Memorial Day, and a short request...

[rasputin1952]

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service....what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

I post this to remind us that there are many who gave their lives to ensure that we remain a nation of Freedom loving people, and with the simple thought that they not be forgotten while people engage in festivities fo the weekend.

WWI, was a horrifc event that seered Memorial Day into the nation's collective conciousness. A few works came out of experiences of that war, "Johnny Got His Gun", "All Quiet on the Western Front", "J'Accuse" and the poem, "In Flanders Fields".

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.


In Flanders Fields
John McCrae, 1915.

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.

(On January 28, 1918, while still commanding No 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) at Boulogne, McCrae died of pneumonia.)


I respectfully ask that we remember those who have died to help keep us free, and we honor them with a new commitment to bring our nation back to the Beacon of Freedom it once was.

From the bottom of this vet's heart, I thank you.

:patriot:


Some of this can be found at the following site:

http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html#1

[old mark]

1. Thank you for posting this.

I have not seen another post here on Memorial Day and I am glad to see one.
Thank you for your service and Welcome Home.

Mark

1stBn, 504th PIR 82d Abn Div,SP4 1969-1971

[rasputin1952]

3. Thank you, and Welcome Home...

To all who have served, and to the families who have lost a member upon the Altar of War, the day holds a special significance. I have heard the notes of Taps far too often to forget those who have paid the ultimate price.

One special day a year is not too much to ask for, particularly when our sons and daughters, mothers and dads, nieces and nephews are in harms way. I look forward to the day when they are all home safely, and the winds of war have calmed.

Let us hope this day is soon.

[DesertRat]

2. k&r

[NanceGreggs]

4. Well said ... as always.

:patriot:

[arcadian]

5. My freedoms are granted to me by the U.S. Constitution.

Not the barrel of a soldiers gun.

[rasputin1952]

6. They are protected by those who will go and fight for them.

n/t

[arcadian]

7. They certainly are not.

How is invading sovereign nations "protecting my freedoms"?

edit: I'll protect my freedoms just fine by myself when and if the time comes for that.

[rasputin1952]

9. If you don't think that those who have died in the wars of this nation

to protect your Rights died for something other than the current conflict, you are sadly mistaken.

Those who fought in the Revolution set the stage for the Constitutional government you are living under, the War of 1812 turned back an invasion that would have returned us to English rule. The Civil War took down barriers that kept this nation separated, (although it took a very long time to work said Constitution on a more equitable aspect for a good portion of the citizenry). WWI & WWII were some of the bloodiest conflicts this world has ever seen. during both of them, there were large portions of this nation that were sympathetic to Axis powers, if either had taken a different course, it is difficult to see how we would have managed as we have.

Under The Constitution, the Armed Forces fall under the Executive branch, with the president being the Commander in Chief, under the Constitution, they are obliged to go where they are sent. The fault is not with the men and women who serve, the fault lies directly at the feet of bush. Those who have perished in this war have been caught up in an unjust war, but they would have fought a war were this nation attacked outright. The men and women who serve, serve to protect you, and for you to diminish that because of the situation they are in now, is uncalled for.

Have you served in the military? Are you willing to take some time off to defend the nation from aggressors, should they show up on our shores or over our airspace?

I do not agree with the current circumstances, and I am fighting to get out of the quagmire bush put us in. However, I will not degrade those who serve our nation...I have been in harms way, as was someone in my family since the War of 1812. I hope we never have to go to war, but I know that those who stand in defense of this nation do so for many reasons, not the least is a love of the Constitutional government we live under.

[arcadian]

11. I'm not mistaken, a standing army is the bane of true liberty

Please don't patronize me. The U.S. Constitution warned against maintaining a standing army. I'm sorry when anybody dies a horrible death, but I really don't believe that anybody has "died to preserve my freedoms", what does that even mean? If you need to believe that to maintain your day to day, that is fine, it's just not my cup of tea.



"What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to
prevent the establishment of a standing army,
the bane of liberty." Rep. Elbridge Gerry of
Massachusetts, I Annals of Congress at 750 (August
17, 1789)

By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall
stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the
press, freedom of commerce against monopolies,
trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions
of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These
are fetters against doing evil which no honest
government should decline. - Thomas Jefferson

" has kept among us,
in times of peace, standing armies without the
consent of our legislature. He has affected to
render the military independent of and superior to
civil power... For protecting them, by mock trial,
from punishment for any murders which they should
commit on the inhabitants of these states ...
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits
of trial by jury, For transporting us beyond seas
to be tried for pretended offenses...."
-- Declaration of Independence

"No State shall, without the Consent of Congress,
... keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of
Peace" -- United States Constitution, Article I,
Section 10

"The objections which have been brought against
a standing army, ... may also at last be brought
against a standing government. The standing
army is only an arm of the standing government.
The government itself, which is only the mode
which the people have chosen to execute their
will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted
before the people can act through it." -- Henry
David Thoreau

[rasputin1952]

12. I am not patronizing you, and the people you quote lived in a day

when muskets were the norm. Today, needless to say, things are considerably different. The Poles, in 1939, went up against German tanks with standard cavalry, today in the blink of an eye, a city may vanish.

When asked in London in 1940, "Why did you fight against the tanks?", a Polish captain answered, "we fought to remain free, we owe it to our sons and daughters; we fought so that you might remain free as well, although you may not see that just yet".

As a soldier, even though I had no idea you even existed, it was my duty to protect you to the best of my ability, that was my job, and that is the job of those who man the ramparts today.

[nichomachus]

8. Farewell

Farewell to a name and a number
Recalled again
To darkness and silence and slumber
In blood and pain.

