Let us mourn the death of a another great man.

An excerpt:

Belfield, originally from Utica, spent 16 years in the Army, including a stint in Europe where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He also served during the Korean War when he worked as a recruiter in Syracuse. Belfield told the newspaper last year that he never regretted serving in the military.

“It was a good thing to do,” he said in the interview on Veterans Day last year. “I loved it because it was my country. It’s still my country.”

Ailing health prevented Belfield from participating in October’s Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., to see the war memorials. Instead, local veterans presented Belfield with an Honor Flight T-shirt in his room at the nursing home, according to Albany’s WTEN-TV, which reported his death Wednesday.

Barbara Bradt, activities director at the nursing home, said Belfield had “such a spark for life.”

“He taught me no matter how old you are, you keep going, you put a smile on your face and you just appreciate every day because that’s what he did.” She said.

Belfield and his wife, Lillian, have six children, 18 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.

If only men like him were survived by more children and more great grandchildren.

~Wald