Maj. Wolves has retired for good

Maj. Wolves, my father, died in his sleep early this morning. He was 83. He served more than 26 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and fought in Korea and Vietnam. He was the fire support coordinator, in charge of artillery and air strikes, for much the siege of Khe Sanh in 1968, during which he earned the Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart. He had a rare talent for not talking about combat while telling hilarious stories about things that happened in combat.

Maj. Wolves was a track and cross-country coach after he retired. He lived in Taiwan for many years, moving there first to serve as the military attache at the U.S. Embassy in Taipei in 1979 before Pres. Jimmy "Why, yes, I am a fuckwad, why to you ask?" Carter cut off diplomatic relations with Taiwan and closed the embassy. For years Maj. Wolves was an instructor at the Republic of China's -- Taiwan to you -- War College. He was the coach of their national track and field team, and was the head coach of the country's 1984 Olympic Team at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

Maj. Wolves retired for the second time to Pensacola, Fla. This photo was taken in May 2017 during a visit with Cpl. Wolves and Married Into Wolves:

I grilled a bunch of London broil that day. We visited again at Thanksgiving, but he fell and broke his hip just before our visit. He couldn't attend the holiday meal, but we got to see him again. This morning, he retired for the third and final time. Rest in peace, Maj. Wolves.

Update: Mrs. Wolves has provided me with more pictures. The first two are from a visit to Florida right before Cpl. Wolves deployed to Afghanistan:

This one is from an earlier visit that I can't even put a date on:

This is a composite the Mrs. Wolves created that features a composite of an official photo of Cpl. Wolves right after graduation from bootcamp at Parris Island when he was Pvt. Wolves and a picture of Maj. Wolves at the wedding of his youngest daughter: