At age 17, when Jack Marion Landrum ran down Ponce De Leon Avenue to enlist in the service during World War II, he made a decision that would shape the rest of his life.
But he almost didn’t make it. The recruiting office had reached its quota. It wasn’t until later that a spot opened. He seized the opportunity, and within a day he was shipped out.
His journey in the Navy began as a corpsman and X-ray technician. He served on the aircraft carrier USS Antietam, which voyaged to the western Pacific, until the war ended.
Beginning with his Navy service, his life was marked by serving others. In his later years, he worked as an officer at the DeKalb County and the state health departments.
“He would always help anyone who needed help,” said his daughter, Margaret Landrum Harrison.
Landrum died Aug. 13 in his Lawrenceville home from a head injury sustained in a fall. He was 89. A funeral was held at Ivy Creek Baptist Church. Flanigan Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Landrum returned to Atlanta after the war to enroll at Mercer University. He joined the Navy Reserve and met the woman he would marry, Mary Steel of Atlanta. They were wed in 1948.
Four years ago Landrum brought a stack of tablets to his son, Tom Landrum, containing memoirs of his stint in the Navy. The father and son worked to publish them as a book, “Memoirs of Service in the U.S. Navy.” A copy can be found at the Atlanta History Center and the University of Georgia special collections library.
“All of his life was shaped by his early days to join the Navy and I think that’s what motivated him to write about it,” said Tom Landrum.
The thoughtful man prided himself on family traditions like cooking Thanksgiving turkey. In his free time he enjoyed fishing, hunting, gardening and classical music. He was a member of the troop committee for Boy Scout Troop 175 in Decatur.
When the state health department designed a program to detect cervical cancer in the early stages, Landrum traveled around the state to let public health officers and doctors know testing would be available.
Landrum and his wife were married for 65 years. “He was very proud and private,” Mary Landrum said. And, “We never had a problem we couldn’t pray about.”
Harrison said he took care of her mother in a way that her brother and husband model their life after.
The proud husband also had a great sense of humor, his wife said.
He knew, “my name was Ms. Right and my first name was Always.”
In addition to his wife, son and daughter, Landrum is survived by eight grandchildren, all of Atlanta.
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