Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Flyover scheduled for Harry Grennay
REARDAN – On July 4, three-time war veteran Harry Grennay will be recognized with an air show flyover at the Reardan softball field from 5-6 p.m. The flyover itself is expected around 5:30 p.m. For safety measures, guests are being asked to remain in their cars.
The event recognizes Grennay’s extended and varied service as a member of the U.S. Air Force.
Over 70 years ago, Reardan resident Harry Grennay was receiving training on how to fly planes in the Pacific theater during World War II. Grennay, who spent his youth in Michigan, enlisted in the Air Force in 1944 and entered basic training as World War II neared its end. Grennay had to work most of his childhood on the family farm, milking cows and shoveling manure to put food in his mouth during the Great Depression.
“I didn’t have any shoes when I joined the army,” Grennay said. “When I got my shoes issued to me, I spent the first two weeks walking backward just to watch the pretty tracks they made.”
Grennay spent a year in basic training, learning how to operate B-29 specialist planes, the same kind that would eventually drop atomic bombs on Japan, effectively ending the war. By the time Grennay was done with basic training, “the shooting part of it was over with.”
“The war was just about over when I was in the service,” Grennay related.
Grennay spent time in Hawaii and the Philippines as World War II ended. At the beginning of his time in the Air Force, he spent three years writing letters back and forth with a young lady two years his senior. She was named Joanne. Grennay had met Joanne in Traverse City, Michigan on a movie outing with a close friend and Joanne’s sister, Rose.
“He (my friend) said, ‘hey, I’m gonna go take Rose to a movie next Saturday night. Why don’t you come along, and we’ll ask her sister to go,’” Grennay said with a chuckle.
Joanne became Grennay’s wife in 1948 when he returned from the Pacific. The couple, who would be married 60 years before Joanne’s passing in 2008, had three children: Edith, Linda and John.
“She was a good wife,” Grennay said. “She raised the children.”
Moses Lake was Grennay’s first exposure to the state of Washington in 1952, where he lived for several months while remaining in the Air Force before going to Korea for the Korean War.
Between wars, Grennay spent seven years at Geiger Field, where Spokane International Airport is currently located.
However, Korea wouldn’t be the end of Grennay’s war experience. After living in Lakenheath, England for three years and Victorville, California for three more with his family, Grennay entered the Vietnam War in 1966. He spent a year in Vietnam and Laos, Thailand. While in Laos, he was a part of secret missions, which involved him dressing in civilian clothes while on duty.
After that year, Grennay spent several months stationed at Luke Field in Phoenix before being called back to Southeast Asia for another year. He spent that year in Takhli, Thailand. Grennay said “nothing” extraordinary happened during this second tour in the Vietnam War.
Finally, on March 1, 1969, Grennay retired from the Air Force after three wars and over 24 years of service. He worked his way up the ladder during those 24 years, holding ranks of private first class, corporal, sergeant, staff sergeant, technical sergeant and his retiring rank of master sergeant.
“I always say, ‘I was staff sergeant at the end of World War II, I was tech sergeant when I left Korea and master sergeant when I went to Vietnam,” Grennay said.
During his time in the service, Grennay picked up a few words in various languages like Thai and Japanese. He said he can even carry a conversation in Thai.
Grennay had enjoyed his brief stay in Moses Lake and wanted to move to Washington after retirement. Grennay and his family moved to Spokane and bought a home. Grennay owned construction equipment that he rented out to private contractors, assisting them with asphalt paving and other projects.
“I was 40 years old when I retired from the military,” Grennay said. “Then I came home and went to work,” he added. “There’s hardly a highway in Eastern Washington that I haven’t worked on.”
He kept his business up for 20 years before deciding to sell his equipment, retire and move out to his current residence a few miles east of Reardan, where he’s lived for the past 22 years. He and his current wife, Joy, have been married for five years after meeting at a senior potluck in Reardan. His lone surviving child, John, owns a boat repair business in Spokane. Joanne, Edith and Linda have all passed.
These days Grennay is a competitive trap shooter. A chicken coop on his property has been converted into a gun clubhouse. He’s taught many people how to shoot, including Reardan High School student Dave Mann. A picture of Grennay and Mann hangs in Grennay’s home.
“He’s a natural born shooter,” Grennay said of Mann, who refers to him as “Mr. Harry.”
Grennay’s connection with Reardan High’s Associated Student Body (ASB) club, which organized the July 4 flyover, began when he was invited to speak at the school’s Veteran’s Day assembly. He read Otto Whittaker’s poem “I am the nation.” Students responded with a rousing ovation.
When ASB student adviser Andrea McLaughlin reached out to Grennay letting him know about the flyover, Grennay was stunned. He told his step-daughter, whose birthday is July 4, that they’d have to “make different arrangements.”
“Evidently there’s some nice people in Reardan,” Grennay said. “I couldn’t believe the (event is happening).”
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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