| Harold Russell |
| Harold Russell and Cathy O'Donnell in William Wyler's Academy Award-winning film, "The Best Years of Our Lives." Studio Photo -- 1946 |
| In addition to his Best Supporting Actor Oscar, Russell was awarded a second Oscar "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans." |
| Harold Russell in 1964, with Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Head of the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation. Photo by Joe Carvajal |
| Clipping scanned from April, 2002, edition of the American Legion Magazine |
| Academy Award-winning actor Harold Russell and Joe Carvajal first became friends in the late '50s, when Carvajal was doing some free-lance, moonlighting P.R. work for the AMVETS organization which Russell had helped to launch (along with Stan Allen and others). In 1963, Carvajal became Executive Secretary to President Kennedy's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, with retired Marine Corps General Melvin Maas as Chairman of the Committee. Following General Maas' death, President Johnson appointed Harold Russell as Chairman, and Carvajal's old friend became his boss. When Carvajal left that job to enter the Foreign Service, in 1966, Russell continued on as Committee Chairman for a number of years. That Presidential appointment was without doubt Harold Russell's "high-watermark" job, and it's surprising that this American Legion Magazine article doesn't even mention it. |
| Harold Russell in a 1947 studio publicity photo. (Carvajal was a junior in high school at the time.) |
