Former abc13 KTRK anchor Dave Ward might not be on the nightly news anymore, but he is still plenty busy in the Houston community.
This week, ahead of Veterans Day, Ward visited residents living at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in the world famous Texas Medical Center to see a special donation he made there almost a year ago.
"There must be over 200 books in this collection, and nobody will believe me, but I have read everyone of those books over the years," Ward told mikemcguff.com.
Ward, an avid student of World War II, donated his personal library of books covering the event in his early life that he still believes is shaping the world even today.
"I grew up during World War II, I can remember Pearl Harbor Day and I can remember the reaction of the people in Huntsville, I was growing up in Huntsville," Ward recalled to me. "And I can remember the feeling of genuine fear all over the United States after that had happened. We're fighting Japan in one hemisphere and the Nazis and Germany in the other hemisphere and it was a frightening time. A very frightening time.
"As I grew older, I was fascinated about that period from 1935 to 1945 that I think changed the history of the world. It was certainly the most definitive ten years in the 20th century."
Ward talked to a group of gathered veterans about his father, Henry Ward. The senior Ward served during World War I in France.
As he shared his father's story, Ward passed around a photo of his father along with a snippet of his Individual Pay Record Book.
According to the University of North Texas history library, this book was carried by WWI soldiers for their records. It would serve as a way to track items like total monthly pay, deductions, net monthly pay, date paid, and the name of the quartermaster making the payment.
"I've often told my friends that if that war had continued another couple of weeks, I might have never existed, but thank heavens it did end and he came back," Ward told me.
Besides his charitable works, Ward was in the news this week thanks to his former TV home. KTRK named Dave and Laura Ward as a Houston power couple.
To all of the people who have emailed me about how they miss Dave Ward on television, I have included audio of my interview with him below.
You can follow what Dave is doing now on Facebook at @davewardshouston.
