Later Years and Death
Thompson moved to Key West in 1981, after being medically retired from the U.S. Army, where he remained active in the community, according to the Monroe County Office of Veterans Affairs.
On July 8, 2002, the staff of JIATF (Joint Interagency Task Force) East and some of his close friends threw Colonel Thompson a birthday party. He was described as being in high spirit and full of excitement. During the celebration he chose to quote General Douglas MacArthur's "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away" and then he was silent. Everyone in the room sat there quietly and knew that is how Colonel Thompson wanted to go as well.
Eight days later Thompson was found dead in his Key West By the Sea Condominium on July 16, 2002 at the age of 69. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea off the coast of Florida.
Read more about this topic: Floyd James Thompson
Famous quotes containing the words years and/or death:
“Perfect present has no existence in our consciousness. As I said years ago in Erewhon, it lives but upon the sufferance of past and future. We are like men standing on a narrow footbridge over a railway. We can watch the future hurrying like an express train towards us, and then hurrying into the past, but in the narrow strip of present we cannot see it. Strange that that which is the most essential to our consciousness should be exactly that of which we are least definitely conscious.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“In accordance with the law the death sentence was announced to Cincinnatus C. in a whisper. All rose, exchanging smiles.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)