Anti-Vaccine Activist Memorialized
By THOMAS D. WILLIAMS
Courant Staff Writer
http://www.courant.com/news/local/ec/hc-dingle0913.artsep13,0,4454275.story
September 13 2005
MANCHESTER -- Retired Air Force Reserves Lt. Col. Russell E. Dingle, a fierce
opponent of mandatory anthrax inoculations in the military, was remembered
Monday at a memorial service featuring a jet fly-over.
Dingle, 49, died Sept. 4 after battling cancer.
His family, military colleagues and friends nearly filled the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints to pray, sing and celebrate Dingle's life.
Afterward, four A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog planes - the kind Dingle piloted -
flew over the church, with one plane veering off and up into the hazy blue sky.
"I was reminded all over again of how powerful and passionate he was in his
beliefs about integrity and public service, and how deeply inspiring he was to
people who he came into contact with him as I did," said Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal.
It was Dingle and his friend, Air Force Reserve Maj. Thomas "Buzz" Rempfer, who
persuaded Blumenthal to join their anti-inoculation effort five years ago. Since
then Blumenthal has lobbied federal and state officials to halt the mandatory
inoculations of those in the armed forces. U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, R-4th
District, also became an anti-anthrax vaccine "warrior" and a Dingle admirer.
Dingle "was a leader in the effort to protect service members from the avoidable
health risks posed by the Pentagon's mandatory use" of the anthrax vaccine,
Shays said. "Connecticut and the nation have lost a talented pilot and a
dedicated patriot."
Dingle, an East Hartford resident, never took the anthrax vaccine. In late 1997,
the then-commander of the Connecticut Air National Guard, Col. Walter Burns,
asked Rempfer and Dingle to investigate the vaccine. Their investigation found
it was "unsafe" and "ineffective" and they demanded appropriate action. They
were asked to resign instead.
They joined the Air Force Reserves and continued what many have described as a
relentless effort to stop the Pentagon from using the vaccine.
Dingle's research led him to serve as an expert for the U.S. General
Accountability Office, and induced mention of his name in a federal court in
Washington's initial ruling against the vaccine.
"Over and over again, Russ provided the factual basis necessary to validate the
legal arguments that prevailed in court," said Lou Michels, one of the lawyers
involved in representing six anonymous military employees in the court
challenge.
"His efforts provided an incalculable benefit to his fellow servicemen and
women. Not a bad legacy for a Warthog pilot."
"The Pentagon's illegal experimentation on service members has gone on for
decades," said retired Lt. Col. John Richardson, a gulf war veteran and fellow
fighter pilot.
"Due to Col. Dingle's analysis of the military's anthrax vaccine policy, for the
first time the Defense Department was caught in the act - and stopped by a
federal court judge."
As an Air Force officer and fighter pilot, Dingle flew over 2,000 hours in the
A-10 Thunderbolt II on active duty, and served as an instructor pilot and a
flight commander for the Connecticut Air National Guard.
Dingle won multiple Air National Guard "Top Gun" flying awards, and was chosen
to lead a flight of A-10s in the U.S. Air Force Gunsmoke competition in 1993.
After retiring from the military, Dingle was a pilot for American Airlines for
16 years.
Dingle is survived by his wife, Jane; daughters Megan and Emma; three brothers;
one sister; and his mother.
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant