More family sadness
My uncle who had been fighting cancer passed away last night. My mother waited 24 hours to tell me. So I now need to make plans to fly south for the funeral, every hour counts. My aunt wants to get the funeral and cremation done before their granddaughter has to return to military service (I can’t for the life of me recall which branch). Her leave is only till the 2nd. I can’t see any commander not extending leave under these circumstances, but I don’t know if he can.
Many of my friends have heard me relay stories my uncle told me. He lives a rather full life, and before the cancer, had been in a happy retirement. He served in the USMC as an EOD specialist with a combat tour in Korea and two Vietnam. As an E-9 he had passed up promotion (“the hard way”) to O-1 twice. After 20 years of service, he retired from the Marines and joined the U.S. Secret Service. If memory serves me, he was a Presidential body guard for every US President from Johnson to Clinton, though his primary task from Reagan onward was Chief Munitions Countermeasures. He was present when Reagan was shot, and maintained he was the one driving the limo. He retired from the US Secret Service during the Clinton administration, after 20 years, collecting a second government pension.
He was another strong influence on my early years and will be sorely missed by many people from former presidents to one lowly ex-con trying to make a good living.
