25 September 2009
Falling Down
(1968 Zippo presentation lighter of (then)Vice Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., USN, Commander, US Naval Forces Vietnam.)
No adventures this morning, gentle readers, nor railing about the injustice of the system, or the follies of our times.
I got word late yesterday that a distinguished colleague has been laid low. His son told me it was a bad fall at his residence in the north county of San Diego.
He is a Flag officer of a certain age; old enough to begun his career as the military demobilized from the great struggle against Fascism. He was a handsome young officer, and did well in the cold decade of the 1950s, rising to a position of great authority in the hot war in SE Asia.
He had an air about him that made his selection for Flag rank inevitable. He could have been a ringer for Rex Harrison of Broadway fame, and he carried the bearing, along with the air that the thick gold stripe and two thin ones were still on his sleeve. He has enjoyed a long and pleasant retirement, though it included the loss of his spouse.
His life is full, and this is not an obituary. He has been blessed in his time in this world, and may continue to be so. No one who bet against him in life has won so far.
He has had the love of good women, and the admiration of strong men. He has been to The Show, to see the elephant, and sampled all of life’s pleasures. It is not over yet, but his existence hangs in the balance, and could go either way.
I had a small part in one of his last quests, which sought to recognize the sacrifice of the men he dispatched to isolated posts in the jungle. Some of them died, and their memory haunted him in the old age that they were denied.
The Admiral is being kept alive for now, in an intensive care unit of a hospital far away. The verdict for him is uncertain, as it is for us all. Hence, there is an air of sadness about this morning that is accompanied by a gray sky and the inevitable promise of rain.
Copyright 2009 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com