"I'd say the chances are darn good he's dead," he said in a raspy voice. "But just like when you're in a jury trial, you have to be beyond reasonable doubt. Me, I got reasonable doubt."
Jim Caniford understands, but no doubts haunt him any longer. That single tooth provides him the resolution he needed, even if it means accepting, with finality, that his boy is really dead. He will be glad to see the MIA marker at Arlington National Cemetery replaced by a gravestone and the obelisk at Frederick's Vietnam Memorial amended to indicate that Jimmy's been found.
Two months ago, Navarro visited him and Janice at their white stucco condominium in Fort Myers. Birds chirped and palm trees swayed in the breeze when the military mortician arrived bearing a thick report on Spectre 13.
They gathered at the dining room table. Jim asked most of the questions. Both parents leaned in to see the before-and-after X-rays of the tooth and marveled at the identical topography of the filling. Neither shed a tear.
Jim told Navarro how tough the wait had been. "I've never reconciled myself to the fact that my son was gone, until I got the phone call that the remains had been found.
"This is finalization."
But not the end. From the moment he found out, Caniford knew he would be the one to bring his son home.
So Wednesday of last week he flew to Hawaii, where the government has a mortuary lab, so he could escort the casket to Arlington for Wednesday's funeral, complete with marching band and jet flyover.
Today, his flight east is scheduled to land at Dulles International Airport. It was there in Northern Virginia, some four decades ago, that he and his wife saw off their son on his final return to Southeast Asia. The 23-year-old had given them a Seiko watch to hold.
From the observation deck the parents had watched their son's plane take off and gain altitude until there was nothing left to see.
scott.calvert@baltsun.com
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See a video of Jimmy Caniford's father, an interactive timeline and map and more photos at baltimoresun.com/caniford.
