Joseph B. Corbin - The Presidents’ Escort: The Joseph Browning Corbin Story

THE PRESIDENTS ESCORT

The Joseph Browning Corbin Story

by Joseph B. Corbin with Susan M. Funk

Copyright 2016 by Joseph B. Corbin; Susan Funk.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016918532

ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-5245-5773-7

Softcover 978-1-5245-5772-0

eBook 978-1-5245-5771-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 12/09/2016

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The Presidents Escort:

The Joseph Browning Corbin Story

is dedicated to Pat Choi.

Pat Choi was born in Singapore. She moved to the United States with her husband, Alfred, and son, Ben, in 1995. She loves Jesus Christ and her adopted home, the United States of America. She teaches elementary school and runs an ESL ministry in Seminole, Florida.

Pat first persuaded Joe to speak about his extraordinary life to her fourth graders at Ridgecrest Elementary School in 2011. As a living primary source, she recognized how important it was for Joes rich life experiences to be passed on to the next generations of Americans. She was humbled and honored to be a part of this incredible mans historical narrative.

Acknowledgments

For many years, I have been urged by people I came in contact with around the country to put my stories and experiences into a book. It wasnt until I met Sharon Beardsley that I was really given the encouragement to put my stories together on paper as my first step toward a book. Sharon came to my home on numerous occasions with recorder in hand, and she sat with me for hours, asking questions and just talking with me about my life, before and after the career stories.

The real inspiration for me to want to write the book came from Pat Choi inviting me over to speak to her fourth-grade class at Ridgecrest Elementary School during the Great American Teach-In. This we have done for several years. The interest shown by her students was so inspiring that I felt that it was imperative to record this information for future generations. I thought I must do this nowotherwise, when would I? That information would be gone and lost forever.

In searching for someone to transcribe all the tapes, I was talking to a friend in church choir, Glenda Milor, who told me that she was a transcriptionist and would be happy to do this for us.

My wife, Nancy Corbin, spent many long hours putting those notes in order and doing some necessary editing.

Searching for a writer took us from Oregon to South Carolina before, finally, a friend at church, Kecia Richardson, put us in touch with Susan Funk, right here in Pinellas County, Florida, and her editing team: Rita Gottfred and Bette Jackman LoBue.

I wish to thank the many people who spoke to me and encouraged me in any way as this book began to take form. Also to those that I encountered through the years, who helped shape the experiences and stories in the pages of this book.

I am also grateful for all the generous help by my research team for their attentive reading of the text and all the revisions it took to make this story get to print.

Contents

1

A Man Called Browning

Waiting in front of the chalkboard, my presentation complete, I stood in silence, eyeing the fourth graders seated in rows of wood-and-metal desks.

Did they learn something? I wondered.

The children had only known that a man would be speaking to them about a long-ago war called World War II. And he would tell them about the Honor Flighta distinction reserved for only a few fortunate World War II heroes still alive who were flown to the National Mall in Washington, DC, and honored for their service to this country. Visiting the memorial, built in honor of those brave men and women nearly sixty years after the war, was a remarkable experience; but it was even more rewarding to share it with these fresh young faces before me.

For a moment, as I watched the students, my thoughts turned to Pat Choi, the Ridgecrest Elementary School teacher from Singapore who had insisted I give a talk for her class. Pat knew it would be a rare opportunity for her students to meet the man with the rich American history who had lived through active duty in World War II, had served as personal escort to five US presidents, and who was the only person to ever singularly escort four US presidents in one weeks time. Now, with tightened security, no one will have that singular honor again. I was grateful for having that distinction and for the opportunity Pat Choi gave me to share my experiences with her students.

Pat also insisted that I write this book to document my story, including the part of my life that sent me half a world away when I was barely ten years older than these students. Now in my nineties, I look forward to each opportunity to speak to students and adults alike, and I do so as often as possible.

That day presented me with a sense of satisfaction as I left the school building. Imagine, I mused aloud, my life is someone elses history lesson.

My wife, Nancy, smiled as we loaded the World War II and Washington, DC, displays back into the car for the trip home. Nancy and I have been married for eight years now. Never let it be said that you cant find happiness in your golden years. We sure have. We both had been married before and had lost our spouses. We have been blessed to be each others companion and best friend. She travels with me and keeps my appointments straight for speaking engagements, church activities, and Shriners events, in which I still participate. I certainly do not know what I would do without her.

I had shown the students my World War II service medals and photos of my amazing days in Washington, leading motorcades for presidential limousines. Many years later, I would be on the Honor Flight as one of only three World War II veterans out of the group of eighty on the flight. The three of us were flown to Washington, DC, to be recognized and celebrated. All that recognition was made up of enjoyable times that were reaped from a vast field of sorrow and hardship.

Composite of Joes WWII medals used for display

at speaking engagements.

2

Shenandoah Beginnings

I was born in Rappahannock County, Virginia, near Little Washington, a town about sixty miles west of Washington, DC, on the 14 th of September 1925. When the English arrived in Virginia in 1607, Rappahannock was only woodlands inhabited by Native AmericansManahoacs and Iroquois. As the settlers moved in, the Indians relocated to the west. Rappahannock was colonized in about 1722 and included settlers from west of the Blue Ridge. There were Scotch-Irish, German, Welsh, and French settlers. Those living in Rappahannock participated in the Revolutionary War and the War Between the States.