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View a eulogy for Douglas Edward Stockton, USMA '70, who passed away on July 7, 2012.

Douglas Edward Stockton

West Point, 1970

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Chuck Davidson on July 31, 2012:

I met Doug in the winter of our firsty year. We were both assigned to battalion staff in rather unimportant positions which allowed us to have a lot of fun together. The look on our battalion commander's (Jack Zoeller) face was often of amazement. He seemed to be thinking "Why are these two having so much fun". We were both liberated by having no desire to achieve any cadet rank and we did not care what the Tac thought of us.

Prior to our final year, Doug had only come to my attention as a source of amusement. The gusty snow flecked winds of winter used to blow him around in central area and from my window I could watch his travails. Neither the winter winds nor the trials of his upperclassmen in C-2 could dampen his cheerful personality. In our plebe year avoiding C-2's area was a necessity. As I was in A-2, that was sometimes difficult.

Doug and I became close friends. He was the best man at my wedding and we roomed together in a rather decrepit trailer during jump school. He always fascinated me because he was always certain about what was right and then he did it. I was constantly vacillating, considering shades of gray and nuances, but he decided and then did it. We were both in ranger school when he decided that the cost of sending him through ranger school was a waste of money and somehow he got out of it. He was heading for his first assignment in California and I was freezing in a tent at Benning. I dropped in on him on my way to Lewis and again on my way to Viet Nam.

I will miss him terribly because he has been a friend that I could always count on for over 40 years and there are few like that. I expect him to be waiting for me when I pass through the pearly gates and am looking forward to an eternity of good times with him again.


 
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