Text 3045, 109 rader
Skriven 2004-10-04 22:09:48 av Ed Connell (1:379/1.6)
   Kommentar till text 2925 av ED HULETT (1:275/311)
Ärende: Re: A SAD MESSAGE
=========================
Hey, ED.

 EC>> Hey, John.
 EC>>
 EC>> Really - for all of Charles Doll's friends and admirers -
 EC>>
 EC>> VH>>> I got the following from Chip, Charles Doll's son:
 EC>>
 EC>> VH>>> This is Chip Doll, Charile Doll's son. I have bad news im
 EC>> VH>>> afriad. My dad passed away last nite, here at home surrounded
 EC>> VH>>> by his family.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> This is a draft of my column for next week.....
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> Valhalla is a happy place today. A soldier is home to rest.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> I have talked many times in the space about a group of people I
 EC>> SH>> met online (before the Internet) and with whom I maintain a close
 EC>> SH>> and continuing friendship.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> Others have come and gone over the years, but our core group is
 EC>> SH>> Richard Helm, John Massey, Vern Humphrey, Jeff Binkley, John
 EC>> Hull,
 EC>> SH>> Ed Connell and Charles Doll. Our band of brothers is one fewer
 EC>> SH>> today.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> This morning, I was copied this email from Vern:
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> "This is Chip Doll, Charlie Doll's son. I have bad news I'm
 EC>> SH>> afraid. My dad passed away last night, here at home surrounded by
 EC>> SH>> his family.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> "I'm writing you to tell you as he spoke highly of you and would
 EC>> SH>> have wanted me to tell you directly. I ask that you pass this
 EC>> news
 EC>> SH>> on to the Politics echo folks with which he used to converse. I
 EC>> SH>> know he spent hours and hours reading, sorting and replying to
 EC>> the
 EC>> SH>> folks there and would want them to know...
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> "Thanks, and thank you for the friendship you and he held."
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> I will never forget in mid December 1994 Mr. Doll posting this
 EC>> SH>> message to our group.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> "December 16, 50 years ago today, was a bad day."
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> And it hit me. The man writing those words had been at the Battle
 EC>> SH>> of the Bulge.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> Charles Doll was a Lieutenant of Engineers on that winter night
 EC>> SH>> when German artillery began raining down on him and his men. The
 EC>> SH>> next morning, Lieut. Doll watched as Panzer tanks crossed to his
 EC>> SH>> front. Mr. Doll told me, "We had lost so many men the night
 EC>> before
 EC>> SH>> that we could not take another hit. I prayed hard that the tanks
 EC>> SH>> would keep going before they turned. They continued about another
 EC>> SH>> half mile before turning into units on our flank."
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> Mr. Doll and his generation prevailed in that awful battle and in
 EC>> SH>> that bloody war - and, in victory, they saved civilization. Those
 EC>> SH>> men also came home and formed the greatest institution in the
 EC>> SH>> history of man - the American middle class.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> Mr. Doll was recalled to the battlefield in Korea but eventually
 EC>> SH>> came home to his family and to a profession as an engineer with a
 EC>> SH>> Florida power company.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> Charlie was, like me, staunchly conservative and a Reaganite. His
 EC>> SH>> political insight was keen and he had a wonderful sense of humor.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> I saw him last at his spread in Tampa, where he kept house with
 EC>> SH>> his beloved Peggy. We all sat around his dinner table and talked
 EC>> SH>> about life and politics. We talked about wise men and fools.
 EC>> Peggy
 EC>> SH>> asked me to make her a martini and we lifted a toast to our
 EC>> SH>> friends - my toast, especially, was to my great fried Charles
 EC>> SH>> Doll.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> Rest in peace, old friend. Say hello to Greg Yoha and Ed Hackett
 EC>> SH>> for us.
 EC>>
 EC>> SH>> Valhalla is a happy place today.
 EC>>
 EC>> JH> That is a beautiful piece, Stan.  I'm sure Charlie is grateful for
 EC>> your
 EC>> JH> kind words, but he would probably tell you he doesn't deserve
 EC>> them.
 EC>> JH> This has been a hard afternoon for me since I read Vern's message
 EC>> JH> earlier.  I keep getting something in my eye that makes it hard to
 EC>> see. Well said, everyone.  I too am saddened by the news, but am glad
 EC>> that Charles is beyond the petty barbs of this earth.  He no longer
 EC>> has to have oxygen from a tank.  He no longer has a wheel chair. I
 EC>> will miss Charles Doll - ever the insightful gentleman.  His body
 EC>> deserted his mind which was still delightfully sharp.  We are all
 EC>> better for his having shared a time with us, and I am sure that
 EC>> Charles knew that we were all with him in spirit.

 EH> When I first saw the subject of Vern's post and then read the first
 EH> line, I knew that we had lost a good man. My heart sank with the
 EH> realization that I would not read Charles' wit and wisdom in this echo
 EH> again. He will be missed, indeed.

Yeah.  I've been to battle with Charles in the Holy Smoke echo and it is 
great to have someone on your side like that.  I miss him too.


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 * Origin: Bush, "Let's roll."  Kerry, "Let's rollover." (1:379/1.6)