A Family Gathering

My Aunt Jo died recently and I traveled home to attend the funeral. I have fond memories of her as she was always a happy person who talked with a very broad Tidewater Virginia dialect which was music to the ears. Sad as these events can be they do provide for an opportunity to catch up with the rest of the family that you seldom see.

I got to meet an old High School classmate....last seen in 1966 along with the cousins and their kids.

The kids remind me of how old we are getting. Cuz Robert's hair is gone white....mine is just gone.

Cuz Betsy is pretty as ever and her sister Dot is the same "Sport" she ever was. To think the two of them are sisters makes you wonder how nature works. The mental image of Dot in a Claribel the Clown suit hugging my Mom in a restaurant still makes me giggle. Mom of course did not recognize the crazy person that was accosting her!

Cuz Robert's son Adam is now an Army 2nd Lieutenant going through Ranger School with orders to an Airborne unit of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell. I gave his charming new bride a 205th Geronimo's Challenge Coin (my unit in Vietnam) and a small Battle Flag that I carried all those years ago for his use should he be deployed to Afghanistan or some other dangerous place.

He is carrying on a family tradition of sorts. His Great Grand Father Chappell was nominated for the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines during the Philippine Insurrection. He later received the Distinguished Service Cross for going out under enemy fire three times during an ambush to retrieve wounded soldiers and dragging them to safety. If he had been any rank other than Private.....no doubt he would have received the Medal of Honor instead of the DSC.

Grand Dad was a Hero by anyone's definition and a very modest one from what we know about him and his comments about the event. In his letter to his Platooon Leader he responded to the Officer's compliments by saying something along the lines of "It was nothing really....I felt as long as I was in the open and they were aiming at me...I was quite safe!" Granddad must have had a good sense of humor as well as a lot of courage.

The family is proud of young Adam and wish him well in his Army career. His cousin Denise, was recently promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Army and is now a Battalion Commander of a signal unit. She too is doing quite well in her chosen career.