Dad.. It's been 4 years..

[rattletrap1970]

Dad was an Army Vet.. Crew Chief. He served in Vietnam 1967-68 in Chu Chi with the 269th CAB Black Barons. He went in young on the "buddy system" with his friend Al. By the time he got out he never got into sports or any other activity other than shooting. The first outside "activity" with my Dad was going to a rock quarry (cause in 1976 that was no big deal) to shoot his Stevens Crack Shot 26 and his Marlin 336. I was immidiately enamored with shooting from then on. We didn't have a safe, he simply kept the ammo separate and said don't touch. That was enough. Guns were just tools, same as anything else in the house.. There was no mystique.
By the time I was in college I was attending High Power matches at Blue Trail Range in Wallingford, CT. I bought a $69 SKS and shot Norinco ammo. I didn't own a shooting mat (just a beach towel), no scope, no kneeling roll, no jacket or glove. I shot that well enough to get the attention of the DCM. After a match a guy came over to me when I was cleaning up and said, "Are you the guy who shot the 362 with an SKS"? I said, "Yeah, why?". I thought I was in trouble or something. So the guy leads me to a quansett hut where the guy who ran the CT. rifle team was. He asked me if I wanted to shoot with a "real" rifle. I didn't know what he was talking about. He asked me if I was 21, I said "No". He asked if I could get a parent's signature because they wanted to sign an M1A1 over to me and to shoot on the CT Juniors team. All that practice... All those days at the quarry... This isn't real.. So I flew home and told my Dad what happened and he came back with me and signed for that rifle (I still have the form). The next match was a 382. I could see on his face how he felt. I shot a couple more matches but because of financial issues and signing up for college I turned the Rifle back in.
Dad and I would go to the range whenever we could get our schedules to jive. I got out of shooting for a spell when I bought by house and was too busy and broke to shoot. Then slowly got back into it, not so much with the high power matches, but kept doing the .22 gallery match. One day I get a call from my mom that Dad had fallen off a step ladder so he went to the Doctor. The found he had Cancer in his bladder and a spot on his lung, the lung was determined to be from Agent Orange exposure. His buddy Al died 3 years earlier. During his treatment we went shooting a bit more often whenever he was feeling better. They whacked the stuff in his bladder and were fully expecting to get the other spot. We were pretty hopeful. Slowly he had a harder time breating and getting around was very taxing. The treatment was making his lungs get fluid in them.
The last weekend of October he called me to go shooting, he brought his Firestar .45 and the Ruger Super Redhawk I bought him for his retirement. We spent the day at the range and when we were done he told me to take the guns home and give 'em a cleaning for him. He shook my hand and said he'd talk to me later and be safe. I remember it was a gorgeous day, 60 degrees, sunny, the mountain was in full color...
That was the last time we spoke. He passed away at 60 years old at 11:30am on Veterans Day... I thought that ironic..

A couple weeks later I was talking to my next door neighbor who's in his 80's. He's the youngest of 5 kids. He's the last one. He was talking about how he remembers everything about his family, but it bothered him that he couldn't remember what any of them sounded like. I though that odd...

4 Years.

I can't remember his voice.
And I find I can no longer see to type.

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/rattletrap1970/Pictures%20of%20me/1969.jpg (http://s885.photobucket.com/user/rattletrap1970/media/Pictures%20of%20me/1969.jpg.html)

He's the smart a$s on the far right.

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/rattletrap1970/Pictures%20of%20me/MeDad-Retouch.jpg (http://s885.photobucket.com/user/rattletrap1970/media/Pictures%20of%20me/MeDad-Retouch.jpg.html)

Thanks.

[Rick Hodges]

Thank you, and thanks be to men like your Dad.

[Stonecrusher]

Thanks for the reminder. February will be four years for my dad.

[TheCelt]

Dang, I can't see to read anymore, I think I got something in my eyes. God bless you and your father. Ya'll did right by each other and you'll have a lot to talk about when you meet again.

[paul h]

Lost my dad 6 years ago, also to cancer. He was a navy vet from WWII. Even though he didn't hunt, and we only went to the range a few times together, he did get me my first two guns, a Beeman R7 air rifle, and a ruger 10/22. Both of which I still have and cherish, and I also ended up with two of his guns, a Benjamin pump air rifle that even though it's ~80 years old still works fine (though was rebuilt in the 80's) and a Remington #1 rolling block that I should shoot more often.

I spent a week with him a few weeks before he passed away. I hadn't given any thought to the sound of his voice, but I will always remember the gleam in his eye and his mind being razor sharp during that last week. His body was wracked by cancer, he was always thin but looked like someone a survivor from a concentration camp, skin and bones with the smell of death eminating from him and only able to talk in a whisper from the tumor around his esophagus that required he be fed from a tube.

