Wales George Davis

1SGT Wales G. Davis, 80, of Great Falls, died peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Wales was born on May 30, 1939, in New York City in the area known as Hell’s Kitchen to Russell and Mary Davis. It was there that he spent his childhood and attended school. He dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to go to work, and then at the age of 19, he enlisted in the US Army. He spent the next 3 years serving in the army when, in 1961, while he was home on leave, he met the love of his life Marie Sinapi. They were married on October 5, 1963 and together began a 21 year journey as a busy military family that was constantly on the move. They were first stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. While stationed at Fort Bragg, Wales was a member of the 82nd Airborne. He earned his Master Parachutist Badge, and became a proud member of the Green Berets. On December 1, 1964, they welcomed their first child, Kevin to the world. Between September 1965 to 1966, Wales served in the war in the Dominican Republic returning home on September 22, 1966. On June 27, 1967, their second child, Colleen was born. Wales spent the next year serving at Fort Bragg until he was sent to Vietnam in July of 1968. During his time in Vietnam Wales was wounded three times and earned many medals, badges, ribbons, and citations including 3 Purple Hearts and The Bronze Star for Heroism for actions displayed in combat during a skirmish with the Viet Cong on August 20, 1968. On July 20, 1969, Wales returned home from Vietnam. This also happened to be the same day Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Wales always loved to tell the story about how, when they were on the plane flying back to the United States, the pilot came over the intercom and announced that we had just landed a man on the moon. At which point Wales and his fellow soldiers all looked at each other and said, “Who cares??? Just get us home!!!” After returning home from Vietnam, the family was then stationed at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. While stationed at Fort Devens, Wales became a HALO Jumper (High Altitude Low Opening) and went on to earn his Master Military Freefall Parachutist (HALO) Badge. Wales would tell anybody that his final jump in HALO school was the scariest thing he’d ever done – including his stint in Vietnam. It was at night, 20,000 plus feet up, no moon, pitch black, and only his altimeter telling him where he was in proximity to the ground. He always said that you had to be a little crazy to want to be a parachute jumper because, “Nobody in their right mind would ever willingly jump out of a perfectly good airplane.” Wales absolutely loved jumping, and anybody who knew him, knew he was more than a bit on the crazy side. Wales’s next assignment was on recruiting duty in Great Falls, Montana. Coming from New York City, neither he nor his wife, Marie, had ever seen country like this before. They fell in love with Montana, made life-long friendships, and decided then that, when it came time, Great Falls was where they would retire. Next stop was Fort Hood, Texas. While in Fort Hood, Wales joined a parachute club and went out skydiving almost every weekend. His kids, Kevin and Colleen, would often join him at the jump site whereas Marie usually chose to stay home, as it made her more than a little nervous to watch him jump. Germany was the next stop where Wales was stationed for the next 3-½ years. He was first stationed in Fulda for 7 months after which he was transferred to Frankfurt where the family spent the rest of their tour. After returning to the states Wales was stationed in Fort Polk, Louisiana – thankfully for only 7 months. However, the whole family would forever consider Fort Polk to be the absolute worst post they had ever been assigned to. If you’ve been there you’ll understand. If you haven’t, it cannot be explained. The final post was Fort Carson, Colorado where Wales served as the 1st Sergeant of Charlie Company for the next 2 years. After an honorable 24 year career in the Army, he retired in the summer of 1982, and the family excitedly made their final move back to Great Falls, Montana. Once settled back in Great Falls, Wales went to work for the Great Falls Transit for the next 10 years. In 1988, after having earned his GED many years before, Wales earned a college degree in teaching from The University of Great Falls. Wales spent some time doing some substitute teaching, but never went on to teaching full time. In 1991, Wales made the brave decision to face his long-time addiction to alcohol and joined AA. The people he met at AA and the meetings meant the world to him. He loved going to those meetings and appointed himself as the official “coffee guy.” He always made sure the coffee was stocked and got up at 5:30 a.m. any day there was a meeting to go make the coffee so it was hot and ready to go when the meetings started in the morning. He proudly stayed sober and even earned his 29 year sobriety coin shortly before he died. It was in 1993, that Wales got the job that would change so many lives, when he was hired as the Veteran’s Affairs Officer for this region of the state of Montana. He spent the next 10 years fighting every day, with whomever he needed to, to get the veterans that he served the benefits they’d rightfully earned and deserved. Wales absolutely loved that job and the veterans he helped loved him too. He finally retired for good in 2003. However, even 17 years after he’d retired and right up until the day he died, his family would still run into veterans that he had helped during his career. Their appreciation and kind words about Wales always meant so much to his family and they hope that they continue to meet veterans that he helped. Even though Wales only spent 80 years on this earth, he lived to see and do things that he never thought he’d get the chance to. Wales always said that he never expected to make it back from Vietnam so, once he did, he considered every day after that as a gift, and he lived each day as if it was. He lived long enough to spend 56 wonderful years with his wife, Marie. They were always together as they truly loved each other’s company. They went everywhere together and even found joy in something as simple as going to Sam’s club - just as long as they were together. He lived to watch his children grow up and graduate from high school, to proudly watch his son deploy to Desert Storm, and welcome him safely home, to walk his daughter down the aisle, and dance with her at her wedding, to meet his three grandchildren, who were also the loves of his life, and proudly watch them grow up, to attend his grandchildren’s school concerts, to watch his grandsons play football, to watch his grandchildren graduate from high school, to pin his grandson’s infantry cord on him the day he graduated from basic training, to see his granddaughter get married and dance with her at her wedding, to proudly watch his grandson deploy to Afghanistan, welcome him safely home and then watch him become a Police Officer with the GFPD, and finally, he got to meet and hold his great-granddaughter, Aubrey. In the end, Wales lived a wonderfully rich life filled with love, family, lifelong friendships, and great adventures. Wales could tell a story like no one else. He was a total ham, loved being the center of attention, and loved the sound of his own voice. He was well known for his quick wit, colorful language, and incredible sense of humor. He was dearly loved by his family and friends, and is deeply missed by them all. Wales was preceded in death by his father, Russell; mother, Mary; sister, Marie; and his nephew, Gene. Wales is survived by his wife, Marie Davis; son, Kevin Davis; daughter Colleen (Tim) Irish; granddaughter, Kylie (Adam) Stergionis; grandsons, Casey (Taylor Smith) Irish and Cody (Jessica Schurman) Irish; great-granddaughters, Aubrey Stergionis and Quinn Smith; great-grandsons, Michael and Jessie Widhalm; brother, Starr (Florence) Davis; nieces, Elaine Dahlke and Heather Davis; and nephews, Ken Dahlke and Russell Davis. A celebration of life and burial at the Montana State Veterans Cemetery will be announced and held after the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.