OTMJ OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL u OTMJ.COM
SPORTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019
SOCIAL
A Great Escape
Vietnam Vet’s Children’s Book Compiled with Stories He Sent Home During Service By Emily Williams
Larry, born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, never felt a strong call to arms during his childhood. His claim to fame at that time was playing on the high school basketball team. After high school, he was scouted to apply for
See MICHALOVE, page 13
www.pigbham.com
In 1977, Larry Michalove, above with wife Sybil, retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel with an aeronautical rating of master navigator and settled into civilian life. The Michaloves later compiled the stories he wrote and created a book, left, that his children shared with grandchildren. Published in 2005 by iUniverse, the book (available on Amazon) won the Military Writers Society of America’s 2005 Distinguished Book Award for Children’s Literature. Right, Larry (back row, center) served in the 16th Special Operations Squadron on AC-13 gunships.
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Photo courtesy Larry Michalove
Freezing Cold and the Northern Lights
Journal photos by Ingrid Schnader
A
s Larry and Sybil Michalove sit together looking through a scrapbook of memories in anticipation of their 60th wedding anniversary in 2020, there are many moments to celebrate. Some moments are bright, but it is the darker ones that seem to remain most clear. On July 3, 1970, the Michaloves moved into a three-bedroom apartment in Homewood, welcomed by a broken air conditioner and temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. They had their four children in tow, Lisa, 9; David, 6½; Stacy, nearly 3; and Karen, 1½. It might have been the last home they shared together, since in just days Larry was to leave for Air Force training and, inevitably, Southeast Asia. But during those 14 months on assignment, he found time to put pen to paper. “I must have over 300 letters,” Sybil said. “He wrote me every day, and then once a week he would send a story” that he had written for the children. In those stories, Larry didn’t discuss his life stationed in Thailand, the 114 combat missions he flew, the successes or the near misses. Instead, he wrote fantasies starring four little children who went on magical adventures to far-off worlds but always made it home in time for dinner. More than 15 years later, the couple unpacked the letters from a stored box and compiled a children’s book, “The Four Little Children, A Likely Story.” Throughout the stories there are small details that can be traced back to Larry’s experiences.
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