Tunnel Rat aka Tom McNaughton has passed away

[jgarvas]

These are the posts nobody wants to make.

Earlier today Tom McNaughton's son Jim contacted me and informed me that Tom had passed away. Many of you know that Tom has been a long-term moderator of the discussion forums and for some time a Coordinator with Ohioans For Concealed Carry. He has been a member of the forums since July of 2005 (just a year after we started running the forums).

He had posted here as recently as last Tuesday. (You can search his posts here: http://ohioccwforums.org/search.php?aut ... 9&sr=posts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Everyone we've given the keys to moderate tends to operate to a certain extent within their own personal beliefs of what is "proper" discourse. In my mind Tom was the moderator who went out of his way to correct cursing and abusive language to a point that I would frequently chuckle at things I would have let go, but there they were modified with Tom's signature as the moderator who did it. I asked Jim if the family objected to me sharing arrangement information publicly and he said absolutely not. Tom's involvement with OFCC and an appreciation of firearms was something he was proud of and clearly something that he passed on to his children.

In the process of making arrangements in a moment of confusion (caused by the funeral home I believe) the family was under the impression the funeral home was posted and nearly started over. That misunderstanding was quickly resolved and a disaster averted. Who here can say their kids won't patronize a posted funeral home because they know so many of those coming may very well be armed?

Here he is at the OFCC Picnic when then Governor Strickland was our keynote speaker:



His obituary can be found here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/toledo ... fhid=11086" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

H.H. Birkenkamp Funeral Home
3219 Tremainsville Road,
Toledo, OH 43613

Friday Visitation 4-8, Service 8-9

In lieu of flowers, the family asks all donations go to Tom's niece, Katy Hayes

[curmudgeon3]

R.I.P. TR. Prayers on the way.

[usmale]

Tom was the first guy I meet on the forum, RIP old friend

[mreising]

My thoughts and prayers are with the family.

[NavyChief]

My favorite TunnelRat story...

Like many - if not most - combat vet’s Tom never went into a lot of detail about his time in-country. Nonetheless, he did allow as all of his time was spent far, far to the north of that little divided republic. At one point he and his platoon were getting what for them was practically R&R at an FOB. Some REMF ran into the young Captain and commented that was the furthest forward he’d been. Tom (and I can almost hear his booming voice) replied, “Really sir? This is furthest to the rear I’ve been…”

[Mustang380gal]

He was perhaps the most gentlemanly gentleman I have ever met. He will be missed.

[evan price]

Man, he was a heck of a guy. He will be missed. Prayers for him and his.

[OldManTod]

My favorite memory is somebody here on the forum said/did something and in my active days I made a wise guy remark of some sort, in the moderator section of the forum he said something to the extent of: How in the Sam "Hello Kitty" am I supposed to moderate what somebody else said when YOU said this!!??

Yep - he even yelled at us moderators!!

Rest peacefully soldier!!

[BEAR!]

Very sad news!

Tom and I had an exchange years ago over some spanish I had used that he had to moderate, he was a true gentleman and funny as well.
Years later I met him at the Party In The Park as well as shooting with him at one of the OFCC shoots, he was a great guy and I will miss him.

Rest In Peace Tunnel Rat.

[gaptrick]

Thanks for all Tom.. Prayers to the family.

[Sneakypete]

R I P Tom, a VN brother in arms.

My condolences to the family.

[NavyChief]

Another TunnelRat story...

Four years ago at the Rochester Fun 'n' Gun he bought a Glock G20 off me. In anticipation of said deal, he'd brought a lot of 10mm "range stuff" along with a few boxes of DoubleTap. Now those that have shot at Rochester know the stages are pretty much right next to each other (no ¼-mile trek between 'em like at TDI) and Tom happened to be on the squad adjacent to mine.

So there we were later in the day, hearing "Bang. Bangbang. Bang." Some "Powpowpow. Pow." Even the occasional "Pewpewpew." I guess Tom ran out of the "range stuff," 'cause suddenly from the stage next to us we hear, "BOOM! BOOMBOOM!! BOOM!" The whole range went quiet for a few seconds...


May you now have rest Tom, from the faces you once told me you saw every night.

[Brian D.]

I am going to miss the way he chimed in so avidly on 'For Sale' threads when they caught his interest. Perhaps this shows I'm on here too often, but it was rather easy for me many times to predict that Tom was going to popping into certain threads of that nature, and this fact amused me. For example if say a 1911 or good holster was for sale, the fact he was a southpaw would often become evident quickly: "Does that gun have an ambidextrous thumb safety?" or "Would that holster happen to be left handed?"

[D-Day]

This is very sad to hear. One of the few people I had the pleasure to meet off of these forums, I believe at the Northwood open carry walk many years ago. A fine individual indeed.

Rest in peace, Mr. McNaughton. Thank you for your service abroad and here at home.

[dcludwig]

R.I.P. Tom. Never saw a harsh word from him and him as always FAIR in his comments. As a fellow Viet Vet I was always curious to ask about his time in country, but as someone mentioned, vets are rare to do that. It's always sad to see good people leave this earth, but as many of us believe, we shall meet again, someday.