Anthony Joseph Detoto

West Point, 1991

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Tina Blanchette on December 1, 2020:

I'm truly heartbroken and in shock. We last spoke before Thanksgiving, wishing each other a happy Veterans Day. I was proud to him as a friend and leader. Anthony, I was listening when you spoke, every lesson you shared. Awed by your selflessness to help others achieve greatness. You will be sorely missed. Here is your favorite poem you loved to share with others: I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then, someone at my side says; "There, she is gone!" "Gone where?" Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port. Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, "There, she is gone!" There are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout; "Here she comes!" And that is dying.

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