Memorial Day

[filkertom]

When we remember those who have died trying to keep us free. Let their sacrifices not be in vain.

Comments

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

I notice that the government page that Tom posted includes such stuff as barbecue safety and boating safety. Another reminder that most people take this holiday as playtime.

As for me, although I'm far away from my dad's (and mom's) grave site up in Jefferson Barracks, I'll be thinking of them. Although they died of "natural causes," they gave a lot of their lives to this country. While Dad served in World War II and Korea, taking the measly Navy pay (although it's far more generous than what current sailors are paid) Mom had to make a home on a limited budget for four kids. She had to take the disdain of her sisters who "married well" and lived in relative luxury, whose husbands didn't serve.

You ever notice that most men in those wars don't like talking about what happened in those wars? There was an understanding that war IS Hell, and that the folks back home shouldn't be exposed to it. In general, the horror of war only hit home when the soldiers returned, maimed or psychologically shattered. And those pains were suffered in silence.

My generation has, perhaps rightly, been judged as not willing to serve, not willing to support this country or even their neighbors. But I think there's one thing we did right. We recognized that war hurts everyone, the victors included, and therefore we should only enter one when it is absolutely necessary. So we published the pictures of coffins being returned from the Middle East, even though the government forbid it. We showed the maimed and injured, even in the Doonsberry comic strip, although that didn't fit in with the perfect show desired by the people in power.

The people who performed those protests have been called Communists, Socialists and traitors to their country. Their accusers are largely people who have profited, monetarily and politically, from the deaths of those young people. I personally think that those protesters are doing more for the military, and providing more honor for the veterans who served, than the guys running power boats over manatees or getting burned over barbecue grills.

If this ramble is a little incoherent, it's because I'm tired and troubled by thinking about this business.

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

You ever notice that most men in those wars don't like talking about what happened in those wars?

My dad amoung them. We (the family) thought it was just insignificant memories that faded. Nope. Only very late in his life did we children discover from mom, that 5, 10 or more years after being home and in a family life, he was waking in the night with nightmares, night screams, sweats and such. To many vivid memories. Including his buddies getting shot and killed. Back then, to many WWII soldiers did not know to get some help in overcoming those remnants of service. He was lucky, he had a skill to go into service with, as a telephone man, he was assigned to the signal corp. So, while he learned how to use and carry a gun, he was not the one to shoot in battle. However, he was amoung the first to Leyte Island (The Phillipines) to set up communications ahead of the main landing and McArthur's return. Unfortunatly, while trying to trace just where my dad was during the war, my sisters discovered that the paperwork details were destroyed in a fire somewhere in the 60s and 70s. Only his release papers now give any clue of where he served.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Curiously enough, was that fire located in St. Louis's records facility? My father deserved to have a certain award, and qualified for it, but because his records were destroyed he never got it.

[kilbia.livejournal.com]

One awesome thing about a sentiment like "let their sacrifices not be in vain" is that it's something just about everybody can get behind.

And one small surviving flicker of awesomeness about this country is that those who wish to can sit around and argue about precisely what it means to do that. I have no desire to do so - politics give me anxiety attacks - but I still could if I wanted to.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That was why I put it that way. I'm very much not in the mood for a political debate right now.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Last night I watched the national Memorial Day service (on the Mall). It wasn't just a concert. It featured dramatic readings of Abraham Lincoln's letters of condolence to people who'd lost family members in the Civil War, and the stories of people who'd lost family members in other wars. And it paid tribute to the soldiers who've come back from war permanently, horribly injured. That impressed me. So often we just turn our faces away.

I was a little disturbed that the tribute to the injured amounted to glorification, of the soldiers and of their families. Noble sacrifice! How heroic! How virtuous! How admirable! All of that, yes -- but they had Colin Powell up on stage talking about how important it is to care for them, and it enraged me that the man who lied to the world so Bush could send those soldiers over to be killed and maimed was up there talking like he had nothing on his conscience.

[ardent-firesong.livejournal.com]

What is remembered, lives.

[pooh27bear.livejournal.com]

A way I helped remember was to go to the American Legion Post pancake breakfast and left a little extra as a donation. Thanking all of those who have and are helping.

I also remember my dad, who has now been gone 10 years. He helped out in WWII, touring France, Italy, etc. He didn't talk about it a lot, except that he was a paymaster, and he got mumps and measles while in different countries.

[ardent-firesong.livejournal.com]

My mamaw and my papaw were in the Navy during WWII. One of my "dads" was in Viet Nam. My supervisor at work was in the Army (I do believe it was), and I believe my uncle is also a veteran. Another of my friends is in the Reserves, thinking about going full-time, and two of my other friends in the Army currently ARE full-time and are over in Iraq. So Memorial Day might be for remembering the ones who aren't here anymore, but I find I usually keep all of them in mind : )

Oh. Any my husband's dad was in Viet Nam, but he spent his whole "tour" in Hawaii getting a tan :PPP

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

Hmm... there's a little memorial plaque made out to a friend of mine who died in the line of duty at Fort Gordon, GA. She made national news for a day, and otherwise lived next door to me in the barracks. If I were in Georgia, I'd go put a flower (or a few) on her plaque. But I'm not. And so, I just remember.