07-01-2010, 08:02
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#1
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Free Pineland
Posts: 24,780
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Ralph W. "Pappy" Shelton Major U.S. Army, Retired
RIP, Pappy.
Your service and your sacrifice is not forgotten.
And I hope you are burning now, Che.
TR
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kno...&pid=143862308
Ralph W. "Pappy" Shelton Major U.S. Army, Retired
SHELTON, RALPH W. "PAPPY", MAJOR U.S. ARMY RETIRED - 80, of Sweetwater, died Tuesday, June 29, 2010, at Sweetwater Hospital, Sweetwater, TN. A native of Corinth, Mississippi, he was a son of the late William M., Jr and Elma Hilburn Shelton and was also preceded in death by 2 sisters, Quiba Moore and Gladys Price, and 1 brother, Bill Shelton, Jr. Major Shelton, a member of the Army Special Forces, is perhaps best remembered as the man who trained the Bolivian Troops who captured the revolutionary Che Guevara. Shelton joined the U.S. Army in 1948 and served as a Sergeant in the Korean War, earning the Silver Star for valor. Shelton entered the U.S. Army officer's training school, finishing first in his class in 1958. In 1961, after Ranger and Airborne training, he joined the Special Forces. His Mobile Training Team served much of its time behind enemy lines to train natives of other countries to fight insurgencies around the world. His team fought Laotian insurgents in Southeast Asia before he was assigned in 1967 to train Bolivian troops to capture Guevara. After leaving the Army, he earned a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of Memphis. He taught 12 years of JROTC in the Memphis City Schools and served five years as director of Operations Wilderness, a summer experience modeled after the Outward Bound Program. He also served 14 years as training director with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in Memphis. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Sweetwater, where he had served on the Administrative Board. He was a member of the Sweetwater Kiwanis Club, He was a member of Memphis Lodge #722 F&AM, he was a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, and was a member of the Shrine of Memphis. He served as a Sweetwater City Commissioner, was also involved in Sweetwater Tourism, and was awarded Monroe County's Tourism Person of the Year. He is survived by his wife; Susan Vestal Shelton, of Sweetwater and formerly of Athens; four daughters: Janeene Larkin of Memphis, Robin Poole and her husband Randy of Gallantin, TN, Piper Browning, and Brandi Maddox both of Nashville; one son, Ralph W. Shelton, Jr. and his wife Phyllis of Dayton, TN; and one stepson, Robert Forrest Torian of Memphis; and eight grandchildren. A funeral service will be conducted, 3:00 P.M., Friday, July 2, 2010, in the chapel of Smith Funeral Home with the Rev. Julian Walton and Rev. Carl Oakes officiating. Interment will follow in Cedar Grove Cemetery with full Military Honors at the graveside. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 1:00-2:30 P.M., Friday prior to the service. If you are unable to attend this service or visitation, you may sign the guest register atwww.jerrysmithfuneralhome.com. Smith Funeral & Cremation Service of Athens is serving the family of Ralph W. "Pappy"Shelton.
Published in Knoxville News Sentinel on July 1, 2010
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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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07-01-2010, 08:23
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#2
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Idaho
Posts: 1,200
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Rest In Peace, Sir
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"It is a brave act of valor to condemn death, but where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valor to dare to live." -Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)
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TOMAHAWK9521 is offline
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07-01-2010, 08:50
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#3
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Gold Star Father
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Littleton, Colorado
Posts: 388
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Rest in Peace, Major. Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. You will always be missed and NEVER forgotten.
molon labe
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Tatonka316 is offline
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07-01-2010, 09:04
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#4
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Area Commander
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Delaware
Posts: 1,425
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In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritu Sancti, Amen.
In pace requiescat Sir. Dominus vobiscum.
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You ask; What is our policy? I will say; “It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.” You ask; What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.-Winston Churchill
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Goggles Pizano is offline
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07-01-2010, 10:08
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#5
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Georgetown, SC
Posts: 4,204
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Rest In Peace, sir. 'Estamos Siempre Listos'
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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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07-01-2010, 11:03
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#6
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Area Commander
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: USA-Germany
Posts: 1,572
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Rest In Peace, and Thank You.
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"Men Wanted: for Hazardous Journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” -Sir Ernest Shackleton
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” –Greek proverb
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akv is offline
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07-01-2010, 13:13
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#7
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Area Commander
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: JBLM
Posts: 1,246
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RIP Sir
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http://teamrwb.com/
"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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07-01-2010, 15:08
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#8
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BANNED USER
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Monterey California
Posts: 392
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Pappy, you are a legend!
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f50lrrp is offline
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07-01-2010, 15:11
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#9
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Area Commander
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 2,952
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Rest In Peace Major!
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Red Flag 1 is offline
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07-01-2010, 18:20
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#10
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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 Maj Shelton, Vaya con Dios..
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Go raibh tú leathuair ar Neamh sula mbeadh a fhios ag an diabhal go bhfuil tú marbh
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JJ_BPK is offline
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07-01-2010, 18:52
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#11
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Undisclosed Safehouse in South Texas
Posts: 573
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Rest In Peace, Warrior. You and your loved ones are in my prayers
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“Whether we come from poverty or wealth; whether we are Afro-American or Irish-American; Christian or Jewish, from big cities or small towns, we are all equal in the eyes of God. … May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never lose your natural, God-given optimism. … My fellow Americans … God bless each and every one of you, and God bless this country we love.”
– Ronald Reagan, Aug. 17, 1992
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nousdefions is offline
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07-01-2010, 21:19
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#12
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Southeast US
Posts: 18
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May God Welcome You Home....
Pappy -
My research paper in O&I School many years ago was on Che and the contributions of Special Forces to his capture/kill. I remember researching and finding information about your efforts to train those Bolivian Rangers. My group commander at the time was COL Wagelstein - also part of that operation.
May God welcome you home to the Team House in the sky - you have earned your position there!!!
__________________
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