Fred and I have been "best friends" for about 37 years. Although our points of view were for the most part the same, we did not always agree on everything, and yet Fred always respected my point of view. We had so many adventures, it is impossible to recant all of them. We went many places and had many, many experiences. One thing about Fred, he never let anyone get to him. A small example of one of our adventures was at a battle re-enactment down South. On Sunday morning, we were "ordered" to attend church services by 1st Sergeant Begner. A young fellow begged out of going to the church service because he had said his "Grandmother was going to visit him and he did not wish to disappoint her." Fred, who was at this point maybe 70, used the very same reason. He was then ordered to shoulder his musket and patrol the arms stacked by the unit - probably a dozen stacks, each having 6 rifles per stack. As soon as the unit marched to church Fred began to walk up and down the stacks with his musket on his shoulder. But he would remove a musket on the left most stack and place it elsewhere within the row of stacks. He did this for the hour of services until the unit reassembled. The commanders then gave the order, "Take arms and then the bedlam began." All you could hear was "Hey that's not my musket where the Hell is my musket? Of course the next yell was 1st Sergeant Begner yelling "Hoffman". Of course Fred did not answer because we had each taken civil war names, his being "Private Paartz". Probably Fred liked more than anything screwing with the officers. Another incident that I can remember - we were at another encampment. Roll call was ordered and Fred came in with his favorite ratty looking cowboy hat. 1st Sergeant Begner yelled at him to get rid of that hat. He went back to his tent and came back with an "Arab head-dress". Sergeant Begner became unglued and ordered "Hoffman get rid of that thing". Fred went back to his tent and came back with a "Yamika" on his head. 1st Sergeant Begner definitely lost it - but luckily for Fred and for 1st Sergeant Begner, Fred had no other hats in his possession in the tent. I can go on and on with stories - there were many and he will always be my best friend. Heaven will never be the same! Vern Schmitz