Memorial Day 2009

[jimnyc]

In 1868 the United States of America created a holiday to honor all of our fallen soldiers that have fought and died for our country. Since that day we have lost an unimaginable amount of brave soldiers defending our country and our freedoms as well of freedoms of citizens of other countries.

Many people have long forgotten these men and women and the sacrifices they made. Too many take our freedoms for granted and the blood that was spilled to protect those very freedoms. Unfortunately, there are even times where these soldiers are frowned upon, which in my opinion is one of the most despicable things a citizen can do to the men and women who have given their all to protect ALL of us and our rights. They served their country bravely and followed orders in a time honored tradition, whether they may have personally disagreed with those orders. They followed a code and protected their brothers and sisters who fought alongside them.

This weekend, I couldn't ever have a more sense of gratitude towards our soldiers, those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, to those who have returned and even to those who have not had to raise their arms in defense.

I have only seen the incredible stories via short live clips, movies and second hand stories. Each and every one amazes me that a man or woman could have had the courage that was on display. I have watched endless recounts of the storming of Normandy and wonder how these men and women fulfilled their duties. I picture myself hopping off the boat and swimming away from the beach while I see these soldiers charging the hill not knowing if their lives would end at any second. To me, that always epitomizes the word "bravery".

While not a military person myself, I would like to proudly salute each and every soldier that has ever served in the armed forces of the USA. I am extremely thankful for those of you that can respect my salute, and extremely saddened to those who accept my salute from a better place.

Enjoy this weekend soldiers, you MORE than deserve it!

:salute: :salute:

[Jeff]

Thank you to all who ever served , Y'all are not forgotten! :salute:

[chloe]

Thanks to all who served & protected this Great Country ! God Bless you your families & America !!!!!!!!!!!!!:salute:

[Kathianne]

This is a nice tribute, brought by AP no less:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090524/ap_on_re_us/memorial_day_naming_the_dead


Memorial Day roll call honors 148,000 veterans

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
Sun May 24, 1:53 pm ET
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Abts, Richard. Adamski, Walter. Ahlman, Enoch.
The names are whisked away by the hot, gusting wind as soon as they are spoken, forgotten in the stream of the next name and the next name and the next name.
Fuller, Addison. Fuller, Mary. Furlong, John.
The story of America could be told through these names, tales of bravery and hesitation, of dreams achieved or deferred and of battles won and lost.
Taken alone, they are just words, identities stripped of place and time, stripped of rank and deeds and meaning.
But they are not taken alone. They are taken together — 148,000 names, representing the entire veteran population of Riverside National Cemetery, a roll call of the dead read aloud over 10 days by more than 300 volunteers.
They read in pairs, rotating through 15-minute shifts in the beating sun, in the chilly desert night and in the pre-dawn hours thick with mosquitoes.
Some time on Memorial Day, they will read the last name on the 2,465th page.
Some read for their country.
Others read for a father lost in battle or a beloved son cut down in his prime.
And one man reads for no one in particular — except, maybe, for himself.
_____
Richard Blackaby was just 18 and fresh out of high school in 1966 when he was drafted for Vietnam. His father had served as a Seabee in the U.S. Navy during World War II and Blackaby was desperate to follow in his path.
But the Army said no: Blackaby had epilepsy and asthma and was unfit for service.
Twelve years later, Blackaby — now married with three children — reapplied to the Army and was accepted to the 4th Infantry Division as a forward observer.
But Vietnam was over and the eager recruit spent the next six years waiting for a war that never came. When he was honorably discharged in 1984, he was a sergeant but had never experienced combat, had never called in a real air strike or fired at a real target.
Nearly 25 years later, Blackaby's missed opportunity weighs on him as he patrols his self-selected battleground: Riverside, the nation's busiest national cemetery. While others gave their lives, Blackaby gives his time — and a lot of it, nearly 30 hours a week.
Over the years, Blackaby has made his specialty here not among the remembered and the honored, but among the lost, the abandoned and the forgotten. The work seems to fit his story of missed chances and dashed dreams, his yearning to belong to something greater than himself.
Every day, the 60-year-old grandfather with the crinkly, blue-gray eyes slips on the black leather vest that's his personal uniform and stands at attention as the cemetery honors the cremated remains of dozens of abandoned or forgotten veterans.
Every day, he salutes as the National Guard reads the names off the simple wooden boxes filled with ashes.
Every day, he accepts the folded flag for soldiers he will never know — and then gives it back for the next day's dead.
Dog tags engraved with the names of 145 forgotten veterans dangle from a thick key chain that never leaves his side, a different color for each branch of service. He knows the story behind almost every name.
"If I didn't do it, who would do it?" he says. "I mean, they have friends, they HAVE to have friends. They don't go through a whole lifetime and not have somebody that cares about them."
And, true to form, Blackaby reads names — hundreds of them — for the roll call project.
He reads for hours on overnight shifts in the cemetery's eerie gloom, the podium illuminated only by a floodlight. He reads during the weekend afternoons and late into a Saturday night to cover gaps in the schedule.
"Every one that we read off, I feel like I am probably doing their family a favor because they can't be here," he said.
"I'm reading off a whole litany of history. It kind of makes you wonder what's behind each name, what their life was like, what they did."
___
Lamborn, Richard. Lamphear, Everett. Landaker, Jared.
A gust of wind springs up and snatches the last name away.
No one notices it and later, even the volunteer readers won't recall the name of the young Marine or which one of them read it.
All they know is he was a 1st lieutenant, fifth from the bottom on page seven of 2,465.
___
Joe Landaker was the first person to touch his son, Jared, as he slipped into the world on his parents' bed on May 3, 1981, after 36 hours of labor.
From the beginning, Jared was special — ...

