Memorial Day Hopes

[1Shirt]

I am old enough to remember when Memorial Day was called Decoration Day, and was a day when you decorated graves. Most of all the graves of our fallen military brothers were decorated. It was also a day of parades with vast numbers of American Flags and bands playing patriotic marches including George
M. Cohans "You'r a Grand Old Flag", and "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy", and many of the John Phillips Sousa marches. Strange is it not that there is an absense of patriotic songs, and partiotic movies today. I am kind of hard pressed to think of any songs other than Lee Greenwood's, "God Bless the USA". In my neighboorhood there are only about a dozen flags out, and there are over 100 houses. Our WWII, and Korean Vets are dying off rapidly, and it will not be that much longer that our last WWII vet will go under. Some of us of the Viet Nam generation are not that far behind, as a lot of us were in our mid 30's up thru our mid 40's and a few in the early 50's during Nam. Most of us were career types, or what the young called "lifers". The vets of Iraq and Afganistan are at least today remembered in a far better way than many of us who were spit on during Viet Nam. I am proud to have worn the uniform of two branches of the military, and regardless of good or bad experiances in the military, feel that all who have worn the uniform have a right to be proud. So my thoughts for the day are:
1. If you don't have a flag, go out an buy one, and display it proudly.
2. Remember those who have fallen for our country. Many of us have lost close
friends and relatives.
3. Say a little prayer for all that have died for their country, and for those still in
harms way protecting their country.
MAY GOD ALWAYS "BLESS THE USA"!
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[Idaho_Elk_Huntr]

I remember it too. We have a flag that flies 24/7/365. I almost took it down when Obama was elected but my wife told me she knew I had it up for another reason that had nothing to do with Obama and she is right.

[klcarroll]

I am one of the "Viet-Nam Generation": .....And I remember what it was like to be spit on in airports.

Today, .....I just finished an email to a dear friend who is being deployed to Iraq; ....In spite of HER "Family Status" or age!

Yes! ........I have a flag! .......And I display it proudly! .........But somehow, tears come to these old eyes much more readily than they used to!

.......Particularly when I think about what terrible things we continue to ask the young to do!

(.......Why is it that we ask the most terrible sacrifices from those who have just begun their lives????)

"Happy" Memorial Day!! ......Please remember what it is truly about!

Kent

[w30wcf]

1Shirt,
Thank you. Well spoken. Many thanks to our veterans. May God bless them all.

For the Wounded Warrior Project - "Til The Last Shot's Fired" Trace Adkins
AWESOME!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0mm4u2VzDs

w30wcf

[Bad Water Bill]

Does any one remember Grace Wilson singing GOD BLESS AMERICA? This was before they started yelling at the top of their lungs and calling it singing.

Yes my flag is flying along with the one that says PROUD TO HAvE SERVED IN THE U S NAVY. How about you?

[Bret4207]

I was raised in a house that included my depression era grandparents. It was Kate Smith who sang "God Bless America" in our home. Kate was near Sainthood in that house! My flag is flying, as it does 3 seasons out of the year. The wind here has put a permanent bend in my flag pole, so in winter it comes down.

Apathy is what will kill our nation off. There is just too much else going on for most folks to give more than a passing thought to Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, etc. Even those of us that do often have so much else to do that our Country, God and sometimes our families are shoved aside. For many it's not done on purpose, it's just the way things are. Sad, isn't it?

I wonder if they still issue Kate Smith on CD...

[twotrees]

The Bonnie Blue (The Flag of Secession)
The Southern Cross, Aussie Flag for the Wife RedFoxy
And The Stars and Stripes.

They fly 24/7 365 We visited the Cemetery Yesterday, in the rain and will do so again today.

"Those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it"

Does anyone notice the things we like to do are attended by older folks. Shooting, Remembrance ceremony's , Hunting ect. The young that will take over all of the functions of this Great Nation, really don't care.

TwoTrees

USAF 65-73
AF 13871419

[Bob Krack]

This seems so true too often!

[BPCR Bill]

It's a beautiful Memorial Day morning here and the flag looks smart in the morning sunshine. We'll go to the cemetery today for services and pay respects. A young lady who is in the Navy is getting her commision next week, and she has asked me to be her " First Salute" at the commisioning. I 'm pretty proud to be getting my Summer Whites out one more time, even more proud that she'd ask a retired old salt to do that honor. I still hold out hope for the younger folks of this country. There are alot of wonderful younger Americans out there, but like so many things, you don't hear about the good, just the bad.

