Memorial Day.

[cudgee]

To all of you over there, hope you all have a safe and reflective memorial day. Cudgee from Australia.

[doglegg]

Thanks Cudgee, very thoughtful of you.

[dlr110]

First, to all you that have served, I can only say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Memorial Day remembers those that have fallen and I'm sure that many of us have been touched in one way or another. For me more than once in my 26 1/2 year career. I remember once standing over the lifeless body of one of my men and then finding a place by myself to throw up and cry.

Here is a quote from my unpublished book "Random Thoughts of an Old Man."
"I have also presented the flag to a father at his son's funeral, and even at my own father’s funeral and believe me it’s not an easy thing to do. ‘On behalf of the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Air Force, and a grateful Nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service.’ When I said those words to my mother I felt as if someone had just kick me in the gut and I was going to screem out at God until I had lost all the breath within me. Also, I have had to notify a mother with 'I regret to inform you that your son………was killed on……… and then stand guard over his casket at the funeral. These are two of the most gut wrenching statements you will ever hear or have to make and I pray God you never will.

Please remember and honor those who have given all.

John 15:13 American Standard Version (ASV)
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

[Paladin]

First, to all you that have served, I can only say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Memorial Day remembers those that have fallen and I'm sure that many of us have been touched in one way or another. For me more than once in my 26 1/2 year career. I remember once standing over the lifeless body of one of my men and then finding a place by myself to throw up and cry.

Here is a quote from my unpublished book "Random Thoughts of an Old Man."
"I have also presented the flag to a father at his son's funeral, and even at my own father’s funeral and believe me it’s not an easy thing to do. ‘On behalf of the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Air Force, and a grateful Nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service.’ When I said those words to my mother I felt as if someone had just kick me in the gut and I was going to screem out at God until I had lost all the breath within me. Also, I have had to notify a mother with 'I regret to inform you that your son………was killed on……… and then stand guard over his casket at the funeral. These are two of the most gut wrenching statements you will ever hear or have to make and I pray God you never will.

Please remember and honor those who have given all.

John 15:13 American Standard Version (ASV)
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Well said, David. And thank you for your service.

Ray

[bighomer]

God bless and keep our fallen brothers and sisters. All gave some, some gave all. Salute.

[peanut740]

God bless all of those who have gone before us.

[carrmillus]

..........happy memorial day to all veterans everywhere!!!!!............... ................

[Cletus Awreetus]

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

[zoogirl]

I have utmost respect for those who have served. It’s just kind of strange to me to be reading Flanders Fields and seeing you talk about this in May.
Our Remembrance Day is November 11. It was chosen to commemorate the Armistice.
I think I prefer November. It seems more fitting to stand in wind or drizzle and feel the year slipping away, as so many of the soldiers did.

Whatever the date, remembering is what’s important.

[jerryd6818]

When I was a tad, Memorial Day was when we visited and put flowers (always picked out of the yard) on the graves of family members who had passed on. Back when I was a child, out in the countryside of Southern Illinois, we called it Decoration Day. It was many years before I learned it has a military significance. Rest peacefully my brothers.

[royal0014]

When I was a tad, Memorial Day was when we visited and put flowers (always picked out of the yard) on the graves of family members who had passed on. Back when I was a child, out in the countryside of Southern Illinois, we called it Decoration Day. It was many years before I learned it has a military significance. Rest peacefully my brothers.

My family still does Decoration, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend,
at the cemetery where my grand parents are. Have done so longer than I've been around.
Other churches have their's on other weekends, usually in May. But not everyone does it ...

Our gathering keeps getting smaller ....

[zoogirl]

I found this in my change just now, and with all the talk of remembrance, it seemed appropriate. This one must have been put away somewhere, because it was put out in 2008, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armistice. It’s in great shape.
Btw, it’s a quarter.

[tendots]

Hi I am Dutch and not far from my place there is a WW2 cemetary.Here rest a bit over 8000 American soldiers,all of these graves are adopted by locals.They visit the graves,bring flowers and sometimes even started corresponding with relatives in the US.We havent forgotten their sacrifice.

[dlr110]

Hi I am Dutch and not far from my place there is a WW2 cemetary.Here rest a bit over 8000 American soldiers,all of these graves are adopted by locals.They visit the graves,bring flowers and sometimes even started corresponding with relatives in the US.We havent forgotten their sacrifice.

May God bless you and those that remember and we pray nothing like that will ever happen again.