So ceases and turns to the thing
He was born to be
A soldier cheap to the King
And dear to me;

So smothers in blood the burning
And flaming flight
Of valour and truth returning
To dust and night.

--A. E. Housman

[rasputin1952]

14. Wonderful line:

A soldier cheap to the King
And dear to m


Thank you...:hi:

[poppysgal]

10. thank you very much

as the wife, daughter, mother and sister of veterans I thank you and agree.:patriot:

[rasputin1952]

13. You are quite welcome...

:hi:

[RB TexLa]

15. There is a division for Louisiana, the Seven Years war. Memorial day honors the dead from both sides

of the civil war, but not both sides of the Seven Years War. So you can't say there isn't division in it.

[uppityperson]

16. Thank you to those who gave your lives for us. And a comment.

I thank those who gave their lives in wars for things like stopping Hitler, and I feel much sorrow for those who died in unjust wars. RIP.

[rasputin1952]

17. It is regrettable that things like the situation we are in now exists...

Those who have never seen the horror, heard the sounds and smelled the carnage seem to be those who call for war.

The somewhat real-time pictures that came from the Civil War changed many minds as to the "nobility" of armed conflict, ghastly images of bloated corpses upon the fields wrenched many a strong man's stomach, films of WWI showed unprecedented slaughter and what came from WWII, although heavily edited, showed those who gave the last full measure. Vietnam brought war right in to our Living rooms, but missing were the smells that go with combat. missing was the threat of death at any moment.

War films with the likes of John Wayne taking Iwo Jima nearly singlehandedly, or Ronald Reagan on a sound-stage dropping bombs on a mock up of Berlin is what so many grew up with. The thought that people got up and walked away after the shooting was over almost seemed real. And so, the Rumsfeld's, the bush's, cheney's and Wolfowitz's all believed the old war films and ran us into a quagmire...right to the point where an old man who should know better, is willing to keep up the fight for 100 years. These, and other purveyors of war, never knew the stench of blood, mud, burning fuel, burning flesh, cordite, urine, feces and death all rolled into one terrifying moment...a stench one can taste.

Men and women went into this maelstrom, many of them were left where they lay, many others lie beneath marble, granite or brass markers. These individuals gave all they had, their families sacrificed their sons and daughters. They deserve the respect they have earned.

I hope every night that I will awaken to hear that our brothers and sisters will be returning home...those that serve today have earned the trip home.

When I posted this thread, I did not expect, nor did I want reverence for those who lie in rows beneath the markers...I only wish that people would take just a moment to remember the sacrifices made by those who are willing to make such sacrifices.

For those who sent them away on the current mission, I hold only disdain...but for those who have gone on before me, I feel the pain.

[uppityperson]

18. Indeed. War is hell and should never be entered into lightly.

Physical wounds and death are not the worst that can happen and my heart aches.

[old mark]

19. uppity person

most soldiers don't get to choose their war, and they are just as dead and maimed as those whose cause you consider "noble."

I have no respect for the political leaders who got us involved in all these bad wars, but I still respect and honor the sacrifices made by the people who felt a duty-or were coerced-to be in the service.

Honestly, some of the posts by supposedly intelligent people make me very sad and angry.

I am in the odd position of hating republicans and having little respect for the democrats.
Rasputin, again I thank you: I don't know how you put up with this simpering bullshit. These people are not worth it.
mark

[rasputin1952]

21. I figure that all are allowed to have an opinion, whether I agree w/it

or not, an opinion is worth a thought from me.

Some have never been touched by war, or have never known the bond that comes from service. Some have never sat back and thought for a moment of the sacrifices made by others to ensure that tyranny was held at bay.

I do not begrudge them, but they should not hold those who have served in contempt, nor should they forget those who paid with their lives, limbs and blood, and in some cases, at the expense of their minds. A moment to remember that sacrifice is all I ask for, I think that moment was well earned.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

20. Carved on a wall in Arlington ...

They shall grow not old
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them . .
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them!
-- Lawrence Binyon

[rasputin1952]

22. A beautiful sentiment...a sad but beautiful sentiment...

Perhaps there will one day, be atime when we can all grow old and never have the spectre of war over us...we have a long way to go before that comes to to be however.

[rasputin1952]

23. From George Orwell's "Looking Back on the Spanish War

...just remember that in 1925 the world of
today would have seemed a nightmare that couldn't come true. Against that
shifting phantasmagoric world in which black may be white tomorrow and
yesterday's weather can be changed by decree, there are in reality only
two safeguards. One is that however much you deny the truth, the truth
goes on existing, as it were, behind your back, and you consequently
can't violate it in ways that impair military efficiency. The other is
that so long as some parts of the earth remain unconquered, the liberal
tradition can be kept alive. Let Fascism, or possibly even a combination
of several Fascisms, conquer the whole world, and those two conditions no
longer exist. ...our traditions and our past security have given us a sentimental
belief that it all comes right in the end and the thing you most fear
never really happens. Nourished for hundreds of years on a literature in
which Right invariably triumphs in the last chapter, we believe
half-instinctively that evil always defeats itself in the long run.
Pacifism, for instance, is founded largely on this belief. Don't resist
evil, and it will somehow destroy itself. But why should it? What
evidence is there that it does? And what instance is there of a modern
industrialized state collapsing unless conquered from the outside by
military force?

http://www.george-orwell.org/Looking_Back_On_The_Spanish_War/0.html

The Essay has a vast amount of information on the horrors and the insights of war, as well as a couple of measures of cmpassion and friendship.