Page 6 - Desert Lightning News, So. AZ Edition, Nov. 3 2017
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6                                                 November 2017                                                                                  Desert Lightning News

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WW II vet grateful for life of blessingsFacebook.com/DesertLightningNews

       by STEPHEN DELGADO                            It was on to the Navy in 1944, being as-    any major injuries, he said he suffered from    Flay Randolph, World War II veteran
                                                  signed to the USS Shangri La, an aircraft      hearing loss from the big guns, because at      it went off the road and crashed. The driver
                        Thunderbolt staff writer  carrier. His principle duties were main-       that time there was no ear protection.          was hurt badly, but survived. Fortunately,
                                                  taining the elevators for the aircraft and                                                     Randolph escaped almost unharmed.
   We hear the term ‘larger-than-life’ often,     ammunition.                                       Randolph had finished his military com-
which can mean someone who led a life                                                            mitment and was discharged in Seattle.             To find something safer, he and Rachel
of adventure and was never afraid to try             Randolph’s years on the Shangri La                                                          moved to Quartzsite in western Arizona
something new.                                    etched in his mind and emotions a number          “I hopped a bus back to Avondale, but the    where he sold real estate for Betty Hunter
                                                  of profound events.                            big challenge was finding a job,” he said.      Reality.
   Flay Randolph is such a person. He                                                            “When I returned, jobs were hard to find.
served in the Navy in World War II and               There was the incredible skill and brav-                                                       “I really enjoyed this job and did well at
joined at age 16.                                 ery of the pilots that still amazes him to        “But it wasn’t long before I heard a knock   it,” he said. “I sold a lot of property and met
                                                  this day.                                      at the door. It was a man who said he had       people from a lot of different places, includ-
   “My dad was reluctant to sign the enlist-                                                     a job for me managing his pool hall. I took     ing Canada. It was special because I got to
ment papers because I was underage, but              “I saw pilots who would land on the car-    the job and did well at it.”                    work with my wife.”
he eventually did,” Randolph said. “I told        rier with aircraft missing the tail or wings,
him that if he didn’t sign, I’d find someone      he said. “Many of the pilots miraculously         His job there would lead to him meeting         Randolph’s wife died three years ago on
to sign the papers.”                              survived with only a sprained wrist or         Rachel Irene Tucker, who would become his       her birthday. They had three children—two
                                                  ankle.”                                        wife of 68 years.                               girls and a boy. His daughter Sandra passed
   His first name came by unusual cir-                                                                                                           away from diabetes.
cumstances.                                          Moreover, he said the most profound            Randolph said that Rachel had told him
                                                  event he remembers is the burial at sea of     when she was born, her birth certificate           In looking back at his life, Randolph said
   “My dad served in France during World          his fellow sailors.                            said Baby Tucker, so her mom let her            he is grateful for the blessings he had. He
War I, and his life was saved by a person                                                        name herself.                                   is thankful that the good Lord let him live
with the name of Flay Griffin, so as a tribute       After the war, Randolph would be a part                                                     a good and long life.
to him, my dad gave me his name,” he said.        of the early years of the atomic age.             During the Korean War, Randolph had a
                                                                                                 job preparing aircraft for combat.
   Before joining the Navy, Randolph was             “I participated in Operation Crossroads
already involved in the war effort working        in May 1946, which involved atomic bomb           Shortly afterward, his brother-in-law
in an aircraft factory in Goodyear, Arizona.      testing conducted in the Pacific Ocean at      asked him to manage 10,000 acres of farm-
He said his mother was working in the same        Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands,” he      land between Tolleson and Buckeye.
factory as a riveter.                             said. “I witnessed one above ground and
                                                  one below ground test. The power of these         “I took care of the farm for 15 years grow-
   Randolph has deep Arizona roots. He            weapons was hard to grasp.”                    ing alfalfa and cotton,” he said. “The farm
is a native of Linden, a town just west                                                          kept me busy and water was expensive. I
of Show Low. His family moved to the                 As if all the events of the previous years  developed asthma and on doctor’s orders I
Phoenix area when he was 5. He at-                weren’t enough, Randolph said the Shangri      moved to Payson, Arizona.”
tended Avondale Elementary School and             La ran into a typhoon, but escaped with
Litchfield High School, which closed in           little damage.                                    Randolph took a job with a lumber compa-
the 1950s.                                                                                       ny running a grader for three years, he said.
                                                     Although he was fortunate not to suffer     He had a narrow escape when the driver of
                                                                                                 a logging truck lost control of his truck and

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