WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 -- The U.S. Army issued the following news release:
Sitting on the porch of a plantation house in Clarksdale, Mississippi, then seven-year-old Lacy Harrell Jr. saw a crop-dusting plane fly over his head. His grandfather, a sharecropper, was also on the porch talking to his boss.
Still staring at the sky, Harrell said, "When I grow up, I'm going to fly one of those."
The boss laughed at the thought. However, Harrell's grandfather didn't take it as a joke. He motioned for Lacy to come in the house and as they entered, he said, "Junior, you can fly those planes if you want to."
Harrell's grandfather was a man of few words, but when he spoke people listened.
"That really stuck with me as a kid because I knew if my grand...