Love still blooms, 60 years later

Former prisoner of war Frank Driver meets nursing student Jeanie and signs on for six decades plus

By Sharon Nesbit

The Gresham Outlook, Apr 27, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

<< Prev. Page 1 | 2

War and post-war, says Corbett historian Clarence Mershon, infused Corbett with new blood and new residents like the Drivers.

“There were two influences there, the CCCs (Civilian Conservation Corps) had camps that brought new men into the community. Boy, did they (Corbett women) latch on to them, then the second infusion was returning veterans.”

Mershon interviewed Frank Driver for a local history on war veterans, eliciting stories of Bataan and Corregidor that Jeanie had never heard. Driver, a man of sparse, but pithy words, was in the U.S. Navy dug in on Corregidor when the Americans surrendered on May 6, 1942. He joined thousands of prisoners in a POW camp at Camp Cabanatuan before being shipped to Manchuria for forced labor in a machine tool factory.

“I never did know what we were making,” Frank says, “but we did what we could to foul it up.”

Rescued by the Russians at war’s end, he was shipped to Saipan aboard a vessel that endured a three-day typhoon and was struck by a mine. In Guam for medical treatment, Frank remembers that he and others heard of places giving away free beer.

“We went and the first guy I saw was my cousin.”

Though he was partially disabled for a time, Frank Driver wanted and got what everybody wanted after the war – a life, a wife, kids and a bit of land. They bought 5 acres in Corbett for $500 an acre.

“This isn’t in the boondocks,” Frank protests, then reconsiders and says, “Well, maybe it was then.”

“Frank and many of the WWII vets … formally organized the fire department in 1949,” Bryson says. “Frank has told me stories of the entire department spending countless drill nights just doing simple body work to fix all of the leaks in the 1939 water tender so that it could move down the road and arrive at a destination with some water still in the tank. It took two people to drive it down the Corbett Hill – one to drive and one to hold the brake.”

Frank Driver was a Boy Scout leader before he had a son of his own. He served on the fire department board and joined the VFW. Jeanie worked with Girl Scouts and Camp Fire girls, was a room mother and did community nursing.

“Everybody volunteered for everything in those days,” Frank says.

Their son, Frank Stuart Driver, who died five years ago, twice served in Vietnam. The Drivers’ grandson, Travis Ledbetter, a U.S. Marine, has just returned from Iraq.

“It is hard for me to explain, sometimes,” Jeanie muses, “how I support our troops but not this war.”

Still thinking on her own, living independently and remembering to be appreciative when people offer help. “That’s what we’re doing,” Jeanie says.

Their two daughters, Catherine Driver and Laurie Ledbetter, suggest notes, cards, photos and reminiscences in celebration of the anniversary and warn against gifts, saying their parents “don’t need any more stuff.”

“If you are totally committed to a gift,” they suggest donations to two education scholarships that the Drivers fund through the Corbett Education Foundation, 35800 E. Historic Columbia River Highway, Corbett, 97019.

<< Prev. Page 1 | 2

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit