‘It's a piece of history and it belongs to this family': A Bakersfield Army veteran's quest to return a piece of World War II history back home
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — It's a mystery: how did Vinson Paul Haralson's enlistment card from more than 80 years ago land on a Bakersfield bus bench?
The card was found by a fellow veteran, and bus driver, Jeremy Bagby.
'This person joined a Navy a month after they bombed Pearl Harbor. I want to try to get it back to their family,' Bagby said.
We met Bagby a few months earlier when he was given a car at a Bakersfield Condors hockey game. The former Army sergeant had been biking through the streets of Bakersfield. That Toyota Highlander was a well-deserved gift for a veteran who fell on hard times after his service.
'I could've made a lot of better decisions in life, I guess,' said Bagby. 'This is going to change everything.'
Then, he mentioned he found the card tossed on a bench by a man digging through the trash. That card belonged to a World War II veteran.
'My niece called and said 'look at the news.' And it just shocked me that we saw that name,' said Sandy Haralson Tiner, Vinson Paul Haralson's last surviving relative. She's the only one still alive who actually knew the man.
'There was three boys and a girl,' said Tiner. 'They farmed in Arkansas, but when the crash happened, they all moved to California like in 'The Grapes of Wrath' and lived in Arvin and farmed, lived in tents.'
Vinson was a Navy deep-sea diver in Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack in 1941.
'Good-natured, hard workers,' said Tiner. 'That's the way they were brought up.'
Vinson survived the war although, he contracted a lung disease in the 1960s. He died in 1971, and was buried at North Kern Cemetery in Delano.
'We have his birth certificate, his driver's license, all his pictures that he had,' said Tiner. 'I inherited it from my dad. And he got it from his sister. I thought I had it all.'
One more piece of family history missing, but not for much longer.
'I think I found something that belongs to you,' Bagby said, making his way to Tiner's front door where she awaited for her uncle's return.
'I can't even explain it. It's very surreal,' said Tiner. 'Nice and kind, I'm glad he did that. Because it needs to be passed down to my children.'
'I'm happy, I'm very happy. That's where it belongs,' said Bagby. 'It's not an ordinary, everyday card. It's a piece of history and it belongs to this family.'
After more than 80 years, Bagby made sure another piece of Vinson Haralson's life is home, fulfilling the code of no man left behind.
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