Along with owning an NFL team, Wellington Mara can also include "war veteran" on his list of life accomplishments. He enlisted in the Navy in November of 1941, just weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Recently, details of Mara's time spent serving in World War II on aircraft carrier USS Randolph in the South Pacific was made public when a box of letters he sent to his brother, Jack, and to his parents was discovered in an attic. The letters contained accounts of rescues at sea, kamikaze attacks, and debilitating homesickness (via NFL.com). He also wrote about his worries over the Giants and the whole NFL league.
In one of his letters to his brother, Mara lets him know how tense the situation was becoming on the ship. "Yesterday, the captain told the crew we were in enemy waters ... It's pretty near kickoff now and my nerves are getting a little tense. It seems as though we can surely expect something ... It all comes down to that old question, did they spot us? Tomorrow morning we will know the answer, and if they didn't, it will be tough on them. If they did, it will be tough on us, but I hope it will be tough on them, too," he writes (via NFL.com).
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