Friday, September 25, 2009

Thank you dad, you helped make me who I am

Been a tough odd week. On Thursday September 17th my dad passed away from a sudden heart attack. I'm down in Florida now with my mother, older brother and his family. We've been going through dad's things, lots of treasures and quite a few surprises, even for mom.

My brother has been scanning pictures in for dad's memorial. We've gone through his workshop and got rid of all the hazmat stuff that he wouldn't get rid of. Also found his 'stash' of smokes that he wasn't supposed to have :D

Dad was a good guy, saw a lot of interesting things in his 67 years and dodged death and calamity many times. He was a USMC veteran, served 1959-1969 and in Vietnam in '67 and '68. He served at Cam Lo and Khe Sanh combat base. He was at Khe Sanh during the siege and battle in 1968, medvaced out shortly after the offensive started.

He made it through a major heart attack at 38 and kept on trucking. Stroke in 2001 and several other surgeries over the years but time finally caught up with him. Above all he showed me to always stick to your guns and to your word. Integrity was important with pops.

I'll have to write more later either here or in private, but he was a strong influence in my life and showed me a lot. I'll miss you pop, Semper Fi.
Submitted by Chris Z. at 8:20 AM

4 comments:

  1. Barry FixlerSeptember 25, 2009 at 10:54 AM

    Sorry about your father passing. He sounds like a great marine. I was on hill 861-A during the siege of Khe Sanh and just finished a book about the experience, Semper Cool: Fond Memories of Vietnam. It will be released in 2010 but I'd like to send you an advance copy in November. If you're interested please contact me through www.sempercool.com, or call me at (845) 624-7100

    ReplyDelete
  2. Barry FixlerSeptember 25, 2009 at 11:00 AM

    (comment continued)

    You may also enjoy West Dickens Way by John Corbett. He was on the Khe Sanh base and paints a vivid picture of the Siege.

    Here's to your pop!

    Semper Fi,
    Barry Fixler
    USMC E 2/26 '67-68

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chris Z.September 25, 2009 at 2:34 PM

    Thank you for the note, dad was with 1/13/HQ Comms battery, SSgt in the radio shop. He never spoke much about his time there other than a few funny stories but I did get a lot of his picture negatives from there and plan to scan them as they'll be better than the scanned copies of photos I do have. Full respect for all that served there at Khe Sanh.

    Thanks again

    PO2 USCG '88-98

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lemmy CautionSeptember 25, 2009 at 2:39 PM

    Sorry for you loss. That was a very nice write up.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)