Be Thou At Peace Joel...

I remember two things very vividly about Joel Namy, both of which revolve around him being one of the best and most motivated cadets I knew.

The first was when, one day, after football practice, when most of his teammates were in their rooms studying while their classmates were "on the wall" doing duties and being yelled at, Namy showed up to duties. He was late, he was in the wrong uniform, and he had no clue what was going on, but he was there. He was hard to miss as he was a bigger kid too, which was unfortunate for a pleber who didn't know what was going on. No one gave him crap though, because it meant so much to us, and to his classmates, that he was even there. So many of the plebes tried to get out of duties, even if they were supposed to be there, and there was Namy, a kid who had a valid reason not to be, but wanted to be there to support his classmates.

Later that year, we found out Namy had cancer and he left us to go through chemo. I heard off and on how he was doing and, last I'd heard, he was doing well. My last week of school, stressed, excited and self-absorbed, I was running down the stairs from The Nest. Somewhere around the third flight of stairs, I bumped into Namy. He had a huge smile and was bounding up the stairs two at a time. I asked if it was who I thought it was and he responded with a huge smile and greeted me as though he were still a plebe saying, "It sure is! Where Eagles Dare, and Congratulations Sir!" then went on his way up the stairs.

Unfortunately, Namy lost his battle with cancer and with that loss, the Corps, the Army and anyone who knew him is the lesser for it.

Well done Joel, Be Thou At Peace...