Vets Passing On
Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:00 pm
I went to Charleston for a funeral yesterday for a WWII vet. He graduated High school during the war, and went right into the navy. After the war, he went to college and got a bachelor's. He worked in various fisheries and even ran his own charter boat. For his middle age crisis, he decided to go back to school and got an M.S, and then a PhD in marine science. This was a guy I have known for 35+ years. When I first met him, he was head of the research lab at the Marine Resources Div of SCDNR. I have worked with him several times over the years, even after he retired some years ago. He has written several books on various aspects of marine fisheries, and even mentioned me in a couple of them. The last time he was out on the boat with me was last spring. It may have been the last time he was out on a boat. He was 86 and had been fighting cancer for the last couple of years. It took his body, but his mind was still good right to the end. He was working on another book at the time. Probably not the happiest Christmas for his family, but they all knew it was coming, and his wife had passed away a couple of years ago. He lived a good long life, and left everyone with a lot of happy memories.
Three of the guys I served with in Viet Nam passed away this year, one of them just last week. I had seen them all in 2008 at our last reunion. There are fewer of us all the time.
Three of the guys I served with in Viet Nam passed away this year, one of them just last week. I had seen them all in 2008 at our last reunion. There are fewer of us all the time.
