Smith: World War II soldier and teen songstress charm Healdsburg salute to veterans

Fond and funny and quite moving, the Veterans Day breakfast in Healdsburg on Friday could have been called the Harry and Dallas Show.

The stars of the 7 a.m. tribute at Villa Chanticleer were 94-year-old Harry Morse and 16-year-old Dallas Caroline.

Healdsburg resident Morse joined the U.S. Army in 1940 and served in Europe during World War II, then Korea, then Vietnam. He was keynote of the breakfast, hosted by the Rotary Club of Healdsburg Sunrise and American Legion Post 111.

Caroline is home-schooled and has launched a career as a singer-songwriter. She has sung at the Veterans Day breakfast - the National Anthem, God Bless America, America the Beautiful and the songs of each branch of the military - since the event began seven years ago.

They provided the perfect bookends to the gathering. Caroline said three of her uncles are veterans and it makes her proud to sing for all who have donned uniforms in service to their country.

Morse, who retired as a sergeant, shared anecdotes from his decades in the Army. The veteran of four amphibious landings, he recalled once stepping off a landing craft just offshore and being shocked to sink over his head.

“I walked along the bottom of the ocean,” he said, until at last his helmet surfaced and he could once again breathe.

Dressed in his well-preserved uniform, Morse told the Veterans Day assembly there up the hill from Healdsburg, “This is the greatest honor I’ve ever had.”