Memorial Day

[TripleR]

I understand the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day, but it is hard not to think about those serving as we think about those who have paid the ultimate price.

My sons are former military and we spend the day as a family, no sales etc.

 

[QRTRHRS]

There is no celebration on Memorial Day but it is because of the men and women who died while preserving our values that we are allowed to celebrate.

I too did nothing other than to show up having ended up in Germany (2nd/75thFA, 1970-72). I will though, take pause to think about my uncle lost during the Chosen Resevor fight three weeks before I was born. I will think about my friend George though it would be more appropiate on Veteran's Day. George was a Marine on Iwo for one. He lived to a ripe old age of about 80 but his spirit died way back when on Iwo. George told me little but still more than his family.

I will think about two of my class mates. One whom stood besides me that day at the induction center when the Marine gave me a scowl I guess because I had long hair and instead picked the two guys aside me. My friends did not die in Vietnam however. Well, maybe their spirit did. They both committed suicide.

I will also think about friends who did not commit suicide but who died way too young for reasons related to the war.

In the end, I think it is easy to intermix Memorial Day and Veteran's Day. Because on Veteran's Day, most vet's are thinking more about the ultimate hero's.

 

[chemteck29]

Remember, honor, reflect.....

Thanks to all serve our country, past, present and future.

Absolutely!

 

[farmgirl19]

QRTRHRS: You said a lot, and said it well. Yes, even some that didn't die physically in war, died in spirit.

May we remember them all, this weekend, and always.

 

[Ted Summey]

My wife had 4 uncles, a cousin, and her father who served our country. I had 7 uncles and 5 cousins who served in various branches of military service. That doesn't count the previous generations among whom were Revolutionary War and Civil War Veterans. We are thankful for their service and the blessing none were killed in action. Several were/are Purple Heart recipients. Today at church and tomorrow especially our family remembers these veterans and the the men and women who served on their left and right who weren't fortunate enough to live to return to their families.

On Veterans Day we do the same. Both days are special remembrances above our day-to-day remembrances for our Veterans living and dead.

 

[dmccarty]

There was a documentary about WWII and NC on TV yesterday. I have seen it a few times but I always watch it when it is on. Our youngest was watching and it is hard to explain to a child why there are dead bodies stacked like cord wood in a death camp. Our youngest has AskALotItis. :laughing::laughing::laughing: The documentary covered Japan and Germany but German atrocities are more well known because of the death camps.

The Japanese were just as bad but they did their killing over a larger area and were not as organized and machine like as where the Germans. The Japanese rapes and exterminations happened in out of the way places early in the war like Buna and later in Manila. Course before 12/7/1941, Japan had been in China and Korea for years and what they did over there was horrendous. I know a young person from mainland China and The Rape of Nanking has not been forgotten by their generation. Even after a better part of a century, Asia still remembers what the Japanese did and it does not help that the Japanese still have to really faced what they did before and during WWII. The Germans have done this but the Japanese have not even tried.

Trying to explain this to a child is difficult. But what is even harder is trying to explain Mao, Stalin and Communism. Stalin most likely killed a minimum of 20 million of people before WWII. The estimates for the number of people who died because of Mao are around 40-70 million though I have read as high as 300 million. Since Stalin and Mao survived WWII and the Communist states they built survive, accurate numbers of the death toll, are iffy at best.

The price that was paid for stopping at least some of this devastation is what we SHOULD be thinking about on Memorial day but we should also remember what was bought.

Later,
Dan

 

[/pine]

To keep from roughing feathers I blame it on the media...but obviously there are many that simply just don't "get it"

 

[dave1949]

Our family lost another WWII veteran today. My wife's uncle passed away, 89 years old, but severely afflicted with Alzheimer's the past 5-6 years.

Of the eight WWII veterans in our two families that I knew personally, only one is still living.

I agree with the sentiments of QTRHRS and FarmGirl19, for some of the veterans who survived, a little piece of their soul didn't survive the experience.

In any case, those that I have had the pleasure of knowing are in my thoughts regardless of the calendar date or how they died.

 

[RobertN]

Memorial Day remembrances at the Placerville Veteran's Monument where I took earlier pictures

DSC_7443e Mountain Democrat

Gallery « Veterans Monument of Eldorado County

https://www.facebook.com/eldorado.vets.monument

 

[dmccarty]

Our little town, like so many little towns, has lots of churches. :laughing::laughing::laughing: I drove by two churches with grave yards on Monday to see the cemeteries. I really was just trying to see one graveyard at one church but I had to pass the Baptist church as well. There a huge number of Baptists and their church is huge. Its not an ugly set of buildings but it is just huge. Across the street is the prettiest little church I know of in three counties. Its a little church that is shaded by large trees, flowering ornamental trees and plants. I have taken some nice photos in the church yard at Memorial day when flags have been placed on the graves. I wish there was more info about the people buried since the headstones often raise questions...

In one of the older sections of the church yard is a grave of a Union officer. :confused3: I think he moved to the area after The Late Unpleasantness, married, lived and died. I would love to know the story of how a Union officer ended up in my county...

The Baptists had flags on the graves as usual but the pretty little church did not for some reason.

Later,
Dan