Birth date: Nov 16, 1948 Death date: Oct 26, 2015
U.S. Army Major William Miller Shaw, II, (Ret.) age 66, of Hollis, NH passed away on Monday, October 26, 2015 in Charlottesville, VA. He was born on November 16, 1948 in Wilmington, DE, son of the late Benjamin F. Shaw, II and Lil Read Obituary
I am Wade McPhaul of Brandywine Md. Bill Shaw and his brother Ben were very special to me since we attended Fork Union Military Academy together for 4 years graduating in 1968. We were roomates at sometime during that four year period in A Company. I am so very sorry for your loss. if you would like to reach me I am on the web at maryandwade @Comcast.net.
(PART II OF II Continues...)
The Mess Sergeant got to his feet very slowly, clearly displeased that he was being commanded to stand up. He had 'an attitude,' as we used to say.
The Company Commander stated, 'Mess Sergeant, tell the orderlies to get to work,' & they immediately disappeared into the kitchen area, glad to get away from what looked like a bad situation. He continued, 'Lieutenant Shaw tells me we have some problems coming out of this mess hall & that you don't listen. I've heard a whole lot of complaints about you, & I just want to hear your side of it.'
The Mess Sergeant took off, talking fast. I don't think he had ever seen anyone like this man. I never had. The Captain was tense & mad. And, the more lame excuses the Mess Sergeant served up, the madder he got. The Captain was a huge man with big, rough hands, & you got the impression he could hurt you real bad. I understood why people were afraid of him. He was a professional killer.
Very quietly, the Captain said, 'I have just three rules for this mess hall. I want hot food served hot. I want cold food served cold. And, I don't want to see another fly in this place or get one more complaint about you & this frickin' mess hall!'
Since the Captain spoke so low, the Mess Sergeant had moved up close to him in order to hear exactly what he was saying. The Captain winked at me & shifted around as if to whisper in the Mess Sergeant's ear, & in a booming voiced that could be heard 3 blocks away, he shouted, 'IS THAT CLEAR, SERGEANT?'
The Mess Sergeant screamed in pain, then shouted back, 'WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, SIR? Are You CRAZY?'
The Captain looked up from the floor & checked to see if any of the orderlies were watching. In a barely-controlled rage, the Captain hissed at the sergeant, 'You come with me, now.' He turned & took a step as if to go out the screen door behind him. The Mess Sergeant was only a step away when the Captain suddenly turned & smashed him in the face with his elbow, & then buried his fist in the sergeant's groin. He dropped as if struck by lightning.
The Captain wasn't evening breathing hard. This was obviously a well-practiced move.
In a whisper he asked him, 'How's it feel to have stomach problems?' Then, the Captain turned & disappeared out the screen door. A moment later, he popped his head back in to say, 'Oh yeah, I want the coffee & cookies on the drop zone.'
We never had any more problems with the mess hall.
This was LEADERSHIP that made a true difference!
To all who have shared memories, special thanks, & care for my William as a friend, family member & the words of comfort & gifts much is appreciated from a grateful heart.
And, the weeks that have passed as I have had to deal with his death, it has been a whirlwind. I felt like suddenly being pushed out of an 82d Airborne Aircraft carrier with just a parachute & voices behind me yelling, "keep your head down, be sure to pull the rip cord to open your parachute & catch all the paperwork tossed to you, be sure you avoid the rocks, tuck 'n' rolol & get up fast & keep running. Finally, that whirlwind has
slowed enough for me to properly grieve for a man I have loved 38 years.
While sorting through some of Bill's things, I found a May 2008 issue of Maverick which was New Mexico Military Institute's School Magazine. (PART I of PART II below)
It featured an article that Bill wrote called, "1973 Punching the Mess Sergeant." Bill
recounts his first memorable incident witnessed by him as a young 2nd Lieutenant.
