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TwitThisStrengthening Their Bond
"If I had gotten killed," John told Herb, "not a thing would have been said. They would have just sent my body home. It was a terrible thought to have about the country that you'd been willing to die for."But to counter any resentment he might feel toward whites after the war, John joined a multiracial church. "I couldn't go through life hating people just because of the color of their skin," he says. "I couldn't not forgive." And through his wife, a teacher, he began giving talks at schools about his war-time experiences and the importance of overcoming prejudice.
John invited Herb to come to one of his talks. "I knew people faced racism," Herb admits, "but it never hit home until I heard John speak. And I felt a certain complicity. I hadn't done anything to make it worse, but I hadn't done anything to make it better."
When John asked Herb to join him at the lectern, Herb saw it as a way to make good on a debt he owed to his new friend -- and to hundreds like him, who'd been unsung heroes of the war.
"The kids are fascinated hearing John talk," Herb explains. "Then he introduces me. We give each other a hug. When we show them the picture of our class, they cheer."
In the fall of 2003, the pair received the Harvard Foundation medal for encouraging racial diversity. "Having Herb tell people how grateful and proud he is of us makes me realize I could have had this relationship for 77 years, not just eight," says John. "Because of racism, he stayed in his world and I stayed in mine. We don't want that to happen to two other little boys."
"Adlai Stevenson once praised Eleanor Roosevelt because she'd rather 'light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world,' " says Herb. "Johnny and I aren't about to warm the world, but I think our story has certainly lit a few candles."
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