Thanks for stirring up the good memories, and some sad ones.

[bruce drake]

May will be five years for my Dad. Thanks for letting us know of your Dad as well. Now I can't type anymore. the glasses are getting foggy.

Bruce

[ultramag]

I really want to thank you for sharing your story. I'm fortunate in that I still have my father around and in good health. The part that got to me the most was the memories you have about your father, how you were taught at a young age to respect firearms and shoot, and the memories it gave you. I'm raising two young boys and I do those same things with them. They are going to be 7 and 5 in January and February respectively. I was raised up with guns in the same manner and feel it is still the right way to do things. It is such an odd thing in a way in this world today but I refuse to make it a dirty secret and not share them with my sons. My oldest boy got a BB gun for Christmas last year and wants a .22 this year. He will get it either for Christmas or his birthday.

My boys help with the casting chores they can, size boolits with the Lee push through, and help with many reloading chores. They're crazy with reloading and each have their own "reloading benches" in an extra small room in the basement. They are not much interested in sports but always want to go shooting, pick up brass, and the oldest and I started squirrel hunting this fall. I've often wondered if it's "right" for them to be so interested in these things rather than sports etc. as most of their peers are. I find comfort and confidence that I'm doing the right thing in the memories you have of and the way you have spoke about your father here. They mirror many of my childhood memories. I always remember Dad telling me we can get the guns out and look at them anytime I want, but if he ever caught me messing with them......well, you know.

Thanks again for sharing and God bless your father and the many like him who came before and after him. I'm sorry for your loss and can't imagine life without being able to pick up the phone or drop by and see my Dad.

[abqcaster]

I'm gonna go call my Dad now and book some range time. Thanks for the reminder. And. God bless you.

[hardcase54]

Lost my dad Aug 2010. Beat WW2 but could not beat Cancer. Miss his grin and sparkle of his eyes. Spent a week with him and started back home( Ilive in VA he in FL), got the call halfway home. I miss him daily.

[Magana559]

Your father seemed like a great American dad. God bless his soul and thank you for sharing your story.

[rattletrap1970]

My thoughts are with all of you also who have lost yours. I used to think I was a pretty empathetic person. I really did feel for people who had gone through this. I really thought I could imagine how bad that must hurt, then I found out I didn't know sh!t. So this Veterans day I will take the day off and go to the range for the day with his picture in my range case like I do every 11/11 with the .44 he sent me home to clean that day.

[Baja_Traveler]

4 years for my dad also - seems like cancer is the #1 killer from all the posts...

86840

[1Shirt]

A great write up, thanks for sharing!
1Shirt!

[gbrown]

God Bless all of you for remembering your dads, whether they served or not. Some got the opportunity, some did not. My father was in the Army Reserve and was called up in the summer of 1941, but was discharged because he was married. His unit (coastal artillery) was sent to the Phillipines. He tried every way possible to get in, but was denied because of his marital status and my brother. (born 1942) The Navy finally took him in late '42 because of his civilian skills. Tried to finagle his way into the CB's, but they didn't buy it. He ended up an E7 CPO in charge of a landing craft repair shop on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. What was really funny was at the close of the war, they made him a tugboat commander in Seattle. Him from Blanco, Tx, which is way, away from any sea water. He taught me a ton about all things. A product of the Depression, a hard man, his nickname was "Bull of the Woods", or just Bull. He was that, 6-0 and about 210lb, all lean. He was an structual ironworker, and that makes men even harder, rough, dangerous work. But he was a loving father and husband who provided for us. I lost him in '95, at the age of 85. Isn't a day that I'm at the lease or fishing that I can't help but think of him and the times we had together.

[Shooter973]

My Father was a Marine in WWII, Guadalcanal vet. He passed away the day after my 28th birthday ..He was 55 1/2 to the very day. He passed while recovering from a large Cancer surgery.... We all thought he was doing well, but found out his cancer had spread to his brain and burst a large vessel there...
That was 35+ years ago and I still think about him everyday...

[375supermag]

Hi...

My father died in 1969 from cancer. I was 14 years old.
We hunted together for 3 years, he was quite sick and we only hunted together maybe a dozen times .

They removed his larynx in 1966 and he learned to speak by swallowing air and by controlled "belching"...not real speech. I do not remember what his real voice sounded like, but I will always remember what that "belching" voice sounded like...not a pleasant memory.

I wish he had lived to see my children and they him.

