The following article, published in the Huntsville Times, was written by Harold Hutchison, Jr. and edited by Wendy Reeves; Harold L. Hutchison, Sr. once told his first son about the sound of German bullets slamming against the door of a landing craft on D-Day in World War II. "It reminded him of hail falling on a tin roof," said Harold Hutchison, Jr. The elder Hutchison died Nov.22 at the age of 82. His funeral was held the day after Thanksgiving. " A November wind can chill a person down to the bone, but for a brief period of time I don't think any of us could feel it", Hutchison said. "We were saying goodbye to a man precious to us all." As a member of the military honor guard placed shell casings from a final salute inside a neatly folded flag, a soldierly virtue was called out for each one: duty,honor,courage. "Our Father learned the meaning of these words as a young man on a beach in Northern France," he said. "He was already hardened by life from growing up during the Great Depression, but I feel like that one day and the days that followed are what truly made Daddy the man he turned out to be." Hutchison said his father was in his 70s before he ever spoke about that day in Normandy. "It was duty,honor and courage that moved him forward that day," Hutchison said. "I sensed a feeling of guilt in some of the stories he told. Guilt he had carried a very long time. But it was not the kind of guilt one feels when he's done something wrong. Guilt is but one of many feelings one experiences when exposed to combat. It is derived from the very thing you set out to do in the first place, survive." Hutchison believes his father probably wondered why he survived when so many others did not."In some measure, I think he lived the rest of his life as a tribute to them,"he said. When he returned home from the war, Harold Sr. married the love of his life,Sue Langley. Their journey together lasted 59 years. In the early 1960s, the couple moved to Huntsville from Spring Hill, Tenn. Hutchison said his father was a security guard at Redstone Arsenal,working for NASA."He used to ride the barge guarding the Saturn rocket wherever it went." His father was also a carpenter who helped build the forms for the concrete steps at the Von Braun Center, and he helped work on the old Huntsville Hilton. From there,he went to work in maintenancefor many years at the Madison County Courthouse. Hutchison, a Huntsville Police Officer, would always make a point to visit the maintenace shop when he had to appear in court. The Hutchisons had two sons, Harold Jr. and David;and two daughters Karen and Susan. The couple had 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Hutchison said everyone in the family inherited qualities from his father. "Whether it was his hard head,kind heart or both,"he said."Everyone who knew him got something." Hutchison said his father lived his life with simple goals:Duty to family,honor of family and courage for family. It showed in the things he did: Taking a child to the doctor when he had no money to pay the bill. Working until his body ached to put food on the table. Watching his grandkids play in the yard. Praising a sunrise over Guntersville Lake with a Crappie pole in his hand or sipping a cold beer under a shade tree with the love of his life by his side."I don't think he ever forgot about those boys who never made it home, the ones who never had a chance to do any of the things that brought him so much joy,"his son said. "But he led a full life in his 82 years."