Memorial Day

[DamnYankee]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RssIN3ustUw]YouTube - Lee Greenwood - God Bless The USA[/ame]

 

[Yurt]

in times of yesterday, the "military" was often a bunch of soldiers or local warriors. they defended their homeland, they conducted cattle raids against their neighbors for exercise and........fun. they waged war to conquer the earth. discipline existed, yet reserved for the highest of ranks.

today's american military shines as an example of a people, proud, disciplined and strong. to not conquer the earth, but to protect. we hope.

 

[DamnYankee]

 

[tigerbob]

I was with some friends at the pool in their sub yesterday afternoon. At 3pm one of the lifeguards shouted "It's 3 o'clock, if anyone wants to observe a moment's silence now's the time to do it".

All the parents called their children out of the pool and for the next 60 seconds you could have heard a pin drop. Then the lifeguard blew her whistle and within seconds it was bedlam again.

For some reason, one always feels one has done the right thing after something like that.

 

[strollingbones]

perhaps we should not limited our rememberance of the war dead to just one day but hold them in our hearts daily

 

[Old Rocks]

Memorial Day. For me, the personification of the Day is in my father and uncles who served in WW2. From servicing C-47's doing the Hump out of India, to North Africa, Okinawa, a jeep carrier in the Pacific, to the 10th Mountain, they served in a war that is in many ways beyond the comprehension of those that have not served in active combat.

All but the Marine in Okinawa are gone now. The stories they kept to themselves, and never told us, are also gone. Some, we learned from some of the comrades after they died. Some, from going through effects. Medals for things never mentioned to us, their children. Not because they did not want share that part of their lives with us, but because for those with no experiance in what they had experianced, the words could not convey what had actually happened.

I see their faces, sometimes, when I think of them, and they are the faces of my uncles as they were as older men. What did they look like when they defended this nation as such young men, some not yet 20?

None of my family were life time military people, just citizen soldeirs that served in time of need. All saw their service as neccessary. And all who saw active combat hated war.

I think now of those men that I remember as old men, and wish I had known them in their youth, wish that I could more fully comprehend the sacrifices that they made for my generation.

Memorial Day. So much I know about those men, so much more that I shall never know. Ordinery men that did such extroidenary deeds.

 

[RodISHI]

Memorial Day. For me, the personification of the Day is in my father and uncles who served in WW2. From servicing C-47's doing the Hump out of India, to North Africa, Okinawa, a jeep carrier in the Pacific, to the 10th Mountain, they served in a war that is in many ways beyond the comprehension of those that have not served in active combat.

All but the Marine in Okinawa are gone now. The stories they kept to themselves, and never told us, are also gone. Some, we learned from some of the comrades after they died. Some, from going through effects. Medals for things never mentioned to us, their children. Not because they did not want share that part of their lives with us, but because for those with no experiance in what they had experianced, the words could not convey what had actually happened.

I see their faces, sometimes, when I think of them, and they are the faces of my uncles as they were as older men. What did they look like when they defended this nation as such young men, some not yet 20?

None of my family were life time military people, just citizen soldeirs that served in time of need. All saw their service as neccessary. And all who saw active combat hated war.

I think now of those men that I remember as old men, and wish I had known them in their youth, wish that I could more fully comprehend the sacrifices that they made for my generation.

Memorial Day. So much I know about those men, so much more that I shall never know. Ordinery men that did such extroidenary deeds.

My children's great grandfather served in WW1 he was an amazing man. The horrors of what he experienced affected him daily throughout his years. He lied about his age when he joined the military to defend this country. He would not speak very often about what he saw.

Rod's dad was there when they marched into one of the death camps in Germany. He rarely would share what he saw and experienced.

May the souls of these brave hearts who went to war to defend rest forever more from the terrors of war.

 

[ABikerSailor]

You know..........I had the opportunity (actually priviledge) to know a man. His name was Mr. Wolgemuth, and he was the father of my senior high school girlfriend.

He had a museum that occupied the entire top floor of his house. It was from all the things that he'd collected over the course of WWII. He wouldn't talk much about it, but I found out that he was the third American GI into the prison camp of Dachau.

One day, Amber (my girlfriend) took me up there, and showed me around. I saw a Nazi dagger which there are only 3 in existence, which had a swastika in the middle of the blade, and it was about 3 foot long.

She also put a pair of handgun grips in my hand. They were very nice looking, but, when she told me that they were made of human bone from one of the Jewish prisoners, I dropped them like they were hot.

Yep. I kinda understand just a little about what they went through. Been in 4 war zones myself.