01-31-2011, 10:46
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#1
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Pineland, Northern Province
Posts: 600
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MSG Lowell Wesley Stevens
Lowell Wesley Stevens, Sr., 69, of Fayetteville, N.C., made the leap into eternity on January 26, 2011.
Lowell arrived on this earth as the first child of a coal mining family on July 8, 1941, at Putney, W.Va. The coal mining camp of Putney was located at the head of a sixteen-mile hollow and no longer exists. He is the son of the late Elmer and Opal Young Stevens.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Larry; and his sister, Jean.
He was named after both of his grandfathers, Lowell H. Stevens and John Wesley Young.
Lowell was the first one in his family to graduate from high school, but had only two options after doing so; go to work in the coal mines, which had killed his Dad, or join the United States Military. His father had served as a machine gunner in Europe during the last stages of World War II with the 376th Infantry Regiment of the 94th Infantry Division and was immensely proud of his Combat Infantryman Badge. On July 29, 1959, Lowell entered the United States Army, having enlisted for Airborne unassigned. He graduated from Jump School in February 1960, and six years later was a master parachutist. Later on, he added HALO and HALO Master Wings to his chest. From December 1959 to May 1963, he was a proud member of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. In May 1963, he volunteered for Special Forces training and completed the course with MOS 112 (Heavy Weapons Infantryman) in November of that year.
In November 1963, Lowell was assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) located on Okinawa and performed the duties of the heavy weapons man on A-Detachments. He served on Detachment A-312 from Company C on a six month TDY mission to South Vietnam from June to December 1964. From May to July 1965, he was a Squad leader in the Recon Platoon of the 1st Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment.
In October 1965, Lowell was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) in South Vietnam. Between this date and August 1972, Lowell completed a total of seventy-one months with the 5th Group in Vietnam. His duties included serving on A-Camps, MACV SOG, Mike Force Company Commander, and Instructor at MACV Recondo School. He served for a total of six years and five months in Vietnam. After Vietnam, he was assigned once again to the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) on Okinawa for eighteen months. In April, he was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. During the last eight years of military service, he preformed the duties of the Team Sergeant on Operational Detachments. In his opinion, nothing in the Army was greater or more important than the Team Sergeant on an ODA. After retiring from the Army on March 1, 1980, he was an owner/operator of a new Peterbilt truck, leased to trucking companies that specialized in hauling steel and machinery until July 1983. During these three and a half years, he traveled the continental United Sates and visited with his rig all but two of our states. He enjoyed seeing our country from the vantage point afforded him by the cab of his truck. In July 1983, he started work on Camp Mackall as the Range Control Representative. He took an intense interest in the history of Mackall and for the next twenty-seven plus years, he endeavored all but daily to learn the rich history of the “Home of the Airborne during WWII.” He said many times that his service in Vietnam and his time at Camp Mackall defined his life and provided a degree of contentment that few men ever realized. On September 1, 2010, Lowell retired from Civil Service on Fort Bragg with more than forty-seven years of enjoyable service with the Federal government.
Although he did not like to enumerate the awards he received while in the Army, it is customary to do so, so here it goes: Silver Star Medal (three awards), Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal (six awards), Purple Heart (two awards), Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge and a handful of “I was there” awards. He was most proud of his Vietnam Campaign Medal, which indicated that he was awarded sixteen campaigns out of a total of seventeen awarded for the entire Vietnam War.
He is survived by sister, Frances Stevens James and husband, Cecil, of Thomson, Ga.; his wife of over 35 years, Emiko; son, Lowell Jr. and wife, Lauri; daughters, Natalie Stevens and husband, Bart Palmer, and Cheryl Stevens Mericle; two grandsons, Chance Palmer and Brandon Stevens; and two granddaughters, Brooke Stevens and Chasity Palmer, all of Fayetteville, N.C.
Memorial service will be held at 12:30 p.m. Monday, January 31, 2011, at Rogers and Breece Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow at Sandhills Veterans Cemetery with full military honors.
Service is entrusted to Rogers and Breece Funeral Home, Fayetteville, N.C.
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Rest in Peace Brother...jd
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"The scene changes but the aspirations of men of good will persist."
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uplink5 is offline
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01-31-2011, 10:50
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#2
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Guerrilla
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 117
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RIP Warrior
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Free Pineland
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Santo Tomas is offline
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01-31-2011, 10:52
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#3
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Area Commander
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,690
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RIP MSG Stevens. What an example you were of a true Warrior. My condolences to family and friends, as well as all of those that were mentored by you. You will not be forgotten.
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Sohei is offline
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01-31-2011, 10:53
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#4
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Area Commander
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: JBLM
Posts: 1,246
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RIP MSG Stevens.
A fine example of a "Quiet Professional" to emulate. Very humble man.
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"Let the blood of the infantry flow through your veins,or the blood of the infantry will be on your hands."
- GEN John A. Wickham, Jr. speaking on the responsibilities of MI soldiers.
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jbour13 is offline
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01-31-2011, 10:53
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#5
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RIP Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: The Ozarks
Posts: 10,072
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Prayers out to the family. RIP.
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Dusty is offline
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01-31-2011, 11:02
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#6
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Free Pineland
Posts: 24,780
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RIP, Lowell.
You knew more about Camp MacKall than any other man alive.
Thanks for your service.
Save us a place at the table, hermano.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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The Reaper is offline
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01-31-2011, 11:13
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#7
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Gold Star Father
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Littleton, Colorado
Posts: 388
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Rest in Peace, MSG. Thank you for your lifetime of service and sacrifice. I regret that I never got to know you, but you are loved and honored by warriors that I love and honor.
You will ALWAYS be missed and NEVER forgotten.
molon labe
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Tatonka316 is offline
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01-31-2011, 12:11
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#8
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: 18 yrs upstate NY, 30 yrs South Florida, 20 yrs Conch Republic, now chasing G-Kids in NOVA & UK
Posts: 11,901
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RIP MSG Stevens, Vaya con Dios..
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JJ_BPK is offline
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01-31-2011, 12:20
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#9
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NorCal
Posts: 15,370
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RIP, Round-eye!
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“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)
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Richard is offline
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01-31-2011, 12:48
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#10
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Guest
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Rest in Peace "Raider".
Thank you for the legacy MSG Stevens, you will never be forgotten.
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01-31-2011, 13:04
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#11
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Area Commander
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 2,952
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Rest In God's Peace Warrior.
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Red Flag 1 is offline
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01-31-2011, 13:26
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#12
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Georgetown, SC
Posts: 4,204
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Rest In Peace.
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"I took a different route from most and came into Special Forces..." - Col. Nick Rowe
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ZonieDiver is offline
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01-31-2011, 14:10
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#13
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BANNED USER
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Monterey California
Posts: 392
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RIP MSG you were one of my instructors at the MACV Recondo School. You will be missed!
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f50lrrp is offline
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01-31-2011, 15:59
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#14
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Guerrilla Chief
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Ohio
Posts: 590
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Rest in Peace
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Rogue is offline
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01-31-2011, 18:31
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#15
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Nashville
Posts: 974
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RIP Lowell.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Reaper
RIP, Lowell.
You knew more about Camp MacKall than any other man alive.
Thanks for your service.
Save us a place at the table, hermano.
TR
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Your Omega friends will miss you. You were in recon with the best Omega had, and; you were at the top.
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alright4u is offline
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