The
question
I get
the most
about
writing
a column
like
this for
over
twenty
years is
“where
do you
get your
ideas”?
I’ll
skip the
answer
to that
for some
other
week.
The next
one is
“what’s
your
column
about”?
I always
answer
that
it’s a
commentary
on life,
satire,
sometimes
political,
sometimes
about
relationships,
just
about
anything
that
happens
to be of
interest
to me in
the
current
week.
This
week
it’s
about
Bill
Gleason.
Who is
Bill
Gleason
you
might
very
well
ask?
Well,
he’s one
of those
people
in your
life
that
comes in
and
stays
and your
life is
all the
better
for his
presence.
I can’t
begin to
tell you
when
Bill
first
started
working
with me.
Not for
me, but
with me.
It was
well
over
twenty-five
years
ago, I
know
that
much. He
was a
retired
Army
sergeant,
airborne,
infantry,
tough as
a boot
with a
heart of
gold. He
served
our
country
in the
Korean
War as
well as
in Viet
Nam.
I never
called
him
Bill, I
always
called
him
Pappy.
He
always
called
me boss.
He was
the kind
of
person
that you
could be
away
from for
a long
period
of time
and then
when you
got
together,
it was
like you
had only
been
gone
since
yesterday.
You
picked
up where
you left
off
without
any
trouble.
All of
us
should
have a
friend
such as
this.
Pappy
was
always
in a
good
mood. I
don’t
think I
can
remember
ever
seeing
him
without
a smile
on his
face and
laughter
in his
voice.
He drank
more
coffee
than any
man
alive
and
always
had a
good
story to
tell
about
his
daughter
and his
grandkids.
He was
proud of
them
all.
Pappy
was one
of those
veterans
who
never
talked
about
what
happened
to him
or what
he did.
But you
knew he
had done
and seen
it all.
When I
was I
Washington
a few
years
ago
visiting
the Viet
Nam
Memorial
I called
him and
asked
him if
he
wanted
me to
buy him
anything…he
told me
that was
history
and he
didn’t
need any
more
reminders,
thank
you
anyway.
I
remember
one
morning
at the
office
very
clearly;
I was
drinking
a cup of
coffee
with him
and
happened
to look
at his
arms. It
looked
as if
someone
had
taken a
hammer
to him
and
beaten
him. He
was
black
and blue
all up
and down
from his
shoulders
to his
wrists.
I asked
him what
it was
and he
told me
he
thought
it came
from his
being
exposed
to Agent
Orange
so many
times in
Viet
Nam.
I
started
doing
some
research
and
found
these
were
indeed
the
symptoms
of Agent
Orange
exposure.
Pappy’s
arms
weren’t
getting
any
better.
After
about
two
weeks I
made
contact
with a
friend
of mine
who is a
well-known
attorney
in
Houston,
I drove
Pappy
down to
his
office.
This
attorney
had
started
handling
some of
the
first
Agent
Orange
cases
and was
trying
to get
the
government
to admit
that our
soldiers
could
have
some
continuing
medical
issues
for
years to
come.
The
attorney
looked
at
Pappy’s
arms and
explained
to him
that he
would be
happy to
take the
case at
no cost
to Pappy
and that
he
thought
he could
make a
case
against
the
government.
Pappy
looked
at him
and
asked…
“So just
who
would
you
sue?”
The
attorney
answered…
“Why the
government,
of
course.”
Pappy
stood up
and said
there
wasn’t
any way
he was
going to
do that.
He said
that
when he
joined
the
Army, he
fully
expected
to die
for his
country
and
didn’t
think it
would be
fair to
sue them
if
anything
happened
to him
as a
result
of his
service.
The
attorney
and I
both
explained
that we
thought
it was
one
thing to
die in
combat
fighting
for your
country
but
another
matter
if you
were
harmed
by your
own
forces.
Pappy
said it
still
didn’t
matter;
he
wasn’t
going to
sue the
United
States
or the
United
States
Army.
That was
the end
of that.
Pappy
has been
retired
for some
years
now and
has
lived
with his
daughter.
We talk
often
and
laughed
about
the old
days
when we
worked
together.
I knew
there
was a
problem
a few
weeks
ago when
I got a
call on
my home
phone
from his
daughter.
He had
been
having a
problem
with his
gall
bladder
and
hadn’t
told
anyone
he was
in pain
or
hurting.
Very
typical
for
Pappy.
I called
him
several
times to
cheer
him up
and joke
with him
and we
thought
he was
on the
way to
making a
full
recovery.
Unfortunately
the
Commander
in Chief
in the
Sky
decided
Pappy
was
needed
for a
roll
call in
Heaven
and he
was
taken
from us
last
Sunday.
I’m sure
God has
a use
for an
old
straight
leg who
has
served
with
honor
here on
Earth
for so
many
years.
We’ll
miss
you, but
we’ll
never
forget
you. I’m
proud to
have
known
you as
my
friend.
Rest in
peace.
