Photo By Timothy Hale | Lee S. Harford, Jr., Ph.D., the Director of History for the U.S. Army Reserve, is...... read more read more
Subscribe
“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”
- Winston Churchill
FORT BRAGG, N.C. - On March 14, we lost a pioneer in U.S. Army Reserve history.
Lee S. Harford, Jr., Ph.D., 62, passed away after a sudden and brief illness, having served as the first Director of History for the U.S. Army Reserve starting in March 1992.
When I first met him in 2007 at our headquarters in Atlanta, my initial thought was, “perfect choice for the command’s chief historian.” We hit it off pretty well after I told him I had at one time been a Civil War re-enactor and had participated in the 135th anniversary of Gettysburg.
Standing well above 6-feet tall, here was a man whose office was a treasure trove of authentic and replica artifacts spanning the centuries from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, to both world wars. Volume after volume of books lined his shelves, and as a very amateur historian, I wanted to run my fingers across the spines of the books, just to experience the way the leather bindings felt on my fingertips.
Some months later, he took me to the basement where the artifacts for the National Museum of the Army Reserve were kept. I was like a kid in a candy store – an amateur historian’s dream.
In 2009 he even allowed the museum curators to hang the hood from the number 01 NASCAR Chevrolet Impala race car, signed by then driver Mark Martin, in my office in Atlanta. Talk about conversation piece! I was thrilled to have it hanging on my wall.
Whether you are a history buff like me or not, if you never had a chance to meet and talk with “Doc” Harford, you really missed out.
Beneath that towering presence and those sideburns he was so often fond of wearing, was a soft-spoken and knowledgeable man who knew his history.
On staff rides, I would see him out front of the headquarters either dressed as a Revolutionary War officer or his first-person impression of Union Army Maj. Gen. Joe Hooker. Even when he wasn’t on staff rides, he was known to wear clothing from different historical eras.
Harford was a true living historian. He was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge and understanding.
He can tell you how the Army Reserve evolved from John Parker in 1775 to the 200,000-plus men and women currently serving around the world in today’s Army Reserve.
Modern day author Jodi Picoult once said, “History isn’t about dates and places and wars. It’s about the people who fill the spaces between them.”
Harford is definitely one of those people who will fill the spaces of our Army Reserve history.
I will truly miss him.
| Date Taken: | 04.02.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2014 13:01 |
| Story ID: | 123736 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Filling the pages of our history, by Timothy Hale, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