[emmett]

It is most appropriate that Memorial Day is one of the most leisurely of all of the holidays. In essence millions take this day off to have barbeques, travel to see family and in all likelihood do not think much of the sacrifice that was made to make all this possible by our soldiers.

This is the beauty of this holiday to me. The freedom to just take for granted the most precious thing we as Americans enjoy. Freedom to do these things without asking anybody, thinking it out or lending any consideration to making any choice at all in weighing the "risk" of doing whatever we feel.

I wonder to myself about that old vet leaning back in his beach chair enjoying a julip while no doubt thinking constantly about his comrades who did not come back to enjoy the day he is having. He feels something that the people around him do not understand, and do not have to. He took that burden upon himself as did his comrades so that American citizens would be able to conduct their lives without having to think about it constantly. The thing is however he does not just think about it on Memorial Day. He lives it every day of life. A hell of sorts to constantly revisit his memories of war. He knows however that today is not necessarily his day. Veterans Day is. Today is his comrades day who did not return. It is not a day for Congressional Medal winners who came home, heroes who ran onto a battlefield and succesfully saved lives or soldiers who went above and beyond the call of their duties to do extraordinary things to insure a better chance of victory. Memorial Day is a day when we acknowledge the price paid by the average soldier, sailor and marine who did not come home at all.

We tend to refer to these members as heroes. Fact is, they were a collection of us all. Many were just scared young kids who had no intention of being heroes at all. Most were drafted into service and wished the hell they were not there. A lot of them were very gung ho participants who volunteered to go again and again as if they felt it their destiny to have only this purpose define their lives. What each of them have in common is the fact that they all gave an absolutely equal contribution to the Liberty and Freedom we enjoy on Memorial and every other day in the calender year. They gave their life.

As we ride through a little town and see the flags placed in line along the town square we read a few names and it occurs to us what they are and what they mean but do we really? Can we even begin to imagine the horror experienced by the dying soldier? Of course not, but we don't have to. They have taken this burden for us so that we may enjoy our skiing trip, family barbeque and fishing excursion. It is absolutely the most precious gift that we could recieve yet it is not wrapped in a box, with a pretty bow on it and does not come with a card. There was no request for a return gift or any acknowledgement of what they had given yet we do owe it. We most certainly do owe it. What we owe them is to spend our lives to protect the freedoms and liberty that they died for.

Each and every time a liberty of an American is compromised by Government or any other reason or entity, person or circumstance, we owe those soldiers to rectify it. If we don't work to make it right and effect a logical solution to those compromises we have betrayed those dead soldiers. And while those men, and women, died to protect our right to disagree on the matter of how to solve these questions, we owe them to resolve the differences and maintain the basic beliefs as described by the United States Constitution. As long as we take this seriously, no matter what political opinion we take, social agenda we prescribe to or methodology we endorse, we lend thanks to those soldiers for our "right" to feel the way we do.

Memorial Day is just a day on the calender. Soldiers and Sailors died on each day of the 365 days and I would like to think that we will always be just as thankful on each of those days as well as to acknowledge their sacrifice.