Please View. Thank You.
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Powerful. Thank you.
Rod Miller
Thank you for the video.
Just remember as some people get these Holidays confused.
Veterans day is for veterans and has it's own day.
Armed forced day is for the people in the military and has it's own day.
Memorial day is for our fallen soldiers that gave the ultimate sacrifice and has it's own day.
Remember those who gave their lives as you party with friend on this holiday .
Those that did cannot as they gave it for you to celebrate.
On Memorial Day please give a moment of silence in their Honor.
Attached is a video about my MC club laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
I had the honor of doing this twice.
ST218-Wreath Laying Ceremony-Tomb of Unknown Soldier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJimsg0VicU
RonH
Wow...what a powerful and well done video.
I have seen this still image from that video many times. The image is cropped in the video, but the soldier is handing the young boy the folded flag from his father's coffin.
It has always moved me to tears...
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Wow. Thank you.
Thank You, all of you.
P.S. Rich how about a saluting Graemlin (the little icon things)?
SantaFeJim and RonH THANK YOU both for posting such powerful videos, the first I have seen several times and still brings tears to my eye and I prey it never stops doing that. I would like to Thank all who visit and post on this forum a safe and happy Holiday weekend and Thank a Vet and Thank all of you that have served this great country. May God Bless all of those who have given Their All for all of us May They Forever Rest In Peace.
AWESOME!!!!!!!
GOD BLESS OR FALLEN FOR THEY GAVE ALL FOR OUR WAY OF LIFE AND FREEDOM........
Thank you for posting this . May god bless them all .Very well done .
Thanks Jim. In my opinion, Memorial Day has turned into way too big of a celebration, what with outdoor cookouts, and lavish parades. As a result I no longer participate in our village "celebration". I grew tired of the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts troupes throwing candy to the viewers and having an overall "fun time". THAT is NOT what Memorial Day should be all about, in my opinion. As a side note, they are not "parades" but Processions!
GOD bless our lost Heroes!
Glad to see some Americans still know what the day is for...Not going to Sears to buy a mattress,but to remember who made it possible for us to do so....Joe Krasko USN
Hot Water posted:Thanks Jim. In my opinion, Memorial Day has turned into way too big of a celebration, what with outdoor cookouts, and lavish parades. As a result I no longer participate in our village "celebration". I grew tired of the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts troupes throwing candy to the viewers and having an overall "fun time". THAT is NOT what Memorial Day should be all about, in my opinion. As a side note, they are not "parades" but Processions!
GOD bless our lost Heroes!
Could not say it any better.
Thanks:
RonH
WOW. God bless them all. Well done.
"When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground." - Old African Proverb
I don't normally look at things like that anymore it hurts me to much, this time I did and I cried, can't help it.
"Who Dares Wins"
Roo.
It really annoys me that Memorial Day has become another Veterans' Day. A couple of years ago I was on the chancel during our church's Memorial Day service. I was there to talk about one of my college office-mates who was killed in Vietnam (I was lucky enough to come back unscathed). In what might have been one of my worst moments in public I really unloaded to the congregation about Memorial Day vs. Veteran's' Day. In retrospect maybe it was one of my better moments.
Don
CArolina Shagger posted:It really annoys me that Memorial Day has become another Veterans' Day. A couple of years ago I was on the chancel during our church's Memorial Day service. I was there to talk about one of my college office-mates who was killed in Vietnam (I was lucky enough to come back unscathed). In what might have been one of my worst moments in public I really unloaded to the congregation about Memorial Day vs. Veteran's' Day. In retrospect maybe it was one of my better moments.
Don
Totally agree.
Memorial Day/ Veterans Day and Armed Forces Day are meant to Honor each group.
It really is not the fault of the folks getting it confused, people just do not know.
Well done!
Peter
I totally agree on the Memorial Day "holiday". When they moved these "days" to Monday it just turned in to a long week end to buy beer and head for the lake, camp, river or a big box store to shop. There was a time when the families would go to the cemeteries and put flags on the veteran's graves clean the grave sites and put flowers on them. If you are not moved when you see the national military cemeteries at Arlington, in Hawaii, Gettysburg or France there is something wrong with you. Never forget the sacrifice.
It is real simple, We remember the folks who gave there life in the service of our country.
Most people and especially kids in school have no idea what Memorial Day stands for.
