A BIG THANKS to all

[Phil in SoCal]

A BIG THANKS to all who have served or are serving this great country of ours.

 

[JB]

Re: A BIG THANKS to all

While I share your gratitude for veterans and service members' service, Phil, I think you, like many others, have missed the point of Memorial Day.

This is not Veterans' Day, Armed Forces' Day or some other day set aside to honor veterans and those serving. It is Memorial Day, set aside to honor our war dead.

Let's not dilute the honors to those who gave their lives.

 

[gonfishn]

Re: A BIG THANKS to all

Well said JB...

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: A BIG THANKS to all

I don't think the point is being missed at all. Remembering the fallen is the primary purpose of the holiday, but that does not mean that the wounded can not be thought of. It also does not mean that the families can not be thought of, nor does it preclude us from honoring our active duty and reserve personnel.

BTW, when I go to a funeral, I go for two reasons - to honor the life of the person lost and to support the family and other loved ones. There is no dilution of respect for the deceased in the act of supporting those that did not die. If anything, I would think those persons would feel more respected in the knowlege that the others were not forgotten.

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: A BIG THANKS to all

JB, you are 100 percent correct.


jay merrill, you are correct that when we go to the funeral palor to pay our respects, we go to honor the life of the person that has past away and to support the family of the deceased.

When I went to the Memorial Day festivities today, I went to pay homeage to those military people in the armed forces that had paid the ultimate sacrifice to their country in all wars and not to their family members.

Some say, "they gave their life," others say, "their life was taken." Who is right?

Semper Fi!
United States Marine Corp
Vietnam Vetran

 

[triumphrick]

Re: A BIG THANKS to all

As for our soldiers...All gave some, some gave all.

R. Thompson
US Navy ETN-2
1966 - 1972

 

[skargo]

Re: A BIG THANKS to all

This is the saddest, yet proudest holiday.
Remember them not just today, but every day. You OWE them.

Memorial Day Poem
Kelly Strong

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease..

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He?d stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers? tears?

How many pilots? planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers? graves?
No, freedom isn?t free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant ?Amen,?
When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn?t free.