Posted on 08/19/2006 8:24:59 PM PDT by budanski
An update to the heroics of this man....
thanks, La Enchiladita
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/10/14/news/120056.txt
Bloomington man loses battle with cancer
By M.K. Guetersloh
mkguetersloh@pantagraph.com
BLOOMINGTON - U.S. Army Col. Dirk Spanton didn't like the hand he was dealt in life, but he made the best of it without complaint.
Spanton, 51, of Bloomington died Friday after losing his battle with cancer. Services are scheduled Tuesday at Carmody-Flynn Williamsburg Funeral Home, Bloomington.
Spanton served 32 months with the Special Forces in Iraq and was diagnosed with cancer of the liver bile ducts shortly after returning home on Memorial Day.
"The man didn't complain," said his wife, Julie Spanton. "He just didn't like what he was dealt, but he didn't whine or complain. He just pushed through the best he could."
Julie Spanton said the past few months have been tough but the family is getting through it. The couple has five children, Ken, 25, Randy, 20, Derek, 17, Craig, 15, and Megan, 9.
"He is a tough fighter, and his family is, too," she added.
Spanton served three tours of duty in Iraq. After the story of his fight with cancer was first reported, the community response was "really wonderful," Julie Spanton said.
"It made him feel good to know that the work he did was appreciated," she said.
However, she added, her husband did not understand why people kept calling him a hero.
"He would say to me, 'What am I missing? I didn't do anything. I was just doing my job,'" she recalled. "And I would tell him, 'You were doing a hero's job.'"
Although the family knew the end was coming near, she said his death caught the family off-guard. She added the former ROTC instructor stayed true to form.
"In the military, you always try to have the element of surprise," said Julie Spanton, also a member of the Army Reserve. "We thought we still had a few more days."
After returning home from Iraq, Spanton spent the summer fighting the cancer through chemotherapy. Doctors estimated Spanton had about six months to live.
Symptoms of the cancer such as back soreness and fatigue were easily dismissed as a result of Spanton's work in Iraq, where he wore a 40-pound flak vest and slept four to six hours a night. Doctors believed the cancer had been spreading for a while.
Spanton served more than 23 years in the Illinois National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve.
In August, Army officials presented Spanton with the Army's Legion of Merit Award and Combat Action Badge.
How to help
A fund has been established for the family of Col. Dirk Spanton.
Memorial contributions can be mailed to
Dirk Spanton Family Trust
P.O. Box 26
Northbrook, IL 60065
Also,
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2006/08/dying_soldier_f.html
This man has been a blessing to all who knew and served under him. His attitude toward his time on this earth is wonderful. He has done his job here, and God has other logistics for him.
Bless his family and friends. He will be missed.
Yes. I agree.
Perspective in life is important, and I try like hell to emulate a man like this.
May God keep U.S. Army Col. Dirk Spanton in His everlasting peace and comfort his family. Thank you for your brave and unselfish service, you're very much appreciated.
God Bless such dedicated and brave Americans, we need them ever so much.
Prayers for the Colonel.
Thank God for this hero. I join in prayers for all the loved ones.
Carolyn
Colonel, I, and we, stand in awe and unbounded pride and salute you and your family.
Ladies and gentlemen......before you, a family that makes America great.
God Bless.
Thank you, bitt. That pantagraph article was the one I found too.
I want to thank U.S. Army Colonel Dirk Spanton's family for supporting his service, including his three deployments to Iraq. You are all great Americans, Mrs. Spanton and children.
He was such a fine man who lived a highly honorable life, and what he gave to me and you and all of us is truly immeasurable. God gifted us in the person of Dirk Stanton and then God called him home.
He is surely greatly missed here, though.
With greatest respect and appreciation, Col. Spanton, may God bless your soul in Heaven.
There just has to be a special place in heaven for Colonel Spanton and all of the warriors like him.
His story should be required reading in each and every school in America.
"..and what he gave to me and you and all of us is truly immeasurable."
That it is. Sacrifice.. with true humility.. in the highest sense of those words.
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