Almost every person interviewed in a local interview stated the reason for Memorial Day was the start of summer or a time to have a BBQ. Kids were even worse because they admitted history is never discussed it in school.
It seems as a country we are going to he$&. Nobody has respect for the past or cares of what has happened in the past. God help us.
Hot Water posted:Thanks Jim. In my opinion, Memorial Day has turned into way too big of a celebration, what with outdoor cookouts, and lavish parades. As a result I no longer participate in our village "celebration". I grew tired of the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts troupes throwing candy to the viewers and having an overall "fun time". THAT is NOT what Memorial Day should be all about, in my opinion. As a side note, they are not "parades" but Processions!
GOD bless our lost Heroes!
I never get tired of all the Boy Scouts who volunteer their time to place flags on the graves of our fallen heroes .
Thank you for that video. It got me thinking of my dad who found himself on the beach of Okinawa at age 18 due to the draft. He like so many others had to be scared to death but still did what was asked of them. Truly the bravest generation. Dad earned a purple heart on that beach, came home and raised a family after the war. He didn't talk much about the war, but in his later years He would tell you He was proud of his service. I lost dad in 2013 at the age of 86.
jim pastorius posted:I totally agree on the Memorial Day "holiday". When they moved these "days" to Monday it just turned in to a long week end to buy beer and head for the lake, camp, river or a big box store to shop. There was a time when the families would go to the cemeteries and put flags on the veteran's graves clean the grave sites and put flowers on them. If you are not moved when you see the national military cemeteries at Arlington, in Hawaii, Gettysburg or France there is something wrong with you. Never forget the sacrifice.
Couldn't agree with you more.
I grew up in Washington, D.C.. The sights....like Arlington National Cemetery...were just one of many 'hometown' sites to me back then. Not that special.
Then, when I was about 13, my cousin, Bryce, who was about 6, died of cystic fibrosis. At that time (1950's) his dad's service in the Navy entitled Bryce to be buried as a family member at the Arlington Cemetery (No longer permitted). I remember the graveside service vaguely. At that time, the hundreds of surrounding markers seemed to have little impact on me.
But, in 1992 I visited the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, France. As soon as I entered the grounds and saw the hundreds and hundreds of markers, I broke down and cried. I think I surprised myself. I'd always thought of myself as rather stoic. It is, indeed, a very, very moving experience/sight. So many men...boys. So far from home. Buried in France.....not their hometown, U.S.A.. Never experienced the rest of 'life' as we know it.....thanks to their sacrifice.
I was 48 at that time. I'm in my 70's now. The OP's video and the Normandy photo above turned on the spigot again.
The comments above regarding our distorted 'celebration' of Memorial Day is spot on. Thanks for resetting our attitudes.
God grant them the eternal rest they so richly deserve.
KD
Perhaps the greatest irony of liberty is that it allows each and every one of us the right to honor or dishonor the memories of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. The very nature of democracy says that we must tolerate the ignorance, ill will, and forgetfulness that permeates modern America. I am deeply saddened by the constant barrage of Memorial Day sales, events, and other trivia that dilute the meaning of this solemn day for our country. No, American History is not taught much in public schools these days. The coming generations are being schooled in a "globalist" outlook where the US is nothing special; just another country...Good thing the generation that marched off to war in Europe and the Pacific in 1941 hadn't been convinced of that.
There is a book, The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, about the little fleet of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts, that fought a Japanese heavy battle fleet to a standstill off Leyte Gulf in 1944. To anyone who hasn't read it; find a copy! If you ever wondered whether Americans were capable of greatness under adversity, this book will answer that question once and for all.
Please take a moment out of the festivities and ponder the lives of those who have fallen to protect our freedom. They fought and died for their buddies, their families, and their country. For all of us.
Godspeed heroes; you will live in our memories forever.
If you have Amazon Prime I highly recommend the HBO Movie "Taking Chance"
Taking Chance is a 2009 American historical drama film based upon the experiences of Marine Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl (Kevin Bacon), who escorted the body of a fallen Marine, PFC Chance Phelps (posthumously promoted to LCpl), back to his hometown from the Iraq War.
It is not an easy film to watch, but extremely well done.
I remember well putting the Flags out in our local cemetery when I was in the Boy scouts! It was considered an honor.
joe krasko posted:Glad to see some Americans still know what the day is for...Not going to Sears to buy a mattress,but to remember who made it possible for us to do so....Joe Krasko USN
I am solidly with you on this, Joe. You, too, Jack.
