Chapter 5 - Capt. Dale Noyd & his comrades

GENROZT:  a gracious act that creates a joyful ache every time it is remembered.

OPENING

My Mom, Rita Margaret Ena Maria - she of the gorgeous smile and feisty spirit - taught me to appreciate well-written obituaries as an excellent way to meet interesting people. Which is how Capt. Dale Noyd, USAF, came into my life along with the many generosities that followed him during and after his court martial.

His New York Times obit was entitled - Dale Noyd 1933-2007  Pilot Objected to Vitenam War.  And something his son, Erik, said made me put Dale's obituary in a folder with 15 or so others I hold onto. He said "[Dad] kept two certificates on the wall of his study ... One was his commendation for heroism, the other his dishonorable discharge" .....

I've grown to appreciate integrity and honor wherever they're found. Maybe you'd be as intrigued as I was that an officer would frame both his commendation and his dishonorable discharge and hang them side-by-side like equal honors.

CLOSING

... At Dale's sentencing they allowed testimony about his humanism "and the panel leaned forward and listened, obviously affected" recalled Charlotte [Doyle, psychology professor, Sarah Lawrence University]. "It was one of the most amazing events of my life." Capt. Noyd could have been sentenced to five years but he was given the minimum, one year.

In a way, a way that a psychology professor like Dale might appreciate, the officers on his court martial panel could also be numbered among his generous comrades.