Angel on My Shoulder

Harley Hamilton Tuck decided when he was a teenager he wanted to leavethe world a better place than it was when he got here. He flew combat duringWorld War II as a radio operator aboard a B-17 bomber completing twentysevenmissions before bailing out of a flaming ship over France to spend ayear in Austria's infamous Stalag 17B as a Prisoner of War. Tuck took theopportunity to begin educating himself in the field of agriculture attendedcollege when he returned to the States and started teaching a few years later.Tuck took his skills around the world over the course of his career trainingoutreach workers among the remote Hill Tribes near the Laotian border fora decade joining the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organizationand relocating to Afghanistan in 1972 where he supervised a fleet of UnitedNations vehicles and farm equipment working with Afghan mechanics whotaught him as much as he taught them. When he accepted a UN position inIndonesia Tuck continued training teachers working through various programsin rural areas to improve and modernize agricultural practices. He eventuallycreated his own Indonesian corporation to provide consulting services in hisfield learning growing and teaching until his retirement in the late 1990s. Tuckcredits the Angel on his shoulder for escorting him through the harrowingcollection of hazards and close calls he encountered in his extensive travels.Hitch a ride from a fruit ranch in Central Washington State through thefiery skies of the European War Theater tour the back-country of Thailandthe noisy streets of Kabul and Java's steamy jungles with Tuck for a first-classadventure with a generous-hearted and unusual man whose desire was to leavea positive mark on this world.