"I loved the 82nd Airborne Division. H had been with the Division about a year when I came down on orders for Special Forces training. Special Forces officers were still needed in Vietnam, & I knew in late July that I was to report to the 7th Special Forces Group, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina in August where I also would attend Special Forces School.
About the same time our Mess Sergeant left our unit, & was reassigned to a battalion in Europe. He was a tall, slow-talking, lanky Sergeant First-Class, a senior NCO, who served great food in the mess hall, kept the place spotless, & even served coffee & cookies on the drop zone at any hour of any day or night if we had a parachute jump,
provided there was no tactical exercise as well. Those non-tactical jumps were called 'Hollywood' jumps - just to keep our pay records up-to-date.
The new Mess Sergeant was nowhere near as good. He was loud, dirty, fat, & lazy as a clam. How he ever got to be a Sergeant First Class, I'll never know. He was not airborne-qualified, so I don't know why they assigned him to our battalion. Within a week we had complaints about the food, and the company morale was literally going down the toilet, because everybody had stomach problems because of the bad food.
The mess hall was filthy, & nothing I said got his attention since I was just a Second Lieutenant. I was the officer responsible for the mess hall.
We got a new company commander. The war caused a lot of personnel turnover. Nobody ever stayed very long with any one unit. The new commander, a Captain, took over on payday, the last Friday of the month. On Monday morning, he called me into his office & demanded to know what was wrong with the mess hall.
I told him, 'Sir, it's really simple. The place is filthy. The food stinks. The new Mess Sergeant is a damn pig, & he won't listen to me as junior lieutenant.
He then said, 'Come with me, Lieutenant, I'm gonna give you a lesson in leadership.' He had to be one of the strangest officers I'd ever met. He never made eye-contact, always looked down at the floor, & spoke so softly, so you had to stand real close to him to hear exactly what he was saying. He had just completed a Phoenix assignment in Vietnam. It was a CIA assassination program. There were all these rumors swirling around him, about how he was a defrocked priest. He certainly looked & played the part.
We walked over to the mess hall, & entered by the screen door at the rear where officers usually sat. The Mess Sergeant was just sitting around shooting the breeze with the mess hall orderlies. It was almost 11:00 AM, & they should have been getting ready for lunch. The tables had not been cleared from breakfast; flies were everywhere. One of the orderlies called attention, & the Captain deliberately did NOT say, 'At Ease,' or 'As you were,' which meant, of course, that everyone was expected to come to attention. (PART II Continues...)
Dear Carol,
Neighbors are blessings when they becomes friends; neighbors are angels when they become family. Even in my earliest memories, You and Bill were prominent figures of guidance and hope for my family and myself. I have grown up, not simply with you, but because of you: In learning about puppy training, I learned how to become a mature young lady, and in watching your struggles, I learned the true meaning of love and sacrifice.
Thank you, Bill, for exemplifying the qualities of consistency in character, good humor, and resolve--your example lives on in the lives of the people you've touched--we will not soon forget your presence in our hearts.
May your joyful heart be alive in the endless light of heaven just as it is alive in our hearts.
Love, Always,
Elizabeth Kotelly (your Niece)
Dear Carol,
It is with a great sadness to learn about Maj. Shaw passing away. Yet, since we met when he retired from the 10th SP Group, after his arrival at the NMMI in 1992, he has been in my heart, and always will be.
After graduating from the NMMI in '93, I have trully looked forward to our every get together, whether it was in VT working as a ski instructor, PA during my college studies and graduation, or NH during my Harvard University studies. When Bill brought you along, it was a great priviledge to meet you, too. Please know that Bill was very proud of you, especially your patience and time taking care of the dogs and home, your ability to manage all the things during his long absences, and to stay strong and still pursue your interests on the top of everything.
During his fruitful life, Bill have seen and overcame what most others can't even concieve in their minds, and showed by his personal example that it is possible not only to be an officer and gentleman, but more importantly, a soldier of God. To honor his achievements and his life, is to advance the ideals he stood for.