Regards,
Bill

[Idaho_Elk_Huntr]

I just went out and took a pic of my flags. Old Glory on top and the Idaho state on bottom! Isnt it beautiful in the bright blue sky. It flies 24/7/365 and is replaced whenever it is needed. is dedicated to my grandfather who was a WWI vet who lost 100% of his hearing. He passed on in 1971. Also fro 2 of my uncles that were never brought home from WWII and 2 first cousins that died in Nam. And last to another that I wont mention his name but is still here and loves his country very much!


http://www.myhostedpics.com/images/IdahoElkHunter/flag.jpg

[atr]

I'm a vietnam vet,,,and just about everyday, not just on memeorial day, I think to myself how I need to live my life to the fullest for the simple reason that alot of guys don't have the opportunity. It's the the way I can pay tribute to them on a daily basis.
RA18916617

[13Echo]

To Absent Comrades

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.


Jerry Liles
C 1/94 FA

[fatnhappy]

My son is named James to honor his great uncle, killed in battle December 24th, 1944 in Belgium. The flag I have flying today once draped my grandfather's coffin. The flag I flew yesterday was folded in front of my father's urn.

Dean

[Firebricker]

I am not a veteran so this is a great place to say Thank You to all of the members that have served our country. FB

[NVcurmudgeon]

I went to the Memorial Day service at the Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic cemetery in Reno. I was privileged to meeet a retired USN Captain who had commanded three different destroyers in WWII and Korea, the widow of another tin can sailor, and a Navy Seal. (I always wear my USS Gurke cap to patriotic events in the hope of meeting veterans.) The priest's homily was a short message about rememberance and how it should be ongoing. There was a NROTC color guard, I guess from the U of Nevada. The songs were mostly patriotic, and the singing of the small congregation was beautiful. My only complaint is that a bug flew in the open door and caused my eyes to tear up during the singing of "God Bless America." Patriotism is alive and well, but it's a little harder to find these days.

P.S. The priest and congregation made a Church of Christ member feel right at home.

[DickK]

This is for those who never came home:

I urge you to go to the American Battle Monuments Commission at

http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/index.php

There are those who are buried and "missing in action" in foreign countries.

[oldtoolsniper]

I am doing all of the things we talked about doing when we got home. We were dirty, tired and had seen too much. I think about how much we depended on each other, we trusted each other with our very lives. The simple act of sleeping was a gut wrenching, fearful thing to do. What if the Marine on watch fell asleep? Most of them were kids who grew up fast. For most of them the worst thing that had ever happened was the cable went out or the internet was down. War was something they watched on TV and it was a simple affair because if they didn’t like it they just shut it off.

In the first Gulf War I was fortunate to have two Viet-Nam Veterans take me under their wing. A First Sergeant and a Gunnery Sergeant whom both taught me things that are not in the books. I never imagined I would be trying to figure out what to do with crap when there are no crappers. I was a young kid at 29 and have never given much thought to the filth involved in war. Those two Marines gave me a lesson in burning crap. Diesel fuel, an engineer stake, a book of matches and about two hours of stirring, and that was only a small part of it. The meals (MRE’s) produce a huge amount of garbage that has to be dealt with, we burned that too. The stench was constant and lasted half the day, every day. Holidays, week-ends, birthdays, anniversaries, and any other day you can think of one thing was constant, the smell of burning crap and garbage.

When we took Kuwait International Airport the cease fire was declared and there we sat. I lived in a hole in the ground next to a runway for a couple of weeks. Seems like alls we did was dig holes and burn crap. Sometimes we shot at the enemy and sometimes we shot at each other, it’s just the way it is.

We talked about are women back home. We wondered what a shower would feel like. How water would taste that did not come out of a black plastic can. What it would be like to eat something other than the 12 MRE selections we had day in and day out. What a tooth brush that did not taste like rifle bore cleaner would be like. How a grilled steak would taste. A flush toilet, Oh My god a flush frigging toilet! Sitting on a chair, and not having to write letters trying to explain what you can’t explain. Not having to carry that rifle, pistol, grenades, AT4 and all the ammunition everywhere you went. Not having to live out of a pack and carry everything you own. Sleeping above ground would be nice too. Getting drunk and forgetting it all was pretty much number one.

Funny thing about it all when this war came around I was that Gunnery Sergeant. I was the combat Veteran who taught kids too young to face what they were going to face what to do. Such as regiments hand down forever. Some of those guys can’t do what I am doing today so I am doing it for them. I am doing everything we talked about doing.

Marines don’t cry. Today I am not a good Marine.

[troy_mclure]

when i got back from iraq it was the vietnam vets there first to shake everyvbodys hand and say thanks.

after that it got "popular" to support the troops.

[cajun shooter]

They did that for you Troy because they did not receive it when they came home. It took a lot of years for the Viet-Nam vets to receive that. It's the reason that a Nam vet tells you Welcome Home ; he is filling that void that he has inside. We had several of us who signed up in 1965, it was the right thing to do. After all our fathers had done the same when their time came during WW11. May this America never treat her soldiers the same.