Nightmares from a different war, a different desert

Kermit Hagen's funeral is tomorrow at 2:00 at Trinity. Even the natives were surprised to read in his obituary yesterday that Kermit was not born in Pelican Rapids. Kermit, aka The Tank Commander, was the gentleman in the John Deere cap with the Tank Commander handshake. Kermit was not shy about telling his stories of WWII from North Africa to Sicily, into Italy chasing The Desert Fox. People tell me that his passage was a blessing, that towards the end, his life consisted of reliving those experiences. Imagine, not remembering what you ate for breakfast, but being able to remember with emotion rendering clarity what you experienced sixty-four years ago. My guess is that there are probably a few of The Desert Fox' Panzer Kommandanten up in the German side of heaven too, maybe even the Fox himself.. My second guess is that they greeted Kermit with the words, "What? Are you here already? Let's have a beer together and talk." Kermit was 90. 56572 and the country he fought for will miss him. Our condolences to the Hagen Family.