We Just Lost Another Hero:( (Vanity)

[The Bass Player]

I sincerely hope and wish this Christmas and New Year find all of you Freepers well and blessed.

I am deeply saddened to let you know that we have just lost another WW2 vet, and a hero in my eyes.

Fellow Freeper, Dominnae's Father, Robert passed away from lung cancer in the early evening on New Year's Eve.

Robert, or Pops as he preferred to be called, lied about his age a few days after Pearl Harbor, and joined the Navy.

He served on the USS Reeves, a Destroyer. She was part of a convoy escort in the North Atlantic, and also refitted and joined the Pacific theater.

Pops was a "Frogman", part of the UDT, the orginal SEAL's.

And, in addition to other things, he helped make history as part of the very first damage assessment and medical relief teams on the ground in Nagasaki, just days after the A Bomb blast.

Back in November, Dominnae and I asked for your prayers, and you guys came through in spades.

She and I are very grateful. Not sure if I am doing this correctly or not, but here is the url for that thread. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1914446/posts

At the time, she read all of your kind posts to Pops, and he was very touched.

I've been very honored and privileged to have known him. I've lost a family member, a hero and a friend.

The world is a very sadder place today on this New Year's Day.

I'm sure that when she can, Dominnae will get in touch with all of you who posted your kind support and prayers back in November.

She and I, and her family are so very grateful for all of you.

If you're the drinking sort, and I know's it's real early on New Year's Day, but, I'd like to please ask, that in addition to any prayers, thought's, to please if you wish, when you lift your fave glass of adult beverage today, to lift it in a toast a salute to Pops, he truly earned it.

"To Absent Friends" Again, thank you and God Bless:)

[Into the Vortex]

Thank you Pops. I’m not very good in the prayer department, but I’ll think about what you saw and did for us.

[colorcountry]

I mourn his loss to us, but by Grace, he is in the loving arms of the Father.

Thank you for the notification.

[Col Freeper]

Rest in Peace Pops. Posting this in your memory:

~JUST A COMMON SOLDIER~

© 1987 A. Lawrence Vaincourt

http://www.vaincourt.homestead.com/Common_Soldier.html

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion telling stories of his past
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies~~they were heroes, every one.

And tho’ sometimes to his neighbours, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke
But we’ll hear his tales no longer, for old Bill has passed away,
And the world’s a little poorer, for the soldier died today.

He won’t be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary, quick and uneventful life
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way
And the world won’t note his passing, tho’ a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great,
Papers tell their life stories from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

In the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
One guy breaks his promises and cons his fellow man
But the ordinary fellow, who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country and offers up his life.

A politician’s stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives
While the ordinary soldier who offered up his all
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps a pension small.

It’s so easy to forget them, for it was so long ago
That the old Bills of our country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys
Who won for us the freedom that our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger with your enemies at hand
Would you want a politician with his ever~shifting stand
Or would you prefer a soldier who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and country and would fight right to the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin
But his presence should remind us we may need his likes again.
For when countries are in conflict then we find the soldier’s part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honour while he’s here to hear the praise,
Then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,

“OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING, FOR A SOLDIER DIED TODAY !!”