Jack Simpson
In 1941, Jack Simpson rode his Harley from Atlanta to Chicago for training as a Navy Reserve Officer. “I was riding home, through Indiana, [when] a big bug hit the back of my throat. I got so sick. I pulled into a nursing home and spent the night.” (credit: Jack Simpson Family) On Dec. 7, 1941, Jack Simpson was in Boston, waiting for Plunkett to return from a convoy across the North Atlantic. That afternoon, he was a spectator at the first hockey game he’d ever seen, having gained free admission because he was in uniform. There was “an announcement that Pearl Harbor had been attacked and all military people [were asked to] report to the base.” (credit: Jack Simpson Family) When Jack Simpson reported for duty in the Pacific aboard a new Fletcher-class destroyer, more than a month after the Navy called for his detachment from Plunkett, his new commanding officer asked where the hell he’d been. “I said, ‘fighting Germans.’” (credit: Jack Simpson Family) Jack Simpson finally got what he wanted when he joined “Admiral Halsey’s outfit” aboard the USS Morrison (DD-560). (credit: Jack Simpson Family) After losing two ships during the war, Jack launched a successful career as a businessman who bought losing propositions and turned them around. (credit: Jack Simpson Family)