Memorial Day

Let us remember all of our fallen soldiers, and our current soldiers all over the world.

My cousin was a Marine in the 80s and was killed in a helicopter crash during a peacetime training mission. That was one of the toughest phone calls I ever got.

I have several young friends who are currently stationed all over the world. Some are in relatively safe areas and some are in Afghanistan. I worry about all of them.

Also remember the purpose of Memorial Day, to honor those service members who died IN SERVICE TO THEIR COUNTRY. It is NOT Veterans' Day, that is November 11. It is not even for vets who died during peacetime (unless in a service connected activity like Txrocket's cousin). Again Veterans' Day is for us. To honor ALL vets living and dead on Memorial Day cheapens the real meaning.

We were soldiers and we were young.
We were twelve and now we are three.
Six stayed over there, now forever young.
Two heart attacks and one care wreck.
We were soldiers and we were young.

Decoration Day..

Every year it never fails, that one person, that one stupid person bounces up to me and wishes me ... a happy Memorial Day. I'm patient and I understand that not everyone understands but there's a line and every year, one person crosses that line.

I know I'm supposed to be all love and light but I'm very sensitive about some things. This is Memorial Day. And LuckJack thank you, as always.

To Fallen Soldiers Everywhere, in ALL WARS, you are not forgotten.
You were very brave in the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

CG

For those who do not know, in 2000 The National Moment of Remembrance Resolution was passed in order to help re-educate and remind all Americans the true meaning of Memorial Day. It ask that all Americans pause for 1 minute at 3pm local time to remember and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many to provide freedom for all of us.

I was just at Ft Riley and saw how hard these men and women train in preparation to defend us. My son is scheduled to deployed in Sept to Afghanistan. And now with the proposed budget cuts to the Army, approx 180,000 men and women will be forced out taking our forces down to Pre WW II numbers and no updated equipment will be able to be purchased. Our troops will then be deployed more often with outdated equipment. Maybe the guys in the White House that makes these decisions need to be deployed out in the war zones.....Let the Secret Service work with outdated equipment!!!!!!.....IJS

Duty First

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.
~ Moina Michael (c. 1915)

To the many patriots who gave their lives that my children may live free, I honor you this Memorial Day.

In Flanders Fields
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.
John McCrae


GODSPEED and GODBLESS to all our heroes..They all gave some..BUt never forget SOME GAVE ALL !

Every year it never fails, that one person, that one stupid person bounces up to me and wishes me ... a happy Memorial Day. I'm patient and I understand that not everyone understands but there's a line and every year, one person crosses that line.

I know I'm supposed to be all love and light but I'm very sensitive about some things. This is Memorial Day. And LuckJack thank you, as always. Originally Posted by Dharma

Dharma, Thank you for the obvious reverence that you hold for this day. Your post has had me thinking of the ultimate sacrifice made by so many, and that I believe is the very point of the holiday. Tomorrow I will work with an organization to display flags throughout the neighborhoods of my community, and I will reflect on the gift I have received from these fallen warriors.

Now, let me take a quick shot at "Happy Memorial Day". I choose to believe our fallen heroes paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be happy. They died defending a freedom that encourages life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Perhaps the greatest honor we can show these great patriots is that we are happy, despite the best efforts of our enemies. Our country continues to thrive and prosper, our people are free, and we are happy.

So while I will mourn the fallen as I set up flags in their honor, I will also choose to have a happy day.

Happy Memorial Day to all! And to those souls which this day honors, thank you.

All Gave Some....Some Gave All!!

Can we ever, really be worthy? My doubts increase daily. There simply are no words.

• It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
  • Speech at the Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston Massachusetts (7 June 1945), quoted in Patton : Ordeal and Triumph (1970) by Ladislas Farago