If It was not for Maj. Shaw, I would not be alive today.
With the utmost respect,
Most Sincerely,
Scott John William Vitkovic
[email protected]
Gone but not forgotten. For the Christian there is the very real hope that we will be together again and rejoicing. His work is done, his tasks complete. There is always more we could have done but our loving Father has the wisdom to call it correctly. We have been enriched by sharing life together and we will be again rejoicing.
David G. Coffield
Excerpt from Max Lucado's Cure for the Common Life (Book given to me 2006 while recovering from broken jaws as result of severe winter storm): Bill gave me the book to cheer me up--
"APPLAUD GOD, LOUD & OFTEN"
John 4:24 "Those who worship HIM must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
"We suffer from poor I-sight. Not eyesight, a matter of distorted vision that lenses can correct, but I-sight. Poor I-sight blurs your view, not of the world, but of yourself.
Some see self too highly. Maybe it's the PhD or Pedigree. A tattoo can do it; so can a new truck or the Nobel Peace Prize. Whatever the cause, the result is always the same. 'I have so many gifts. I can do anything.' Brazenly self-assured and utterly self-sufficient, the I-focused have long strutted beyond the city limits of self-confidence & entered the state of cockiness. You wonder who puts the 'air' in arrogance & 'vain' in vainglory? Those who say, 'I can do anything.'
You've said these words. For a short time at least. A lifetime perhaps. We all plead guilty to some level of superiority. And don't we also know the other extreme: 'I can't do anything?'
Divorce stirs such crud as do diseases & job dismissals. When the first group is arrogant, this group is diffident. Blame them for every mishap; they won't object. They'll just agree & say, 'I can't do anything.' Yes, there are 2 extremes of poor I-sight-- Self-loving & Self-loathing. We swing from one side to the other. Promotions bump us back & forth. One day too high on self, the next too hard on self. Neither is correct. Self-elevation & self-depreciation are equally inaccurate.
Where is the truth? Dead center between 'I can do anything' & 'I can't do anything' lies 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' (Phillipians 4:13).
Neither omnipotent nor impotent, neither God's MVP nor God's mistake. Not self-secure or insecure, but GOD-secure--a self-worth based in our identity as children of God. The proper view of self is in the middle.
But how do we get there? How do we park the pendulum in the center? Counseling?, Therapy?, Self-help?, Long walks? Take-to-dinners? Advisable activities, but they don't compare with God's cure for poor I-sight:
Worship! Surprised? The word conjures up many thoughts, not all of which are positive. Outdated Songs, Cliche-cluttered Prayers, Irrelevant Sermons, Meager Offerings, Odd Rituals, Why worship? What does worship have to to with curing the common life?
Honest worship lifts eyes off self & sets them on God. Scriptures best-known worship leader wrote: 'Give honor to the LORD, you angels, give honor to the LORD for His Glory and Strength. Give honor to the LORD for the Glory of His Name. Worship the LORD in the Splendor of His Holiness.' (Psalms 29:1-2 NLT). Worship gives God Honor, offers Him Standing Ovations.
Worship can happen every day in every deed. Each time we do our best to thank God for giving His, we worship Him. 'Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering.' (Romans 12:1 MSG) Worship places God on center stage & us in the proper position. Let me show you how this works:
King David & his men have just raised enough money to build a temple. They are sitting ducks for cockiness. But before their heads can swell, their knees bow in prayer:
Praise be to you, O LORD,
God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting,
...Wealth & honor come from you.
You are the ruler of all things.
In Your Hands are strength and power
to exalt & give strength to all.
Now, our God, we give You thanks,
& praise your Glorious Name.
But who am I, & who are my people, that
we should be able to give as generously as this?
Everything comes from You & we have given You
only what comes from Your Hand. (I Chronicles 29:10-14 NIV)
AMEN.
