Douglas M. Eye – Colonel, United States Army

Douglas M. Eye, Colonel, United States Army (retired), age 72. Colonel Eye, a former Executive Officer to the Assistant Secretary of the Army, died at Mission St. Joseph’s Health System in Asheville, North Carolina, on Tuesday October 20, 2002.

A resident of Cullowhee, North Carolina, Colonel Eye served in Germany, Korea and Vietnam. He served on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific from 1965-1968, as Battalian Commander of the 1/44th Artillery in Vietnam from 1968-1969, and commanded the 19th Artillery Group at Ft. Macarthur, California, from 1973-1974. After serving as Executive Officer to the Assistant Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon from 1975 to 1979, he retired in January, 1980.

His decorations include four Legion of Merit awards and two Bronze Stars. He was inducted into the Northern State University (South Dakota) Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987, the Artillery OCS Hall of Fame in 2002, and was a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Colonel Eye was a native of Kidder, South Dakota. His parents were Charles and Winifred Chapin Eye. He was a graduate of Kidder High School and Northern State University. He graduated from Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, KS in 1965, and from Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1973.

Family includes his wife of 46 years, Winona Cotter Eye of the home; brother, Forest Eye of Britton, South Dakota; sister, Leone Hagen of Reeder, North Dakota; brother, Donald Chapin (deceased); six children, Kathleen Boland of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Douglas Eye of Sterling, Virginia, Charles Eye of Herndon, Virginia, Claire Eye of Cullowhee, North Carolina, Rebecca Hadeed of Sterling, Virginia and Sara Eye of Blacksburg, Virginia and four grandchildren, Erin, Megan, Matthew and Kaden.

Burial with full military honors will be held Thursday, December 5 at 12:45 p.m. at the Old Post Chapel, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Headquarters, 406 West 34th St., Suite 718, Kansas City, MO 64111 or www.vfw.org.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard