nhboy
Ubi bene ibi patria
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"SPOKANE, Wash. — When Glenn Longstorff's mind goes back to that room at the hospital a few nights ago, he hurts for his friend, the man people around here knew as Shorty.
He thinks of the kid drafted to war at 18. The soldier shot in the leg on the beach at Okinawa, who never cared to say too much about it. The fixture around town — at the Sportsman Cafe & Lounge for coffee almost every morning, and at the Eagles Lodge on many nights.
Delbert Belton, 88, was in his car outside the lodge watering hole Wednesday night, waiting for his girlfriend to meet him to shoot some pool, when he was robbed and beaten. Hours later, he died at the hospital. Longstorff was at his friend's side.
"The way they beat him and how they beat him — it's absolutely terrible," said the 62-year-old railroad worker who had rented a room from Belton for five years. "Everybody's just appalled. Man's not supposed to kill man."
The killing of the World War II veteran has struck a nerve in Spokane, close to Washington's eastern edge, where a homegrown memorial has sprouted and grows outside the lodge and where locals gathered Friday for a memorial service."
.....
"At the Friday night memorial, people were invited to come stand by the American flag and say a few words about their friend. They stood under the inky sky, holding candles burning in paper cups. They talked about his hobbies, his personality and how much they'd miss him.
"That man did right, he did it for his country and he made an impact on a lot of lives," one man told the crowd. "God bless Shorty!" "
"SPOKANE, Wash. — When Glenn Longstorff's mind goes back to that room at the hospital a few nights ago, he hurts for his friend, the man people around here knew as Shorty.
He thinks of the kid drafted to war at 18. The soldier shot in the leg on the beach at Okinawa, who never cared to say too much about it. The fixture around town — at the Sportsman Cafe & Lounge for coffee almost every morning, and at the Eagles Lodge on many nights.
Delbert Belton, 88, was in his car outside the lodge watering hole Wednesday night, waiting for his girlfriend to meet him to shoot some pool, when he was robbed and beaten. Hours later, he died at the hospital. Longstorff was at his friend's side.
"The way they beat him and how they beat him — it's absolutely terrible," said the 62-year-old railroad worker who had rented a room from Belton for five years. "Everybody's just appalled. Man's not supposed to kill man."
The killing of the World War II veteran has struck a nerve in Spokane, close to Washington's eastern edge, where a homegrown memorial has sprouted and grows outside the lodge and where locals gathered Friday for a memorial service."
.....
"At the Friday night memorial, people were invited to come stand by the American flag and say a few words about their friend. They stood under the inky sky, holding candles burning in paper cups. They talked about his hobbies, his personality and how much they'd miss him.
"That man did right, he did it for his country and he made an impact on a lot of lives," one man told the crowd. "God bless Shorty!" "