[doglegg]

Hi I am Dutch and not far from my place there is a WW2 cemetary.Here rest a bit over 8000 American soldiers,all of these graves are adopted by locals.They visit the graves,bring flowers and sometimes even started corresponding with relatives in the US.We havent forgotten their sacrifice.

Thank you 'tendots' for remembering. I think you folks show more respect that some of my countrymen. Thank you again.

[Paladin]

Hi I am Dutch and not far from my place there is a WW2 cemetary.Here rest a bit over 8000 American soldiers,all of these graves are adopted by locals.They visit the graves,bring flowers and sometimes even started corresponding with relatives in the US.We havent forgotten their sacrifice.

Thank you tendots, thank you, thank you for remembering. Bless you for that.

Ray

[FRJ]

WALKING FREE

Think of all those fallen soldiers when their hour at last was spent.
How they died in grim rebuke in the land where they were sent.
Their families cling to dreams and reach for shadows passing,
Hoping once again to hear their sons and daughters laughing.
No; Sadness reigns now in the breast of those who lost so much.
There will be no light refrain, no embrace, no loving touch.
They're remembered in the fields of bright and shining crosses,
And here at home with aching hearts as we count out losses.
The days are gone when they walked free to choose their path and way,
But not for you and me on this Memorial day.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Ann, we had Armistice Day here in the U.S. for many years. It occurred on November 11th.

When I was a boy, most everyone wore a paper poppy on their shirt or jacket.

Somewhere along the way, probably coinciding with the demise of our WWI veterans, Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day.

Tendot , I think Europeans, having experienced WWI and WWII up close and personal, tend to not forget as we Americans, who haven’t had a land war here since 1865, do and we seem to not appreciate the sacrifices necessary to survive and live free.

Charlie Noyes

[cudgee]

Here in Australia we have 2 days where we remember our fallen. Anzac day on the 25th of April when we remember our landing on Turkish Shores and we still have Armistice Day on November the 11th. On this day most of the country stops for a minute at 11am when the armistice was signed. the 11th hour of the 11th day. On this day we remember by the wearing of a poppy.

[zoogirl]

We do the poppy as well. Usually around the first of November you begin to see people wearing them. There are often Legion members selling them indoors at tables in the malls. I always get at least one. They usually slip off their straight pins so for the last few years I’ve been putting a tiny Canada flag pin in the centre to secure them.
Here in Surrey we go to the Legion grounds, which has a cenotaph. All the cadets attend as well as local MLAs and other dignitaries. There is the moment of silence, the laying of wreaths, Flanders Fields and prayers. The cadet bands play.
One thing I enjoy is the flyover. A group of planes in the ‘missing man’ formation covers all the local ceremonies. I think it must begin out in the Valley and goes out to Vancouver and back, so it actually passes over twice.
A number of years ago I lived in Maple Ridge. It’s a Vancouver suburb. One of its most famous citizens was George Ives who was the last surviving soldier of the Boer War. He still went to the ceremonies every year and I was privileged to see him at one of his final Remembrance Days. He lived to the fine age of 111.
No matter how or when we remember, the fact that we remember is what’s important.

[dlr110]

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[jmh58]

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I think this says it all!!
John

[samb1955]

images.jpeg

I really like that and couldn't agree more, thanks to all that served!

[stumpstalker]

Here is a photo of Dr. and Mrs. Frederic Brooks Breed. Fred served in the U. S. Navy in World War II as a combat physician in the Pacific Theatre. He was a buddy of my father’s, from the time they were youths in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and gave me my first opportunity to work on a boat (for pay).

He was a conservationist and avid outdoorsman -- trout up-country; waterfowl in the estuaries of the Massachusetts North Shore; guided Cuttyhunk Striped Bass trips and Giant Bluefin Tuna and Swordfish, with hand-thrown harpoon from his own boats.

The second photo is one I took of him, striking a Swordfish from his 63-foot, Alden-designed schooner, JAGUAR, in 1967, when I was a member of his crew.

Later in his life he recounted to me what he considered must have been a divinely-influenced moment during a landing on a Japanese-held island.

Shore batteries were firing on the craft he was assigned to as they approached the beach. He had seconds before left the spot on the deck where a shell hit. Returning to the scene of carnage was able to save everyone that had so much as a breath of life in him after the explosion.

Brilliant and accomplished; a loving and dedicated family man and general humanitarian, he passed away in 2001 in a Veteran’s Administration hospital after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.