Memorial Day
Lest We Forget What THIS Holiday is about......
Posted on 05/27/2005 6:55:49 AM PDT by Valin
Another Memorial Day.
Open the swimming pool. Get enough hotdogs and buns. Pack the car.
Judges and state representatives and various minor officials root around in their files for material for the speech up at the cemetery.
Hope it doesn't rain.
The high school band will be there. Some of the seniors might not show up so the ranks will be a little thin.
Veterans color guard. Paunches and puttees. And always that one Vietnam vet with the scraggly gray hair and granny sunglasses.
Hope somebody comes.
The crowd was sure small last year.
Year before, too, come to think of it.
Some of the ladies from the auxiliary were up the other day, putting little flags on the graves.
You know, if you sweep your eyes across that hillside there are quite a few flags fluttering up there in the breeze. Quite a few.
Couple of them on fresh graves, too. That young sergeant whose Humvee got blown up over in Iraq. Worked in the lumber yard. Nice guy.
That other one, over there, with the fresh-turned earth and the withered flower baskets around it. That was Iraq, too. Helicopter crash. He had two kids.
You walk among those graves and you recognize the old family names from around here.
And some of those stones marked with little flags have other names on them - Guadalcanal. St. Lo. Coral Sea. Chosin Reservoir. Danang. Baghdad.
Some died in those places. Others died at home, in their beds, old men who had learned a new geography. And never forgot it.
Some died heroes, with posthumous medals to prove it. Some just happened to be in the wrong square foot of snowy forest or sand-blown desert. For some there was not a whiff of glory - just an overturned truck, a mistake during maneuvers, appendicitis in a slit trench too far from help.
Others got back home, worked in a factory, played shuffleboard at the VFW, marched gamely in a few parades, and finally succumbed to diabetes or cancer in a Veterans Hospital.
The little flags are very democratic. No differentiation, no distinction. They flutter in the sunlight over the heroes and the hapless. But that's the point. They all served. They all gave -- freely, fearfully, grudgingly -- years of their lives, precious years that could never be regained, never really made up for.
And there are so many flags out there among those stones.
So many.
They may have to play a recording of "Taps" this year. Hard to find a bugler.
Hope somebody comes.
The crowd was so small last year.
He was getting old and paunchy
and his hair was falling fast
and he sat around the Legion
telling stories of his past
Of a war that he had fought in
and the deeds that he had done
In his exploits with his buddies
They were heroes, every one
And tho' sometimes to his neighbors
his taled became a joke
But all his buddies listened
for they knew of what he spoke
but we'll hear his tales no longer
for old Bob has passed away
and the nation's a little poorer
for a soldier died today
He won't be mourned by many
just his children and his wife
for he lived an ordinary
very quiet sort of life
He had a job and family
quietly going his way
and the world won't note his passing
tho' a soldier died today
When polititians leave this earth
their bodies lie in state
while the thousands note their passing
and proclaim that they were great
papers tell of their life stories
from the time that they were young
but the passing of a soldier
goes unnoticed and unsung
Is the greatest contributions
to the welfare of this land
some jerk who breaks his promise
and cons his fellow man
or the ordinary fellow
who in times of war and stife
goes off to serve the country
and offers up his life
the politicians stipened
and the style in which he lives
are sometimes disproportionate
to the service that he gives
while the ordinary soldier
who offered up his all
is paid off with a medal
and perhaps a pension, small
It's so easy to forget them
for it is so long ago
Our Bobs and Jims and Johnnys
went to battle
but we know
it was not the politicaisn
with their compromise and ploys
who won for us the freedom
that our country now enjoys
should you find yourself in dabger
with your enemies at hand
would you really want some cop-out
with his ever waffling hand
or would you want a soldier
who has sworn that he'll defend
his home, his kin and country
and would fight until the end
he was just a common soldier
and his ranks are growing thin
but his presence should remind us
we may need his kind again
for when countires are in conflict
then we find the soldie's part
is to clean up all the problems
that the politicians start
if we cannot do him honor
while he's here to hear the praise
then at least let's give him hoamge
at the ending of his days
perhaps a simple headline
in the paper that would say
"Our country is in mourning, for a soldier died today"
Memorial Day
Lest We Forget What THIS Holiday is about......
The "Memorial" in Memorial Day has been ignored by too many of us who are beneficiaries of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. Often we do not observe the day as it should be, a day where we actively remember our ancestors, our family members, our loved ones, our neighbors, and our friends who have given the ultimate sacrifice:
Be there or be square, is all I can say.
I like to find an older grave and place flowers on it. On the assumtion that his family is dead, gone, no one remembers him. Well for at least one day someone does.
BTTT
Thanks Valin.
Sad, but true.
Let's see if I can do this with a blurry screen...here at the Post Cemetery, it takes a group effort to do that. The Boy Scouts spend all weekend placing flags at the graves. For all but about a quarter of the cemetery, residency began between 1878 and 1950. Those families are indeed long gone.
Those heroes are lucky, though...between the VFW, American Legion, and a large active and retired population, we manage to honor the thousands who've found their final resting place nestled in these quiet foothills. It is the very least we can do in return for their sacrifice.
Your post don't usually make me teary eyed. Thank Valin.
Breaking news off BBC wire reporting that King Farhad of Saudi Arabia been hospitalied but dude may have another stroke he been ill for last years
He is really king in name own he is not ruling
Also another report off Sky news wire reproting that Pakstein Muslum mosque has been bomb by suicide bombers 57 are confirm dead mostly women and children
NO KIDDING
Also another report off Hareetz wire drunken Soccer fans invaded PLO home of rival team
I see Raider Nation invaded Gaza
Muh screen's all blurry.
Thank you for this post. All need reminding like that.
I have one more lost veteran friend to remember this year. It's a little more special.
All did give.
Fort Sam Houston Cemetary...None Forgotten!Valin, my friend, you challenged me today.
This afternoon our homeschool group had a
field trip to a county park in South St. Louis county.
On the way, I asked the kids if they knew
what the purpose of Memorial Day is.
The oldest two are 10 and 8.
They didn't know.
After our field trip, I got back on 270/255 south
and went to Jefferson Barracks.
We drove thru the cemetery.
We drove for about 15 minutes and saw
only a fraction of the places where
our heroes were laid to rest.
(The little one was sleeping or we would
have gotten out and walked.)
We stopped on the road beside some of the
and read the names and dates and
ranks and campaigns.
We talked about how many people have
sacrificed everything so that we can
live in a free country.
I now KNOW that my kids KNOW why
we celebrate
Memorial Day.
Below are three pictures taken by Squeezit.
The scouts will go tomorrow and decorate all the gravesites with flags.
Thank you, Valin.
*HUGS!*
God bless you,
Jake
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