Douglas Alan Carney, father of 2 sons, devoted husband, and Vietnam War vet. Is my hero. Simply because he went to war to protect the precious freedom we so dearly love. He came from a very loving family, consisting of Veryl Carney (father), Thelma Carney (mother), and Barbara Carney-Imboden (sister). He was the older of the two children and was born in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. His parents had moved to Hershey Pennsylvania to work for Milton Hershey Schools when he was a young boy. His parents became house parents at the schools. Milton Hershey Schools at that time was a place for boys that were from low-income homes or from foster care with no immediate family. At any given time Douglas Carney would be living with 15 boys, which he considered his brothers.

While in his senior year of high school he suffered a tabogan accident and ended up in traction for 6 weeks. Right after his recovery he had received a letter in the mail from Uncle Sam. Douglas Carney had been drafted for the Vietnam War. He had not completed high school due to being drafted. He went through his basic training at Fort Dix, NJ. Then his A.I.T. at same location. After all his training was over a young Douglas Carney was sent to Fort Hood, Tx to the First Cavalry Division. From there he had then been deployed to Vietnam to help fight the war.

The young Doug had trained to be a scout. A scout would go out in a chopper or on foot and scout for the enemy, or land mine ect. He had found out in a short time that that was far from what he had wanted, especially with a child on the way at home. His girlfriend at the time, now his wife, was at home waiting for his safe return. After realizing how dangerous this job was he then decided to change M.O.S. to chopper tech. A young Douglas had seen a war and lost some of his best friends in that war. But his toughest battle was yet to come.

Upon his arrival at home he greets his girlfriend Marlene and his new baby boy Dean. After seeing his son he decided to marry the love of his life Marlene. Douglas and Marlene got married on November 1, 1969. Soon after they had gotten married Marlene had told Douglas that she was pregnant again. Date was August 8, 1971 they had a second son named Stephen (which is me by the way). Soon after that he had begun working at Milton Hershey Schools as a farmer. Doug had enjoyed the work. He loved to work outside.

Then about 15 to 20 years later he had decided it was time for a change. He had then become a custodian at Founders Hall. Founders hall was and still is the most visited building in Hershey, PA. After a couple of years he had received a leaders position. He was the work leader for that building. Then soon after came the fight of his life.

In November of the year 1998 Douglas Carney my hero was told he had kidney cancer. This cancer had been miss diagnosed due to the symptoms he was having. He was told he had a short time to live. The doctors did not give him anything but that. But they did tell him of a new treatment for the type of cancer that he had. Douglas was all for it. He had been admitted to Milton Hershey Medical Center to undergo interlukan2 treatment. Interluken2 is a man made treatment. But interluken is a produced by the human body. These treatments made him look like he had sat out on the beach for a week. Burnt really bad.

He would be in hospital for a week at a time for these treatments. Douglas had finally had enough. I was there for a visit and he had told me " I can't go through this no more." I said "Dad it is your choice no matter what you decide I am behind you 100%." So when the nurse came in to administer another treatment we told her no more. Douglas had been an avid hunter and fisher and very active with his family. After that final treatment he had only lived a few months then left our precious planet to do the lords work.

I really do believe that he was called on by the lord to do his work and look after my grandma. I miss them both dearly and will always love them. And dad I know you see me doing this, and you see my tears. I just want everyone to know that all you went through you are and always will be my hero.