 |
| YOU'VE GOT MAIL! A last letter from the Meservey's, 1989 |
Back in the days of Clark in the 1970s, one of our
American friends was Lt. Col. Elmer Benson "Ben" Meservey, who had
previously seen action in WW2 and the Korean War. He would also serve in the
Vietnam War, and was stationed in the Philippines. I remember him being a bit
old by then, a divorcee, but a big hulking man. It was here that he met his 2nd
wife, a Filipina, Severa “Vee” Ocampo-Meservey.
“Atsing” Vee, as we called her, was a sort of mother
earth figure, who brought Ben out of his shell, bringing him to parties that my
parents often hosted at home, and pretty soon he came to socialize with the
local community and made many friends. At these parties, big Ben would often
take to the floor to do the “chicken dance”, which amused us no end.
Their first kid, Alex, (my namesake that A. Vee likes to
point out around my parents) was born in 1973, whom I saw as a baby. A second, daughter Yolanda, followed. I went
to college that year, so I sort of lost track of them, but I know after Ben’s
retirement (he turned 60 in 1974) they returned to the U.S. and settled in
Arizona. Still, they would send cards
and letters regularly, and my mother, an avid letter writer, would write back.
Just a few months back, while I was rummaging through my
late mother’s dresser, I found a letter from the Meserveys from 1989. In it, A. Vee updated us of their new life in Arizona, containing funny
accounts of her and Ben's futile attempts to grow tropical bananas in
their backyard. She also mentioned about her 11 year old daughter Yolanda, who
was a star athlete in school. And of course, their first born Alex, now 16, who
was in junior high, who she thought was going to follow in Ben's footsteps, as
he was a member of the junior ROTC, the Civil Air Patrol, and the Police
Explorers school clubs.
This was the last letter we have of the Meserveys, which
came with a card, in time for Christmas 1989. I have often wondered what became
of them—and all our American tenant-friends all these years, so sometimes I
would google and do a quick online search. In this manner, I have found the
Smiths and the Kentalas, and most recently, yes, the Meserveys—but the news
were not at all happy. But I did expect that a bit with the passage of time:
Ben had died in 2003, age 88, and A. Vee would follow the next year, age
71. I saved their obituaries and went on to look for their children.
I was elated to find that Yolanda had an illustrious
athletic career, excelling in shot put and hammer throw. She went on to study
sports kinesiology. In contrast, my search for Alex Meservey took a tragic
turn. What I found saddened me even more.
Indeed, Alex pursued a military career—he had a short stint in the U.S. Army, followed by almost 10 years in the Marines as an Arabic linguist, and then became a government contractor. He had also married, with 2 kids. And then, in 2014, he took his own life, at age 41. Reading his last message posted on his FB wall was so deeply affecting, heatrbreaking, even if I had never met him.
His death brings to fore the internal struggles of these people who were trained to a burning point to serve their country, but who could not or would not, for some reason, give a cry for help. I can just imagine the depths of his pain and suffering.
But as you wish, Alex, we will remember the “happy things”, which include our fun years with your parents, who were dear friends back in the Philippines. Thank you for serving America, now home to many of my siblings and many relatives. And to everyone, Support our War Veterans.