[27judge]

I lost my Dad 48 years ago I was 26 he was 51. Cancer. Funny that I still remember him teaching me how to train those rabbit dogs when I was 12 years old. Seems Dads remain with us forever. tks Ken

[Blacksmith]

It will be 16 years this December 13th. I still miss him but his love of shooting lives on. He loved shooting and was on the rifle team when he was in school. He made sure his sons learned to shoot and they have passed the love to the next generation who in turn have passed it along to their sons, the forth generation from him. So in a way he lives on in those who follow on.

Make a difference pass your love and knowledge on to someone who will in turn pass it on.

[contender1]

As I read the first few lines,,, I felt I'd know of him. My brother was a Huey crewchief & door gunner in Cu Chi and Tah Nihn in 1968 & 1969.
But,, as I read further,,, I realized I was wrong.
My own Dad passed in 1994,, at the age of 80, and he was a Veteran of the Pacific Theater in WWII. I still see him in my daily thoughts, and I can still hear his wisdom.
Some bonds are just strong,,,!
Thanks for sharing YOUR story,, as I know many of us feel the same,,,!

[gew98]

My father , passed thanksgiving day 2001 from a triple A. He was a Seabee at Gitmo during the missle crisis. I still remember how he sounded and was...I can not ever forget those things so dear to me .
All those years of shooting , collecting and hunting together.... these things I do with my son now. Dad taught me how.

[gmsharps]

I lost my dad in 1970 due to cancer while I was in AIT at Ft. Gordon. He was 42 at the time, way to young to go. I remember him taking me shooting various firearms he had over the years. The 22 was a Winchester 62a which I still have. I spent my time in the Central Highlands of Vietnam in 1971. Agent Orange has taken to many of us. So far about 2/3rd's of the Vietnam vets are gone for various reasons.
gmsharps

[Echo]

Thank you for your post, RT. My Dad passed away January 2001 - thought he should get in and do his part in WWII, but had flat feet and no one would take him, not even the CB's. So he got a job in the North American plant at Dallas (that built the AT6 Texan). We left after a few months (Mom couldn't stand Dallas), and he worked as a machinist in a geophysical model shop making prototype equipment. Taught me a lot, including shooting the Rem Model 12 I learned on. He's still with me, and I am a fortunate person...

[North_of_60]

Thanks ratteltrap. Even though I never meet your dad I think he is someone I would enjoy being around.

My birth dad was killed in a work accident when I was 6 days old. I never knew him but still wonder what he was like. My mother remarried when I was 1 1/2 years old and that is the only father I knew. He was a wonderful man. I never ever thought of him as a step father, he was always Dad.

He taught me how to shoot and hunt, how to farm and raise livestock, how to fix broken farm machinery with baling wire, scrap iron and a Lincoln welder. He taught me how to work and how to have fun, how to love and how to laugh.

He was a stubborn old Norwegian who never showed much emotion one way or the other. He never once told me that he loved me, He didn't have to say it because he lived it. I never thought it odd that he never said it and never doubted his love for me. He left this world 20 years ago at age 73, before my kids were born so He never got to see them. I regret that my kids never got to meet there Grandpa Hank.

I have the 22 Winchester pump that he gave me for Christmas when I was 12, the 250-3000 Model 99 Savage that he gave me to hunt White Tails with and his 12 Ga 3" magnum, Model 12 Winchester. But more than that I have the memories of all the things we did together.

Thanks again rattletrap. Your dad would be proud of the nice eulogy you posed in his honor.

Al

[smokeywolf]

Dad never went overseas. During WW II he was a somewhat rebellious paratroop instructor at Fort Benning. I think I remember him saying that he made 118 jumps. Mom was in CAP in Jacksonville, Florida. Dad's dad was a doctor in WW I and his mom was an Army nurse.

Dad passed in the Spring of 1995. He rests under his VA supplied grave marker here in SoCal. Mom is next to him. Dad's mom and dad lie together at Fort Rosecrans.

Thanks to all the Service men and women who stepped up and risked it all so that this Country could survive.

smokeywolf

[DIRT Farmer]

Reading of Dads here, mine has been gone three years in October, I was thinking how we become our fathers. My fondest memories are Dad taking care of me and my farm after I had heart surgry, he was 83 at the time. His rehab program was quail hunting all afternoon, after he did my feeding.
Dad was a WWII vet, the Beach to Germany,Mom built P47s they came home raised a family and gave their children the best start they could.
What I would not give to go hunting or fishing again, or even a day working in the field.

