One less hero

As of 12/18/13, my dad, my hero… is dead. His struggle with cancer and complications from depression and pneumonia finally took its toll. He was eating breakfast and grumbling like usual. He breathed a ragged breath, slumped over, and gave up the ghost. My family now consists of my wife, my cousin, and in-laws… along with a hand full of people I found because of Ancestry.com. I feel like an orphan.

I remember his stories. Being sent to Cambodia to return relics stolen in the Vietnam War and being called the “White Ghost.” Driving down a mountain pass in New Mexico to deliver an A-Bomb to the air force base. Breaking his bamboo cage and saving three other men, one too weak to walk and draped over his shoulder. Training in the Amazon with a score of soldiers and having a 15ft anaconda fall on them from the trees… which they ate. Entering the Marine Corps at age 16… he made it 2 months before they found out he lied about his age. He was escorted by armed guards back to Minneapolis but stopped in Kansas City where they all got drunk. He worked on a B-36 in the Air Force and watched a Colonel take his cigar and put it out in jet fuel. At the age of 60, he was accosted by two men in a parking lot… he planted his cowboy boot covered feet in their asses and sent them running. He met my mom and showed off his ability to put his foot behind his head, nearly falling off the barstool. Because of his Magic Act, he would always perform the “disappearing quarter trick” for every child he saw… and even for some adults.

If you want to help, please visit http://www.gofundme.com/Save-a-Heros-Home.

Thank you for reading my blog.