Charles Dobbins instigated a reunion of his old Army buddies, which occurred in Sept. 2019 at his home on Masury.
Even though they hadn’t seen each other for 50 years, Dobbins talked about making it a regular thing. After all, he said, the men he served with were his brothers.
The members of the Army’s 70th Armored Division, who served in the late ’60s in Augsburg, Germany, returned to Masury recently, but Dobbins was not among them. He died Feb. 26 at age 72.
The reunion included a visit Sept. 25 to Dobbins’ grave in Brookfield Township Cemetery. Six of his Army brothers saluted him, Pastor Dick Smith of Brookfield United Methodist Church shared
remembrances and a prayer, and Lloyd Eggleston set a wreath and delivered his own prayer.
Dobbins’ widow, Medra, said it was “wonderful” to have everyone together.
“It’s a great feeling of love and happiness, and I’m just glad they kept him in their minds,” she said.
“He started this,” Eggleston said of the reunions. “We said we was gonna go through with it. When he
passed, he wanted somebody to take it on, so we took it upon ourselves to do it. This is why we’re
gathered here today. It’s sad.”
Eggleston said the feeling he gets from getting together with his Army brothers is “a feeling that you can’t really put it out there, because we all love each other. We all care for each other. Our wives, they all fell
in together, too, just like we’ve done this every day. It just had to be. We’ll have each other’s back until it’s our time.”
Smith remembered Dobbins, in prayer, as a man of faith.
“Veteran, soldier, family man, grandpa, great guy,” Smith said. “Anybody will tell you, a great guy. It’s been to our privilege, our benefit, to have known him. Thank you for Chuck. You sent him here to us for a reason. May his legacy of loving and caring about people be passed on to all of us as we love and care for others.”
Dobbins would have been proud of his brothers on this day, Medra said.
“He’s still here in spirit,” Eggleston said.