A great American, my dad Don Campbell, turns 72 today.
His achievements:
- War hero (sniper in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965, Purple Heart & Bronze Star)
- Author, he wrote his war memoirs in a book called “The Missing Horsemen"
- Married to the same woman, Sandra Dispennett Campbell, 50 years come October
- Champion pee-wee football coach
- First fire chief and among the founders of Ga. Mtn. Volunteer Fire Dept.
- Deacon and Sunday school officer for many years at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church
- Retired lineman from Redstone Arsenal
- Entrepreneur, started his own heating & cooling business years ago
- Cancer survivor and overall armor-plated son-of-a-gun. He ate bacon and eggs the morning after they did throat surgery for his cancer at the base of the tongue.
- Most generous person I know. In his early years, he once gave the last $20 bill in his pocket to somebody that showed up at church with a hard-luck story. “I figured I could make more and he might not be able to,” he said when the story came out years later.
- Knowledgeable in all things construction. Can’t tell you how many times he’s bailed me out on home maintenance. He is the superintendent on my screened-in porch project now.
Happy birthday, Pops, and many more. I love you more than words can express. We eating Mater's pizza tonight!

(Also of note: Dad will be the keynote speaker at the Guntersville Courthouse's Memorial Day ceremony Monday at 11:00.)