CivilWarTalk Throwback Thursday, 8 - 22 - 2019

James N.

Colonel
Annual Winner
Featured Book Reviewer
Asst. Regtl. Quartermaster Antietam 2021
Joined
Feb 23, 2013
Location
East Texas
A Tribute to Glen Hargis
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Usually it's great to hear from old friends, but as I get older, the chance they could be the bearer of sad tidings increases... When my old reenacting associate Ed Owens, whom I have featured here often, called this past weekend, it was to inform me that our mutual friend, Glen Hargis - who those you following these posts should also by now recognize - had finally lost his ongoing bout with kidney failure. Glen had been on dialysis for years - possibly decades, even - and it had finally caused him to retire from active campaigning ten or fifteen years ago. Ironically, he had finally and fairly recently received a kidney transplant, but Alas! - it must've been too late. Last week's Throwback Thursday took a rather lighthearted look back at another old reenacting friend, Iris Welch, and so this week I'd like to revisit some times spent with Glen, like above at the Gettysburg 125th in July, 1988, where was my irreplaceable First Sergeant at left, without whom I couldn't have run even our small company!

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I first met Glen as a member of what was then called variously Good's/Douglas's Texas Battery, operating out of Dallas, Texas. Our primary impression was Confederate artillery, traveling to many out-of-state events like Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, above, where Glen assists our Captain Glen Smith in plucking our dinner, "supervised" by the late Jim Marrs at left and Capt. Smith's son Colin at right. One of his notable abilities was remembering the words to all the Civil War songs; below, standing at the right Glen leads battery members in a rendition of one of them, accompanied by Jim on the banjo, at Billie Creek Village, Indiana, in June, 1978.
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Gradually, as the composition of our unit changed and enlarged, we moved steadily into doing Federal impressions, infantry as well as artillery, and Glen was always at the forefront learning new drill as easily as he had learned the song lyrics; above at right, Corporal Hargis stands beside Captain Smith, now leading an infantry company known briefly as the Union Rifles. Below at Corinth, Mississippi, in September, 1987, now-First Sergeant Glen stands at right beside Paula Ussery, Ed Owens, and Yours Truly.

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Sorry to hear of his passing. Looks like y'all had some GREAT times together.
Oddly enough, when searching through my photos I found very few that showed us together - that was because they were either group shots containing many, or else they are photos I'd taken myself! The one at top, probably taken by Glen's lovely wife Carol prior to the Gettysburg Wheatfield scenario, was the exception. The one at bottom was also the only one I had of glen by himself, since he was usually in the company of Carol, Mike Hubbard below (who he had known from Junior High School), or other members of our unit.
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A Tribute to Glen Hargis
View attachment 322111

Usually it's great to hear from old friends, but as I get older, the chance they could be the bearer of sad tidings increases... When my old reenacting associate Ed Owens, whom I have featured here often, called this past weekend, it was to inform me that our mutual friend, Glen Hargis - who those you following these posts should also by now recognize - had finally lost his ongoing bout with kidney failure. Glen had been on dialysis for years - possibly decades, even - and it had finally caused him to retire from active campaigning ten or fifteen years ago. Ironically, he had finally and fairly recently received a kidney transplant, but Alas! - it must've been too late. Last week's Throwback Thursday took a rather lighthearted look back at another old reenacting friend, Iris Welch, and so this week I'd like to revisit some times spent with Glen, like above at the Gettysburg 125th in July, 1988, where was my irreplaceable First Sergeant at left, without whom I couldn't have run even our small company!

View attachment 322107

I first met Glen as a member of what was then called variously Good's/Douglas's Texas Battery, operating out of Dallas, Texas. Our primary impression was Confederate artillery, traveling to many out-of-state events like Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, above, where Glen assists our Captain Glen Smith in plucking our dinner, "supervised" by the late Jim Marrs at left and Capt. Smith's son Colin at right. One of his notable abilities was remembering the words to all the Civil War songs; below, standing at the right Glen leads battery members in a rendition of one of them, accompanied by Jim on the banjo, at Billie Creek Village, Indiana, in June, 1978.
View attachment 322114
View attachment 322104

Gradually, as the composition of our unit changed and enlarged, we moved steadily into doing Federal impressions, infantry as well as artillery, and Glen was always at the forefront learning new drill as easily as he had learned the song lyrics; above at right, Corporal Hargis stands beside Captain Smith, now leading an infantry company known briefly as the Union Rifles. Below at Corinth, Mississippi, in September, 1987, now-First Sergeant Glen stands at right beside Paula Ussery, Ed Owens, and Yours Truly.

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So sorry to hear about the loss of your friend.
 
James, I'm truly sorry for you that you have lost a faithful friend. It's probably the curse of those who live long and prosper that they have to say Farewell to one friend after another. But as others said before me, nobody can take these memories away from you, and as long as you can think of him he will be there with you. And one day he will await you on the other side, together with all the other friends that went before, and then you will never have to part again.
 
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