On Monday I'll be visiting the graves of my parents (my Dad was a WW II veteran) and reflecting on all they did for me and all that every fallen soldier has sacrificed so we can be free.
People are still patriotic, they still remember and honor those who served and paid the ultimate price, gravesite services will still be held and graves will still be decorated. Flags will be flown and time will be taken to remember the dead. People do these things everyday, not just this weekend, so perhaps we shouldn't sell them short.
And it's a true measure of that ultimate sacrifice that our country is the sort of place where our people can feel safe and secure and enjoy the freedom to recreate during time off from responsibilities during a holiday weekend without fear of a repressive government demanding obligatory gestures of fealty to the state or some tinpot strongman. God save me from those high-handed souls who would demand a mandatory display of patriotism to fuel their desire for a nanny-state where everyone must behave precisely in a way that meets some arbitrary yardstick set by some grumpy old fart who pines for the "good old days" which never really existed. Demanding patriotism is a fool's errand, and it is contrary to everything a free society stands for.
I never, ever served with anyone who didn't spend at least some time dreaming and talking about getting home and doing some of the very things with family and friends during holiday weekends that many of you decry. When you're deployed in some craphole and you're months from being home that's one of the things that keeps you going.
A few hours ago I got off the phone with the mother of one of my friends who died during Desert Storm. We didn't talk about cemetery visits or memorial services, we talked about the time that Brian and I spent two weeks in the Colorado Rockies camping, and we laughed together when remembering how Brian accidently fenced in my pickup truck when he helped me build a corral for my horses. Those are the memories that matter.
That IMO is the best way to remember our heroes who paid that ultimate price--let's remember them as friends and family members--let's remember the person first, and then the uniform. There is nothing wrong with all of the leisure time holiday activities that people engage in. The freedom to do that has been dearly bought many times over.
That's exactly what our fallen heroes deserve, and it's the highest honor we can give them.
Thank you, SANTAFEJIM.
My grandfather is a vet, and he is the one who got me into trains. Without him, I would probably be in the "cool" group of kids, listening to terrible music, doing drugs, and getting bad grades with no future. I cannot thank him enough for what he has done for me, and my country.
I have always considered Memorial(Decoration) Day to be the most solemn American day of remembrances. This is the Day when young men and women regardless of race, religion or social class paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Maybe this year the memory of these fallen patriots can help us to address the frustration,anger and class hostility in the country today. Proud to be an American and most important Memorial Day is not only one day in May but every day of the year.
Semper Fi
Thank you for posting this powerful video. I found a print version online. I'll read it during our Memorial Day ceremony on Monday.
Thank you Jim
and God Bless them !!
Alex
My Dad was a WWII navy vet. Many of my uncles served this country to. I will visit my Dad's grave tomorrow as well as friends i have lost over the years, many of them veterans. I'm with hot water and others that have said it's not national cook out day. I am a vet myself having served during the tail end of Vietnam. I was lucky, i got sent to Germany.
When I think back when I was a kid.I was in town with my grand parents.Some times I would watch war picture on t.v.Any across the street my grand parents pointed to a man on the other side of the street.They told me that man fought in that war.Flash forward I learned my grand dad was involed in ww2.All these years and I thought I had only 2 family members involed.Turns out my grand dad signed up and was in training and was ready to ship out.Then the us dropped a new type of bomb called an atomic bomb.Any way I have always respected those guys.However it seems to me.To say thank you just isn,t enough.I will never be able to say thank you enough to those who fought in that war.
david1 posted:Most people and especially kids in school have no idea what Memorial Day stands for.
Almost every person interviewed in a local interview stated the reason for Memorial Day was the start of summer or a time to have a BBQ. Kids were even worse because they admitted history is never discussed it in school.
It seems as a country we are going to he$&. Nobody has respect for the past or cares of what has happened in the past. God help us.
Then I think I am blessed because in grade school.We study the ww2 and watch some films in class.This was in the early 1970s.We had some pretty good teachers.Although I kind of got distracted by a passing train every now and then.Youe right we did not have a sale or grand openings.A lot of places where clossed.I things where different back then.
Brings a tear when you really think about it.
Thank you for posting that Jim!!! An exceptional video!
To the families 'of those that gave all', thank you for your sacrifice of your loved one.
Let us all remember what Memorial Day truly means.
Very nice - it helps bring back what Memorial Day is all about!
Sean
