WWWringer RIP

[a nameless entity]

I'm not sure why I'm posting this here. I must still be a little bit in shock, even as I just finished chatting with Loco here via pm. At 4:30 pm my nephew telephoned me to let me know that my brother had passed on at around 3:30 EST.

If you played Red Baron back in the day, or later on IL-2, or even World of Tanks, you may have come across my brother playing as WWWringer.

He was diagnosed with a very rare form of liver cancer just over two years ago. It is so rare that they don't even have a database on it. Just a lot of anecdotale evidence.

They tried to operate, but that failed. Chemothreapy was next, but that was not expected to be a cure. -I was hoping for a 5 year life extension, since exciting new anti cancer drugs and other treatments are in the pipeline and will be ready for human trials soon.
But he'd had all he could manage of that evil brew by the summer. Later they zapped him with some strong radiation treatments, and that bought some more time and comfort.

He made it through Christmas and New Year's. All things considered, Xmas was pleasant and he seemed to feel pretty good considering how bad things were getting.
And now he is gone and the bs is over and done with. Except for the grieving, of course.

His last advice to me was to enjoy life. Certainly I will try. As should we all.

[Hermskii]

My deepest condolences Nameless. I have no parents or grandparents left but I do have all of my siblings. Two of which are older. I have not gone through what you are but I know it will be tough for me when it happens and so I'm feeling for you now.

It sounds like you two had a good relationship so that could be something to be happy about. I was lucky. I clearly said goodbye to my mother before she passed as my brother and sisters got to also. We all agreed at that moment to do our best to make sure we all knew we all loved each other so in the event of a untimely passing of one of us the others would be as best prepared as possible.

We have done pretty well with this so far. Tell me, do you still have any parents or other siblings? What is your brothers story with in-laws and kids. You close with them? We are all pretty close to each other. I am lucky to come from a tight family.

I hope your thoughts dwell on the good times is all I hope for you.

God Bless Your Day!

[EvilGrins]

Sorry, man.

[Dragon]

Sorry for your loss

[Dr.Flay]

(You are posting here simply because you miss him dearly, and there is no real way to express it)

That is such harsh news indeed.
At least you were blessed with a last bit of family-time, and have some good memories.
Being such a rare condition, we can only hope the Doctors could learned something, and hope that in some way your Bro will have helped to save the lives of others in the future.

It has been an odd end to a year all-round I think. I attended a paupers funeral on Christmas Eve, and spoke on behalf of someone forgotten by family and abandoned by a broken system.
On my radio show the next Friday, I dedicated some tracks to him, and let the world know he was remembered, even though there will be no grave or urn tended by a family.

I will share the final dedication with you and your Bro, as this song is a song of remembrance, forgiveness, love and hope for a better future.

May the new year bring your family joy and hope, amongst the craziness we call life.

[Loco]

Hey Namey,
I'm sorry for your loss. You were fortunate enough to spend at least the end of the year with your brother, and your gratitude for that shows that you deeply love your brother, and that you do not take life for granted. I'm sure he'll be happy about that.

I wish you well in your time of grief, and I know everyone agrees that if you need anything said you can do so here, we will listen.

May his soul be free from pain and his memory be warm and kind.
Treasure his memory, for he is not truly gone until he is forgotten.

[a nameless entity]

Thanks for the kind words m8's.

In answer to your questions Herm, WWWringer is my older and only brother.
All of our older relatives except the wife of one of my uncles are long gone. And she is 92 years old.

The crazy thing is that it was me who was the sickly one, and my brother the healthy one. So I always assumed that I would go first. I wrote my will and made my final arrangement plans accordingly. And yet now he is gone and I still stumble on. Ain't life a beech?

Here is a photograph of my brother. He was a member and volunteer at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. http://www.warplane.com/

He had extensive experience flying DC3's early in his aviation career, so he was a most welcome member on their DC3/C47 crew. He flew the plane a number of times to various air shows.
When they knew he was ill, they planned a surprise for him. They told him that there would be a general meeting and that all should show up in their flight suits. Then they sprung the surprise. He was given a ride in the Lancaster bomber. He got to ride in the co-pilot's seat, and at one point he was given control of the aircraft.
The fellow behind in the pilot's seat spoke at my brother's memorial service, and told the story of the ride.
My brother had mentioned that they had done this for him, but I only got the short version. I didn't know that they had let him fly the aircraft. This must have been icing on the cake for him. The Lancaster is special to my brother and I because our father flew the 2nd half of his WWII tour of duty in the Lanc.

WWWringer's big day.JPG

Here's another reason I will miss my brother. Somehow he found this group photograph of our father's squadron taken during the first half of his tour, when the squadron was still flying Stirling bombers. Sadly, the brits did not keep any examples of the Stirlings for their Museums. All were either sold or scrapped at the end of the war.

622-Sqn-13-Aug-43edited.JPG

I drew a red circle around our Dad. Look at the faces of the men. You can see the effects of the strain of war in most of them, including our father.

Short Stirling