Our community has lost an amazing brother.
That s how local combat veteran Keith Totten, founder of One Team One Fight 4 PTSD, put it as he gathered his thoughts upon first hearing of the death this month of former U.S. Army Capt. Paul Guthrie of Park Place in Eustis. His time on earth was a blessing through his heart and the millions he touched along his path, Totten wrote of the Silver Star recipient and devoted Minister. Paul was a man you could not forget once words were exchanged and your eyes would widen from the positivity that sprung to life when having a conversation with him.
“I know one thing,” soft-spoken WWII veteran Ben Dodson of Altoona said when asked about his military years. “I lost a wing at 30,000 feet. I waited about a minute to pull my chute cord so I would be down where I could breathe.”
Dodson shares the story of pulling out of the aircraft repair shop, at night, a little while before the accident.
“The ‘Old Man’ wanted me to “fly it high!” Dodson said. “Afterward, I walked for miles. I knew the road was east. Finally, I was sitting on the road and someone got me and took me to the hospital at Quantico.”