire, we traveled together. We went to Saipan so that I could fully understand where his journey into manhood began. We also visited Ireland to see where the Halloran family originated. We also traveled throughout Europe where I live today. In many ways we are very much alike — sense of humor, positive outlook etc.”
In a phone conversation with this reporter, the young Halloran confirmed that his father was cremated June 10 and they are holding a memorial service at St. Raymond Church on June 17 at 12 noon.
He also said Hap will be buried at the Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors in October.
On Saipan, one of Hap’s friends conveyed his sympathies and fondest memories of the WWII veteran.
Jerold Facey, who was with Hap during his last trip to Saipan in 2008, recalled, “The last time I saw Hap was in April 2008, just about three years ago, when he last visited Saipan. I had arranged his itinerary for his five-day visit. When I took him from the airport to the hotel he became ill so we took him to the hospital. Nevertheless, that same evening, at his insistence, he delivered a talk at American Memorial Park which went well.”
Facey said Hap had visited Saipan many times between 1994 and 2008. He said Hap was a distinguished speaker at the 50th and 60th commemoration ceremonies of the Battles of Saipan and Tinian as well as other events.
In each of his visits, Hap went to one of the parking areas for B-29’s at Isley Field and he talked about the chaplains who used to stand at the end of the runways and blessed each B-29 as it lifted off for its flight to Japan.
Facey told Variety he would call Hap every few months. During his last call, he said, “I talked to his son, Dan, who said his dad was in a VA assisted care facility. I called again and Dan said that there was only a certain time of the day his dad was able to communicate but only for a short while. I decided not to call Hap.”
According to Facey, Hap had fondest memories of Saipan.
“As a good friend of the Marianas, Hap symbolized the honor, commitment, sacrifice and duty of our WWII veterans and reminds us of the ‘Greatest Generation’ who paved the way for the maintenance of our freedom and peace in the world,” added Facey.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hap was the second of five sons and lived through America’s interesting period of the Great Depression.
“We were a very happy family of seven in small two-and-a-half bedroom home. We had lots of love to offset shortage of money,” he told this reporter in a conversation in 2008.
He said growing up in Cincinnati he had an early love for airplanes and whenever he would see one fly over, he would drop what he was doing and holler, “Hey Mister, give me a ride.” He also enjoyed making model airplanes.
Three years ago, Halloran told this reporter, “Pearl Harbor attack did not cause me to consider being called into service. I wanted to fight to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor.”
Hap was playing golf when news of the attack reached him. With the Wright Patterson Field in Dayton, Ohio in proximity to their home, he volunteered for the Army Air Corps in mid-1942.
He said, “I trained as a navigator and then as bombardier and was successful in both.”
He joined a crew of 11 men from 11 different states and trained together in Salinas, Kansas in B-29’s and called themselves “Rover Boys Express.”
The Rover Boys Express joined the 73rd Wing Base on Isley Field on Saipan in 1944. Hap recounted, “I was very impressed with Saipan.”
He also recalled those long high-altitude, combat missions to Iwo Jima, Nagoya, and Kobe/Akashi in December 1944. Hap said, “Danger was ever present.”
On Jan. 27, 1945 Hap and the Rover Boys Express made their fourth and final mission.
Of the 11 that left Saipan, six were killed in action when their B-29 was shot down over Eastern Chiba prefecture while five survived and became prisoners of war.
Hap told this reporter how he was beaten severely and incarcerated. “I was clubbed — stoned,” he said.
He said how he was stoked with constant fear. “I knew I didn’t have much longer to go. They hit me with rifle butt pretty severely. I was in very bad shape.”
He also spent 67 days in solitary confinement and he said he nearly got blind for not seeing daylight having been blindfolded for that long.
“Death came easily and seemed a viable option many times,” he said. Beaten and starved, his weight dropped from 212 lbs. to 115 lbs.
In April 1945, he joined the other prisoners of war at the Omori Prison Camp. He told this reporter that while he was in the prison camp, he became good friends with Colonel Pappy Boyington and Brigadier General Robert Goldsworthy.
On Aug. 28, 1945, Hap said they were liberated from the camp and taken to USS Benevolence where he consumed 17 Milky Way bars in less than a day.”It was the best day of our lives!”
Hap vowed to make each day a “bonus day” since the day of his liberation.
After WWII, he became a successful business executive but never forgot about his fellow crew members. He also said since liberation he had had to deal with nightmares.
And dealt with these incessant nightmares head-on Hap did. He visited Japan in 1984 and went to places that reminded him of those seven months of torture and horrible memories. Finally led him back to where he was able to make peace with the enemy and exorcise the memories from prison that had plagued him all those years.
As he finally found closure and peace, Hap had wanted to share the message of peace. He was engaged in many speaking tours around America.
In 2008, he told this reporter that he had made 11 or 12 visits to Japan since 1984. He also met and reconciled with Toryu fighter jet pilot Isamu Kashiide who shot down their plane. Hap said it was through WWII Japanese air ace Saburo Sakai that he was able to locate Kashiide.
As he found his own peace, Hap continued to spread his message of closure, peace and forgiveness.
Hap had received countless awards from military and civic organizations including his induction in 2001 into the American Combat Airman Hall of Fame.
Hap, who is survived by sons Dan and Tim and daughter Peggy, will always be remembered by this reporter for his advice, “Appreciate your freedom and never take it for granted. Appreciate life.”
