It is my sad duty to make announcement of the March 5th death of Captain Jay Hightower, lately assigned to the ACWGC Union Army of the Shenandoah. Jay was killed in a motorcycle accident in the Ukraine. (See:
http://www.swtimes.com/obituaries/20180318/jay-hightower).
Jay successfully and enthusiastically graduated from the Union Military Academy on December 26th of last year and was assigned immediately to the 4th Brigade, Second Division, VIII Corps, Union Army of the Shenandoah. From the get-go Jay exhibited a very determined and highly enthusiastic approach to the ACWGC. He was glad to have have found it and planned to be around for a long time. It was my personal pleasure to have taken him in hand and conducted an Advanced Training maneuver with him. He was full of questions about the club, the games and the people, and I came to regard him as someone who in time would make his mark on the club both in competition and voluntary administration. He almost immediately jumped into a Gettysburg game with CSA officer Mark Truitt, a game which was frequently posted within this forum as an AAR contest (see:
http://www.wargame.ch/board/acwgc/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20908). However, in March of this year Jay suddenly went missing from both the game and the AotS Muster and was listed as Out-of-Contact up until about mid-June. At that time his Division Commander, Brigadier General Ryan Woods, contacted me concerning the published obituary.
The AotS has lost a promising and sparkling officer, one who would have surely made many friends and acquaintances had he been allowed to continue his adventurous life. In regards to his potential impact upon the ACWGC our organization can only feel cheated.