[square butte]

I lost my Dad 30 years ago this last Sep 3. He was one month short of his 60th birthday. Cancer got him. He was a naval aviator in WWII. Flew PB2Y Consolidated Coronados and PBM3 Martin Mariner sea planes mostly in the south pacific, but a bit in the Atlantic theatre as well. I was very fortunate to get his flight log book. Couldn't get him to talk much about it. I remember at age 7 or 8, following him through the woods to our deer stand on very cold mornings up along the Red river near Clarksville, TX. Thanks Dad for the mornings you got me up early to go hunting. And thanks Dad for that morning you let me sleep in when I was bone tired.

[shdwlkr]

You know my dad has been gone 10 years mom 9 years.
Dad wanted to go fight in WWII as a fighter pilot but the government said no he was needed here as an ag engineer.
Mom didn't like firearms so when dad married her he got rid of his, but when I was born mom told dad he had to teach me about them and even let me have one. I got my first firearm at age 12 a 22lr
rifle with a clip and drop down front handle. Yea I traded or sold decades ago if I could find one I would get it today just to remind of the one I had. Well almost a decade later it was my turn to deal with the draft board, only I enlisted and my dad and mom hated me for it. I think now it was because dad couldn't go when he wanted too.

My dad would not have been the mentor to me he was if he had served and we talked about it a lot when he was dying of cancer. He had decided that after seeing me and how I changed over the time I was in and how it had affected me he thought that just maybe I was right, he would not have been the kind, patient and most of stead fast supporter of his son that he had been in all areas of my life but the military thing.

December is a sad month for me lost my dad 10 years ago in that month, lost my first wife in january 1980 just 2 weeks after Christmas no less. Yep this time of year puts the strain on things for me, but I am still here still moving forward I hope and still seeing if I can excite someone with a response sometimes just cause.

To all veterans and those who have lost a loved one My the good Lord bless and keep you and yours

[Randy C]

Thanks ratteltrap. I don't feel alone. Today was the first day of Deer hunting and my dad was a Veteran also, cancer took him away, I lost MOM last April 2012 and DAD July 4 2013, This is the first hunting season with out some one there mom would always cook for a week to have lunch and everything just wright and you were there weather you wanted to or not. I know how you feel I miss them on days like this, but I have a small video recording of use so I can here there voice when I need to. I have no motivation to hunt this year by my self.

[bayjoe]

My dad died in 1976, he was also a veteran. He was in 2nd Division rangers and his first action was Normandy at Point De Hoc. His was the 3rd boat to hit the shore.
Most don't know but the boats were off course when they left the ships. The boats traveled 45 minutes parallel to the beach, so the germans had a lot of time to get ready. He lost a lot of friends that day. He never talked about it. Learned most of what he did from my mom. I still miss him

[Ehaver]

It was not my dad, but my grandmother. I was a work, had to say two hours late. Got to my phone and there was a voice mail, she was in the hospital. All of a sudden, arround 9PM I think, she called my mom about a horrible pain in her left leg. Turned out to be a blood clot. Nothing they could do. Was in the hospital a week or so then to Hospice, she died holding my hand. She was one of the best. I think about her daily. Been almost two years now...

Just always remember him untill you can meet again...

[DRNurse1]

Peace, brother, and thank you for your thread, your beautiful homily to your father, and for your father's service.

[snuffy]

Dad will be gone for 24 years on dec. tenth this year. He taught me and my three older brothers to hunt and shoot. In his younger days, he shot a lot of 22 rifle league with his friends. He was was not a re-loader, my brother Tom got me into that. Shot my first, and biggest buck with 8mm shells loaded on a whack-a-mole lee loader.

Dad died from colon cancer. He hated doctors, didn't go for an appointment til he was bleeding from the metastasized tumor. Little could be done by that time, the cancer had spread into his lymph system. 9 months after removing his colon he died. he was 87, born in 1902.

He taught me right from wrong at the tip of a hardwood stick swung with a lot of force. He taught me more by example, the way he lived his life and how he treated others. But certain rules were not broken, or out came the stick.

Dad never served, too young for WW1, and married with children by WW2. He did a 4 year stint in the NG.

(Posted from Sparta WI, a weekend sleep over at my sons new cabin rental.)

[dagger dog]

I will be 20 years November 18. My father was a WWII vet. served in the Aleutians, and then shipped to European Campaign until the fall of Germany.

He committed suicide, figured he would be a burden on his family as he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I have come to terms with his choice. It bothered me for years that I could have done something to change the outcome. He was a very independent man, worked self employed for 40 years in his thoroughbred farrier business. Never drew as much as 1 cent from the V.A. ,unemployment, or any other source other than himself.

I feel for your loss, it never goes away, but it serves to temper your own thoughts.

[flint45]

Thanks for telling us about your pop sounds like one of good ones. My pops been gone sixteen years now still miss him especially when I fish the owens river last place we fished together.