Paying respect on Memorial Day

[HAWK FE]

Just wanted to thank everyone past and present for serving the good ol US of A. You are all remembered on this day.

[Clint]

I too want to say: Thank You for your sevice to our country.

Clint

[badlooser]

here is a bump to all the Men and Women wearing the red white and blue.

[DeTitan]

Hats off.

No BBQ party this weekend.
Its more about RESPECTING those who were and are in the service of our nation, in me book.

[abu872]

Thanks guys and gals!

[TexasTitanXE]

A heartfelt remembrance of all men and women who have served our country so valiantly over the years such that we might enjoy the freedoms we do today. God Bless the men and women who have served or are serving our Great Country.

[La Magra]

Memorial Day Memorial Day is their day isn't it? It is supposed to be the day a grateful nation pauses to quietly thank the more than one million men and women who have died in military service to their country since the Revolutionary War.

Or is it the day the beach resorts kick into high gear for the summer season, the day the strand is covered by fish-belly white people basting themselves in coconut oil, the day the off-season rates end and the weekend you can't get in a seaside seafood restaurant with anything less then a one hour wait.
Or is it one of the biggest shopping center sales days of the year, a day when hunting for a parking space is the prime sport for the stay-at-homers ?
Or is it the weekend when more people will kill themselves on the highways than any other weekend and Highway Patrol troopers work overtime picking up the pieces ?

I think the men and women who died for us would understand what we do with their day. I hope they would, because if they wouldn't, if they would have insisted that it be a somber, respectful day of remembrance, then we have blown it and dishonored their sacrifice. I knew some of those who died, and the guys I knew would have understood.
They liked a sunny beach and a cold beer and a hot babe in a black bikini, too. They would have enjoyed packing the kids, the inflatable rafts, the coolers, and the suntan lotion in the car and heading for the lake. They would have enjoyed staying at home and cutting the grass and getting together with some friends and cooking some steaks on the grill, too.

But they didn't get the chance.
They blew up in the Marine Barracks in Beirut and died in the oily waters on the Persian Gulf.
They caught theirs at the airstrip in Grenada in the little war everyone laughed at.
They bought the farm in the I Drang Valley and on Heartbreak Ridge, Phu Tai and at Hue.
They froze at the Chosin Reservoir and were shot at the fetid jungles of Guadalcanal.
They were at the Soame and at San Juan Hill and at Gettysburg and Cerro Gordo and at Valley Forge.

They couldn't be here with us this weekend, but I think they would understand that we don't spend the day in tears and heart-wrenching memorials.
They wouldn't want that. Grief is not why they died.
They died so we could go fishing.
They died so another father could hold his laughing little girl over the waves.
They died so another father could toss a baseball to his son in their backyard while the charcoal is getting white.
They died so another buddy could drink a beer on his day off.
They died so a family could get in the station wagon and go shopping and maybe get some ice cream on the way home.

They won't mind that we have chosen their day to have our first big outdoor party of the year.

But they wouldn't mind, either, if we took just a second and thought about them.
Some will think of them formally, of course. Wreaths will be laid in small, sparsely attended ceremonies in military cemeteries and at monuments at state capitols and in small town's squares.
Flags will fly over the graves, patriotic words will be spoken and a few people there will probably feel a little anger that no more people showed up.
They'll think no one else remembers.
But we do remember.
We remember Smitty and Chico and Davey and the guys who died.
We remember the deal we made. If we buy it, we said drink a beer for me. I'll do it for you, guys.
I'll drink that beer for you today, and I'll sit on that beach for you, and I'll check out the girls for you and, just briefly, I'll think of you.
I won't let your memory spoil the trip but you'll be on that beach with me today. I will not mourn your deaths this Memorial Day, my friends. Rather I'll celebrate the life you gave me. This Bud's for you Brother.........

Alvin Levine SGT E-5
101st Airborne
75th Rangers
Hue, Vietnam

[Trevor]

You can honor the memories of fallen comrades by being AMERICAN. How does one do this?
1 - Speak your mind. Say what you mean and mean what you say. The first amendment is the most important thing we have.
2 - Vote. No one is that busy that they can't vote if they are eligible. 18 year old PFC's in Iraq all got their absentee ballots and voted, you can too.
3 - Serve your country in some way. You don't have to join the Marine Corps, but do something.
4 - Exercise your rights. Rights unused become irrelevant and victim of apathy. Next thing you know your rights are eroded. Don't let that happen.
5 - Get involved in the process somehow. Politicians vote as they do on the floor of the house and senate because the feedback they get from their constituents is only as good as the number of constituents they hear from. Do n't let 99% of laws passed be determined by the opinion of 1% of the population. Every elected official has an email address. Use it.
6 - Remember that The United States of America is an idea, and an ideal. It might be difficult to realize that it's an idea that we are all in together, but we are. We all live in one of the most noble abstractions ever devised by man. And it works, but only if you believe in it.


There are those in this world that hate us because that idea is in direct contravention to their beliefs, which is sad, because they aren't mutually exclusive. However, they believe that accepting or awknowledging our concept means that theirs is irrelevant. if you don't wonder why that is, you should.

God Bless America.

[Birdhunter]

Very nice and oh so true from a couple of members above me. I served over 12 years and my wife retired with over 22 years, both in the Air Force with almost half our time spent in Europe and the Far East and a special trip to the desert. Those of us that served always remember our friends that served with us, those that served before us and those that serve now. We never forget. There is no greater honor or greater pride than serving your country overseas. Those of us that have know this is the greatest country in the world and that our freedom here is precious. We learned it by living in other countries.

We fly our flags proudly today and will fly them tomorrow and every day we can. No matter what your politics or thoughts on what is going on in the world today just remember that the young men and women who are proudly serving our country overseas chose to enlist voluntarily and many have chose to stay and continue to serve. They deserve our respect for choosing to serve and follow the orders of their commanders even when those orders place them in life or death situations. They deserve our respect when they return home from their tours, because they know they are home.

God Bless those that serve and the United States of America.