Memorial Day Greetings - 2008

[keogh]

Best wishes to all of our veterans, especially those vets here on our forum and, of course, all the veterans who served with the US 7th Cavalry in those wonderful yesteryears on the Frontier. They left us some wonderful stories of their life experiences and their sacrifices for their country will never be forgotten.

Garryowen,

Keogh

[gocav76]

Good post Keogh! Last week we had Armed Forces Day Parade with 107-year old Frank Buckles, the last surviving American Veteran of World War One as Grand Marshall. "I think the veterans need to be recognized and respected for what they have done," says Mr. Buckles. Here is a short clip of Mr. Buckles visiting the abandoned and decaying DC World War One memorial on the National Mall.

[Melani]

It would be nice if the government could spare a few bucks to maintain it.

I have noticed a great degree of support for the troops this time around, even among those who do not support the war itself. I hope we have learned that lesson since Vietnam. It's even more sobering to consider that this time, they are all volunteers.

[clw]

I watched the National Concert on PBS last night. It's a ceremony I 'attend' every year and my personal way of honoring the fallen. Some random thoughts....

Andy Rooney said last night that "we, of course, do this for ourselves, not for them". I strongly disagree. I believe their spirits know they're honored and my tears for them are NOT self indulgent. So there.

Charles Durning is a National Treasure.

I was also struck last night, as the military history of this country was reviewed, by the fact the Indian Wars were (and still are) a smaller, earlier version of Vietnam -- a dirty little war that is ignored because it's politically correct to do so. At least we now have The Wall and and some understanding of the sacrifices made in southeast Asia. But as far as I know, Billy Markland is the only man in America who has attempted to compile a record of the men who died in the Indian Wars. Men who, unless they were officers, were buried where they fell and are seldom honored with any kind of marker, let alone a monument. I am as proud of them as I am of those who fought them and strangely enough, most of the few honors I have seen given them are offered by our native people themselves.

I'm not so naive that I miss the fact that the Washington ceremonies have propaganda opportunities, but I will never cease to be moved by one of the few opportunities we have to see and hear the color guards, the dress uniforms, the anthems and the men and women in the audience who proudly stand while their branch of the service in honored.

The ceremonies ended with Gladys Knight singing Let There Be Peace on Earth.

Amen.
And rest in peace, my love.

[Deleted]

That is a beautifully done post, Lozen, but I don't necessarily disagree with what Andy Rooney said.

To a great extent, we do do it for ourselves. It was certainly that way for the men who fought in Vietnam. I am sorry, but I will never forgive those who either ran or who pulled their support without insisting on something better than what they were given by Richard Nixon. That was the American people, not the politicians, not Lyndon Johnson or Robert McNamara, or even Nixon and Kissinger. The American public dictated that those 58,000 men would die for nothing.

A British diplomat whose name escapes me, but who was in charge of a small British mission in Hanoi during the bombing campaign of 1967 or 1968, wrote in the Washington Quarterly that the American people did not have the guts or the moral courage to win the war in Vietnam. No truer words have ever been spoken.

I appreciate everyone's patriotism and the support I see for the American soldier, I really do. And I know that so many of you were too young to have had anything to do with Vietnam, either fighting it or protesting it. It is just a lesson I remember all to vividly, the tomatoes thrown at me when I returned, the "head-hunter" who told me I had to take the medal clasp out of my lapel in order to land a good job (my biggest regret in life is that I didn't punch him in the face). And really, my own mother, to be honest, God rest her.

My Memorial Days are spent remembering my friends and the soldiers under my command who I failed to bring home as I promised.

This is a "feel-good" day for so many. I don't wave flags any more; I don't put them on my car. I have too much respect for our flag to ever let the light fail to shine on it. My men wouldn't have wanted that. Like them, my patriotism is in my heart, side by side with those whose names I can no longer remember and those whom I never knew.

Andy Rooney is right... if you really want to do something for our soldiers, bring them home and promise them you will never waste another American life without it meaning something. Quite frankly, I don't care about Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi people. He was their problem, not ours. If you want to get Bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri, then for crissakes, get them.

Sorry... I stopped loving the color red when I saw too much of it. Your hearts are all in the right place and for that I will always care for each of you and I will always thank each of you for caring. But my days of forgiveness are over. America made sure of that a long, long time ago.

Very best wishes and heartfelt thanks from one of the old ones,
Fred.