Memorial Day

[Ace-Garageguy]

                                              

Edited May 25, 2020 by Ace-Garageguy

[High octane]

10 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

                                              

I never forget as my brother was born on Memorial Day back in the 50's when it was always celebrated on May 30th.

[Tom Geiger]

2 hours ago, High octane said:

I never forget as my brother was born on Memorial Day back in the 50's when it was always celebrated on May 30th.

I was married on May 30th. It wasn’t Memorial Day that year but people always equate it

Edited May 25, 2020 by Tom Geiger

[Snake45]

This morning I put flowers on the grave of my high school best friend's parents. They were always very good to me and I was sort of the "unofficial 4th brother" of the family. The rest of the family has now scattered around the country and there's no one in town to do it but me, and I consider it an honor and privilege to be able to do so. My friend and his brothers appreciate it very much. 

[slusher]

It is always a very touching day for me. All those lives ended fighting for what they believed in and us a generations to come. It’s something all Americans should feel....

[Ctmodeler]

Thank God for all the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us to sleep peacefully at night when we lay down our heads ! Without them we wouldn't be the greatest nation on earth. ?

[Rodent]

R.I.P. Cousin Don, A.K.A. "Corky". I hardly knew you, but you were the apple of everyone's eye in Mom's family. I still have the Tonka Jeep you sent me for my 5th birthday not even four months before you died. It gets displayed on the mantel every June 21st in your honor. I have a feeling that you and I would have been friends if you had lived into my adulthood.

Someday, I hope to understand how a "Clerk-Typist" gets killed while mine sweeping.

One of my "someday" model projects is to build your '60 Impala convertible. Riding in it with your mom after you died sealed my love of open cars. And your mom, who was an amazing person. It was my honor to be one of her pallbearers (by her request).

Sticking my toe into the political arena just a little bit, I have difficulty understanding why the U.S.A. became involved  in Vietnam. I have a good friend who escaped in 1975 as a 9 year old.

I used to work with a gentleman who was born in the North, but was going to college in the South when the war started. He became a Colonel in the Army of the South and barely escaped with his life in April 1975. He told me many stories, and I was one of the few people who would listen to him. I learned a lot about human struggles just by not shutting him out.

 

 

[Mike999]

9 minutes ago, Rodent said:

Sticking my toe into the political arena just a little bit, I have difficulty understanding why the U.S.A. became involved  in Vietnam. I have a good friend who escaped in 1975 as a 9 year old.

Everybody has difficulty understanding that, I think.  Here's about 750 pages that helped me understand it a little better.  "Valley of Death" is mostly about the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. But to explain that battle, author "Ted Morgan" goes back and writes in detail about how the French, then the U.S., governments got sucked into Vietnam.

"Ted Morgan" is a pseudonym of Sanche de Graumont, the only French citizen to ever win the Pulitzer Prize.  As a young man he was drafted into the French army and sent straight to another of that country's disasters, Algeria.  Many of his comrades in Algeria were veterans of the French war in Vietnam.  They all said:  "Well, we lost in Indochina.  But we're not going to lose this war in Algeria."

https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Death-Tragedy-America-Vietnam/dp/1400066646

[Snake45]

Please, let's not discuss Vietnam in this thread. There are other venues for that on the net, not here. I'd hate to see more good people get in trouble here. 

[bismarck]

My older brother did 2 tours in Vietnam. His first stint was during Tet, then later during the draw down. He never was the same when he came home. The long term damage done to him there was more than he could deal with. We lost him in 2006. I had the privilege of being part of the Honor Guard at the graveside. It’s pretty tough to be locked up at attention listening to TAPS knowing it’s your own going into the earth. I put my flag out every Memorial Day for him, my Dad, my Grandfather, and lastly myself. 

[Mike999]

After the songwriter Eric Bogle visited the WWI cemeteries in France, he wrote this:

"Well how do you do, Private William McBride
Do you mind if I sit here, down by your graveside?
A rest for awhile in the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone that you were only 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916
Well I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, William McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they beat the drum slowly?
Did they sound the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers of the Forest'?

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind?
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart are you always 19?
Or are you just a stranger without even a name
Forever enclosed behind some glass-pane
In an old photograph torn and tattered and stained
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?"

[Russell C]

51 minutes ago, Mike999 said:

After the songwriter Eric Bogle visited the WWI cemeteries in France, he wrote this:

"Well how do you do, Private William McBride
Do you mind if I sit here, down by your graveside? ...

I've always liked this June Tabor "No Man's Land" version of that poem. Me, I was too young for one of our wars, too old for the next, so it's difficult for me to ever fully comprehend what that's like, but I still appreciate what's been done for the country, and I try to basically abide by what the main point of the "Saving Private Ryan" movie tried to get across to everyone who lives secure in this country:  "Earn it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2w3jFX_lCY

Edited May 26, 2020 by Russell C

[Tom Geiger]

My father was a career US Army officer. I grew up as an army brat, moving every few years and living in foreign countries and army posts. There was a culture that was a bit different than a normal upbringing.

My dad was in Vietnam in 1962-3, before we admitted there was a war. He never spoke about it.

 

[Rob Hall]

My Dad was in the Army Air Forces during WW II, spent five years in from '41-46, long before I was born.  Was stationed at Miami Army Airfield and in the US Virgin Islands during the war...he wanted to be a pilot but was colorblind and worked as a weatherman in the Army.  (I wasn't born until 1970, but have B&W photos of him in uniform).   My older brother was of the right age for Vietnam, but he had deferments for health issues.  Several generations of Navy men amongst my cousins, one was a Navy diver for years. 

[NYLIBUD]

Washed my stupid cars,but then woke up today,and it rained last night,GREAT!!!!