"Dad" Knowland was the old man at the shipyard where they repaired the PT boat.
He is played by Russell Simpson. When everyone was leaving, "Dad" said he'd been there too long to leave and he'd stay and fight the Japs. As the rest leave, "Dad" sits with his rifle and "Red River Valley" plays softly. Russell Simpson also played Pa Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath" (another John Ford movie) and Red River Valley was notable in that film.
I don't think that he's really ever been given credit for it but John Ford could play with your heart strings every bit as well as Frank Capra. The scene you mention is one great example, and the one in The Grapes of Wrath which has Ma Joad burning her modest treasures and memories that will not be making the trip to California with her is another. Another scene that always touches me is My Country Tis of Thee being sung as the officers file out of the dance after hearing of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Capra used it too in Meet John Doe, and if it was up to me that would be our national anthem. It is a song that not only expresses the love of our nation, but also the reason for that love.
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