tag:www.thedonovan.com,2010://1/tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10294- 2010-02-07T17:05:59Z We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 Movable Type 4.12 tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10294 2009-01-18T06:34:53Z 2009-01-19T17:18:49Z

FbL http://fuzzilicious.blogspot.com/ Michelle Malkin and Uncle Jimbo, comes sad news.

Last year I had fallen away from reading Bill Faith regularly and missed the good news about his finally sorting out the Social Security/VA thing.   So, my image of him up until last Fall was the one he had shared previously on his blogs--a disabled veteran who was living on a financial shoestring... struggling, but never giving in to discouragement or self-pity, and always leading by example in faith and generosity. 

Having had access to Valour-IT donor records, I knew he had given what he could to various projects of Soldiers' Angels--which for someone in his situation was quite a bit, though others would think it nothing more than a good lunch.  Bill wrote to me several times, praising the work of Valour-IT and lamenting what he saw as his modest levels of support.  But he was a champion of Soldiers' Angels, never failing to hail its work and implore those who could have more of a financial impact to step up and assist.

So when I looked through the list of donors to Valour-IT last November and saw a familiar email address, I was stunned as my gaze fell upon the amount he had donated.  I raced over to his blog to see what in the world had happened to him that he could donate such a sum.

I didn't stop smiling as I caught up on the months of reading that I had missed--the "big check," the money he used to help his elderly mother, the relief he obviously found in no longer feeling he was a burden to his daughter, and the joy of just being grandpa.  If anyone ever deserved the denouement he had found, it was Bill Faith.

And amidst all his joy and good fortune, he had typically thought of his fellow sheepdogs, and thus donated a good chunk of his recent "windfall" to Valour-IT.  In my joy for him and excitement for the donation, I wanted to email him as FbL (we had corresponded before) and tell him how happy I was for him, and how moved I was by his generosity.  I agonized between wanting to honor him and needing to maintain privacy of the information I had access to--if he had wanted "FbL" to know about it, he would've written me.  As I recall, the privacy won out and I did not email him.  But as he is sadly no longer with us, I think it proper to honor him this way.

To Bill... a good man who deserved for more than he got, and as much as he gave in return.

The Armorer adds: Now is the time at Castle Argghhh! when we dance: In Memoriam for Bill Faith, SSG, USAFR, a Small Town Veteran, an Old War Dog, and, as Fuzzy notes above, a Sheepdog who looked after his own.   And for Bill - a special send-off, from all us Old War Dogs, as the elders of the pack are diminished by one.
]]> tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10294-comment:83055 Jon The Mechanic
I read Bill's page on a semi regular basis, because his writing reminded me of my grandfather, a man who walked on water and parted the seas as so he could sit down when he tired.
His first e-mail to me was to thank me after I cut out fast food for a couple of weeks because he needed the money more than I for some urgent repairs to his house.
In that e-mail he told me that he would forward to SA any donated monies that were above and beyond his own need.

We are lessened by his passing but made stronger because we knew him.

Godspeed and farwell Bill, you will be missed.
]]> 2009-01-19T03:31:09Z 2009-01-19T03:31:09Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10294-comment:83042 BillT http://www.thedonovan.com
162d FG Det -- make a man-sized hole at the bar!
]]> 2009-01-18T22:20:21Z 2009-01-18T22:20:21Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10294-comment:83028 Grumpy
My Respects,
Grumpy ]]> 2009-01-18T17:17:18Z 2009-01-18T17:17:18Z