On a chilly February morning, Dennis Hall, commander of American Legion Post 13, was about to start his day opening up the Legion hall when he spotted a discarded plastic bag of material.
Bringing the bag inside, he noticed the contents were military in nature with many awards and certificates of a fellow veteran. He set the bag in the office and decided to wait until our monthly Executive Committee meeting the next Thursday. When I arrived at the post for the meeting, I asked if there’s anything I can do to help get ready. Commander Hall then pointed out to me to have a look at the bag and see if there’s anything I can do about the all the items inside.
The veteran was Command Sgt. Maj. (CSM) Norbert Weber. Judging by the volume of material, I figured he had passed away and the family didn’t know what else to do with all this Army stuff and just dropped it off.
As the post historian, I looked at all the military certificates and paperwork in more detail. Two Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars, two Honorable Discharge Certificates, and many more mementos of a long military career of a soldier’s soldier. His accomplishments listed in his obituary from 2006 are as follows: (CSM Weber) lived in Tallahassee for the last 30 years. He was a member of the U.S. Army Green Berets, where he served four tours in Vietnam. He was awarded two Bronze Stars for Valor, Army Commendation Medal for Valor, Air Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Bronze star, Meritorious Service Medal and Purple Heart. Upon completion of 23 years of military service, he worked for the state of Florida Department of Management and Services, where he also retired after 19 years of service. He was a member of the Special Forces Association.
The listing of surviving family members included a local daughter still living in Monticello, Fla. But that was in 2006. A quick social media search led me to her. Joanie Wheeler and I connected, and I discovered she still lives in Monticello, just 30 minutes east of Tallahassee.
"The display you put together was just perfect to honor my father. If he was alive he would have been so proud and honored as I was. I apologize. I was just overwhelmed with emotion this morning and just forgot to say this. As you said, he was a true patriot and I know he was smiling today in heaven". - Joanie Wheeler