... With tears, hymns and a hearty "Hooah!" friends and family celebrated the life of Col. Thomas Holt Felts Sr. in what a bulletin described as a service of thanksgiving.Words escape me - 100 heroic Virginians have now died in this war. I pray for Col. Felts' family, and I pray that we don't reach #101.Shortly after that, "Mr. Tom," as he was affectionately known to his family, was buried yesterday afternoon in full uniform at crowded Seven Pines National Cemetery.
A fallen cypress tree there opened space for a man described as a hero in war and life. Among the commendation medals Felts wore to the grave was a Purple Heart.
Felts, 45, who grew up in Sandston and whose family's restaurant once occupied space across from the cemetery, died Nov. 14 outside Baghdad in Iraq. He was the highest-ranking United States officer killed in the conflict and the 100th victim from Virginia of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I will continue to pray for everyone affected tomorrow in church. God Bless these brave souls who volunteered for battle.