Chick's War

Not a colorful figure, he said. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

We’ll start today’s story in April 1942, in the Philippines. Charles Thomas Parsons Jr. had been stranded with his family after the Japanese invasion.

But, so far they’d been relatively lucky.

Born in poverty in Tennessee, known to his friends as “Chick,” Parsons had spent his childhood going back and forth between the U.S. and Manila. He lived there with an uncle who had a more stable job than his family back home.

Now he was a grown man. He’d built a very profitable career buying and running companies in the port of Manila, and along the way, he’d also picked up two credentials that would greatly affect his life:

• First, a commission as a lieutenant (j.g.) in the U.S. Naval Reserve, and

• Second, an appointment as a diplomat representing the government of Panama in the Philippines. (His qualifications: He’d done business with Panama for years, he spoke fluent Spanish, and there was nobody else available to fill the role.)

The first credential meant that as an American officer, Parsons was …