<p>
What is the measure by which we judge a man?</p>
<p>
To his friends he was sincere, loving, loyal, a friend to be treasured.</p>
<p>
To those with whom he served, he was conscientious, exceedingly able, sacrificing, loyal, greatly concerned with the welfare of his men.</p>
<p>
To his family, he was our light, our joy, our happiness, loved beyond description.</p>
<p>
The youngest of the three children of Katherine Renalds Van Deusen and Colonel Edwin Russell Van Deusen, Frederick grew up in the carefree, delightful life of an Army brat in the 1930’s and early 1940's with his brother Edwin Renalds Van Deusen and his sister Kitsy Van Deusen Westmoreland.</p>
<p>
In 1946 his parents retired in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Here he attended high school, and our romance began. The deep and constant love we had carried us through Fred’s years at Sullivans and four years at West Point. We were married after graduation in June of 1953.</p>
<p>
Through the next fifteen years, we shared the joy of the birth of our three children, Sallie, Frederick, and Rob. Our moves were frequent, but with these came the great satisfaction for Fred of serving his country, and, for us both, of making dear and lasting friends. Each year brought greater happiness and joy into our lives.</p>
<p>
There were the difficult months of separation from Fred for the children and me which every service wife knows and dreads with maneuvers, summer camps, Korea, the Dominican Republic, and Vietnam. But Fred never complained about these or his consistent long hours at work. Rather, he could never leave a job unfinished. His duty to God and country were so engrained that they were a part of him.</p>
<p>
His concern for his men was marked. Their welfare held priority. Though I had never seen him weep, his commanding officer in Vietnam found him with tears streaming down his cheeks as he stood over the bodies of those he had Iost in battle.</p>
<p>
On 15 June 1968, Lieutenant Colonel Van Deusen took over the 2d of the 47th Mechanized Battalion with the 9th Division in the Delta. He was killed two and one-half weeks later when his helicopter was shot down over the Vam Co River.</p>
<p>
Lieutenant Colonel Van Deusen was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star Medal. Two months before he had received the Legion of Merit.</p>
<p>
However, as his children and I stood at his grave before a lovely white cross of flowers, this to me signified his highest award: that which comes to a reborn Christian who had surrendered his life to Christ.</p>
<p>
This poem, written by our 14-year-old daughter, is to me a fitting tribute to the finest and most beloved man I have ever known.</p>
<p>
MY FATHER</p>
<p>
And as I knew him, a man.</p>
<p>
His hair touched with grey,</p>
<p>
As a branch just lightly shaken after a snow.</p>
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His eyes were like the sea,</p>
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The same blue-green with the same lovely sparkle,</p>
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And the same seldom coolness when the fog rolled in.</p>
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Mis nose had a strength that just matched him,</p>
<p>
For he was strong, though less in height than some.</p>
<p>
He was so gentle, where many men had not so great a capacity to be—</p>
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He was so fatherly, where many men had not the ability to be—</p>
<p>
And he had a courage few men could ever have.</p>
<p>
It was a quiet, and ever-working courage</p>
<p>
That was with him and gave him a certain strength, a goodly strength.</p>
<p>
My father—handsome, gentle, strong, loving, courageous, fatherly...</p>
<p>
All this, and oh, so much more, he gave for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."</p>
<p>
He gave his life for his country to better the world for his children.</p>
<p>
Yes, my father shall evermore be</p>
<p>
Someone very, very special to me.</p>
<p>
Sallie Van Deusen</p>
<p>
<em>—Carolyn S. Van Deusen</em></p>