I almost forgot- last Friday my hometown unveiled a new memorial for veterans, and they had a nice little ceremony. My small town has a ton of veterans, and many from WWII and Korea still alive. It was very cool:
It says 2009 on the stone, but we just got it last week (a touch behind schedule). Thanks to the Women’s Club for the memorial and all their hard work.
james hare
Went to my grandfather’s grave today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people at Arlington. It’s almost getting normal to go out there. Used to spend Memorial day with him. Arlington Cemetery is a beautiful memorial to those who have fought for our country.
It just seems silly that 3 weeks in Vietnam would kill my grandfather so many years later. That stupid mistake continued to kill people for decades. I worry about how we’ll deal with the lifelong fallout for those who survived the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
frankdawg
We can’t really pay them back so I suggest we ‘pay it forward’ by working harder to make fewer vets in the future.
Keith G
That’s a nice way to honor your/our fellow citizens
BTW, did you catch the footage of the Osprey “demo” on Long Island. That was not a nice way to honor…. What were they thinking?
Ella in NM
In honor of Memorial Day, here’s a bizarre and still unexplained story involving two Iraq war vets that happened just outside of our city limits…very sad, and makes no sense at all…
“Police ID woman who shot, killed self while driving on I-10”
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_15179534?source=most_viewed
Anne Laurie
Taking Chance is available through Netflix, as well as HBO.
(Haven’t watched it myself yet, but the reviews are excellent.)
@frankdawg:
Best suggestion I can think of, aside from making sure we provide better support to the poor souls who’ve left pieces of themselves behind in all our past and current “police actions” and “defense operations”.
stuckinred
Thanks John.
TR
Check out this Yahoo story on Obama getting rained out at his Memorial Day speech in Chicago.
A whole lot of comments there from people who are repeating the right-wing noise machine lie that Obama is the first president of all time not to be at Arlington for Memorial Day.
I don’t know what I find weirder — that people like Glenn Beck would lie about something that is so easily disproved, or that their audiences will continue to go to them as a news source even after they’ve been proven to be full of shit.
As for me, when someone lies to me, not once but repeatedly, well, I tend to tell them to fuck off and look elsewhere for my news. But not these brave patriots. Taking the lies is apparently their patriotic duty.
TR
And I should have said, first and foremost, a special thanks to all those who have lost loved ones in this country’s service. God bless you all.
stuckinred
@TR: Fuck em., just ignore it.
robertdsc
They didn’t die in combat but two that I’m remembering today that I can name are Charles Daugherty, USMC, Vietnam era and Jerry Juarez, USAF post-Gulf War.
RIP.
YellowJournalism
I’m one of the few people I know who is not creeped out by cemetaries, and that’s because my mom went frequently with my grandmother. The cemetary at the time let rabbits run wild in the place (pet ones they raised), and I always found the headstones so interesting to look at. We went once a month when I was a little girl and always on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. I have grandfathers and great-uncles who fought in WWII and uncles who fought in Korea and Vietnam. Here’s to them and all the other vets.
Ruckus
Pay it forward. A cute movie with a great idea.
But stupid me, I always thought that was what we were supposed to be doing. Making the world a better place for those who come after us. Leaving the planet better than we found it. Learning from our mistakes and fixing them.
At least from the evidence that I see around me that all seems to be wrong. I would be ecstatic to be proved wrong with that observation.
@Anne Laurie:
Best suggestion I can think of, aside from making sure we provide better support to the poor souls who’ve left pieces of themselves behind in all our past and current “police actions” and “defense operations”.
From this vet who left almost no physical pieces behind, but knew many who did, and who came away a very changed person, Thank You.
Violet
That’s very nice. And just in time for Memorial Day. Thanks, John.
Mike in NC
“The Messenger” with Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster is well worth a rental. Worst job imaginable: telling families that a loved one was killed in Iraq.
Tsulagi
@james hare:
That’s nice to hear. My grandfather is buried at Arlington as well. Along with his wife. He was a veteran of three wars. For you grandpa…Rangers lead the way!
He was a great guy. Granny was extraordinary too.
tom p
I have 2 uncles buried at Lincoln National Cemetary, one at Custer NC, and my father (I hope soon at Jefferson Barracks NC)(alzheimers)
My father flew B-29s in the Pacific, Uncle Frank was a Marine who went in at Tarawa and others(Custer), my Uncle Walt went in at D-Day plus 3 and ended up somewhere in Germany (LNC), my Uncle Joe flew C-10s as a pilot throughout WW-II and was killed in ’46 when his plane cracked up on landing.
Throughout my childhood, none of my aunts or uncles talked about Joe, it was a subject too close to the heart…
The one who didn’t come home.
So who do I think of on this day?
Jimmy Summers, KIA Memorial Day 2006. A boy I knew, but not related to me at all.
Yutsano
I have three of four grandparents eligible to be buried at Arlington, two opted to be cremated and leave the space for those who they felt deserved the honor more. Even though my grandmother was a codebreaker and my paternal grandfather was in the Pacific theater in the Navy. My other grandfather was in the Battle of the Bulge. He most likely will live for at least another ten years, but his military medals are still proudly displayed. I may yet get a family member buried there, as my father wants a unique funeral: ejected out the port side garbage tube at periscope depth somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. If anyone is curious, the Navy has already agreed to this. May all those who have passed in defense of their nations find peace in whatever this life has for us when it ends.
bob h
My family boasts a Medal of Honor winner who died in WWI. He was truly fearless and heroic, but the sad fact is WWI was a war that did not have to be fought by the US. His life was thrown away for nothing.
Remember November
I met one of Doolittle’s Tokyo Raiders and a German Luftwaffe pilot all in the same day.
PLus I got to climb inside a flight-worthy B-17 and a Navy PBY Catalina.
all here:
Shiny Planes