Posted by Doug Vinson on May 15, 2002:

Lawrence was a good friend of mine. We were fellow Cowboys in C-4 where he was two years my senior, and he was one of my heroes as a Plebe. I remember vividly my years on the Sailing team with Lawrence and Anne Wanner, the landlubbers of a military academy and dreaming of blue-green Caribbean seas and listening to Jimmy Buffett songs, wondering if I should have gone to USNA instead. I remember traveling to Philadelphia with him for a UPenn sailing regatta, and sitting at a roadside restaurant table as an old man walked up, shaked Larry's hand, and thanked all of us with a round of drinks for serving America. It was one of the more poignant moments I had in my four years at USMA. We all kind of laughed about it afterwards, but it felt good to be appreciated, particularly as a Plebe! The pitchers of beer weren't too bad either. Lawrence taught me to sail, and made my life at USMA 100% more bearable. On our trips to UPenn, Cornell, Annapolis, or Princeton, I learned all about his family's life on a sailing ship in the Virgin Islands, and thought of him often after graduation where we were both branched ADA. I often pondered where he might be when I wondered where to bring my family for a Caribbean vacation. I had hoped to visit him there someday among the coral reefs, and maybe walk on the deck of his family's boat. Larry, I'll still bring my family to the Virgin Islands, and will look for you in the blue waters and warm breezes. Your friend, Doug

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