The Inanity of Sanity: REMEMBERING JOHN RICH, NEWSMAN

A regular guy with a glamorous life

John H. Rich, Jr. passed away last week. Who's he?

You likely didn't see the obit, unless you happened to be reading the Portland (Maine) Press Herald. If you're of a certain age, the name might seem familiar if you watched NBC during the great days of TV news. He was a foreign correspondent for the network through the 50's to the 70's. He covered the war in Korea and Vietnam end-to-end, was part of the first delegation to China with Nixon and, late in his career, reported on the Gulf War in the early 90's.

Rich was a remarkable figure in that everyday way that many of the "Greatest Generation" were. He lived an extraordinary life and made it seem like no big deal. There was a quality of amazement he had telling his own stories as I interviewed him nearly ten years ago to capture his personal history for his family and for posterity. In all, it took some twenty hours for him to take me from his upbringing in Maine to island-hopping with General MacArthur as a Marine translator to his career in broadcast news. For all that, I was only able to skim the surface.

He had seen war both as a participant as an observer. I'll never forget what

Hammering out copy in Korea, circa 1951

he said was a common denominator between the soldiers he'd seen down through the years. "They're always so young," he said, something that became painfully obvious as he matured.

I also remember him talking of the camaraderie between fellow journalists/ veterans. For many years after WWII, those at the press club in Tokyo would inevitably share stories about their part in it. They had a custom for when the old soldiers drifted into these tales. They were only permitted to do so while donning the standard issue steel helmet they had on hand for this purpose.

Rich started as a newspaper reporter, then moved to radio. His greatest work was in pioneering the new media of his day, TV. With it, he was able to realize what NBC News chief Reuven Frank said was its unique quality to shape our world.

The highest power of television journalism is not in the transmission of information but in the transmission of experience.

With his "Seoul Mate," D. Lee

John Rich's life's work was seeking out extraordinary experiences, then bringing them home to us. Of necessity, he brought his home with him whether as bureau chief for NBC in Tokyo or Paris. D. Lee, his wife for some 60 years, was along for most of it. She passed just weeks before he did. And with them, I feel a sadness at the passing of an era. They had taken up - and been taken up - by the call of journalism in a time of changing media. Suddenly, television offered the hope for transforming the world, perhaps creating a Global Village. Maybe we'd get to know each other a bit
better, hopefully for the better.

John Rich is gone, but this work continues. Perhaps our digital news will carry forward TV's power of transmitting experience by actualizing the New Media's ability to foster mutual understanding.

Here's a few select moments from a life well lived: