StoryCorps Shorts: My Father, the Giant

Synopsis

Caught in a thoughtless act of cruelty, a young man learns a lesson in compassion from his father, a larger-than-life tribal leader of the Caddo Nation and a veteran of World War II. Years later, the man passes that lesson down to his own son.

Thompson Williams was growing up in Oklahoma as one of eight children during the period he describes, when his father Melford captured his imagination and set his moral compass. Thompson came to StoryCorps with his own son, Kiamichi-tet.