Ivan Walker Harker grew up in Lewisville, Jefferson County, Idaho, the son of Parley and Elizabeth Walker Harker. Like most young men of his generation, he enlisted rather than waiting to be drafted. Norman recalls that his father simply joined — “at that time everybody just joined” — and went in as a Navy man.

Ivan trained somewhere in the Midwest, possibly Michigan, and shipped out to the South Pacific aboard a destroyer. His rate was motor machinist mate, third class. He served aboard ship throughout his deployment, as far as Norman knows never setting foot on land in Asia. He was in the Pacific for most of the war — Norman estimates roughly three years of service.

Norman at one point tried to identify Ivan’s ship by writing away for records but never received a response. The specific vessel remains unknown.

Ivan came home from the war to Lewisville. He and Gayl Lovell were married on August 8, 1944, in Bay City, Michigan — the bay city that appears in the family record is likely connected to his naval service or training. Their son Van Glenn was born in October 1945, and Norman followed in June 1948.

Ivan would have served in the Pacific at roughly the same time as Don Phillips, Marilyn’s father, who served in the Marines during World War II.