1 A wonderful story indeed. Thanks for sharing.

2 This post got very blurry near the end...I haven't the faintest idea why.

3 Great story.  AoS is the first thing I read in the mornings and this is the first thing I saw this morning (I'm in AZ).  Long time lurker but just an occasional poster.  Thanks for the great reminder about the real significance of this weekend.

4 Memorial Day is May 31. Not whatever Monday helps government and union pukes have a 3 day weekend in late May. I'll celebrate the right day.

5 That's a powerful story. Thank you for sharing.

6

Posted by: dudenolongerinsantacruz at May 25, 2013 11:40 AM (ZCu9v)

 

Lots of blurry today.

 

God Bless America and its Defenders!

7 Wow, I think my allergy meds chose this exact moment to wear off. Weird, huh? Blurry...

8 I wonder if that was Drew Dix.  Except for the year being off (Dix retired in 1982) it might have been him.

9 This story is why I will not ascribe to LIB. I will fight the bastards with all I have until I can fight them no longer. YMMV

10 Wow, I think my allergy meds chose this exact moment to wear off. Weird, huh? Blurry...

Posted by: grognard at May 25, 2013 11:47 AM (smT+e) ................

 

 

Definitely something in the air today, I got in my car to go to town a bit ago and the song Some Gave All was playing. Blurry ride to town.

11 Wow CBD, great story.

Here is a story that has linkage to that story.  A story told by a Medal of Honor winner of a guy that he deeply respected.  That guy was Mike Christian and his story is rarely heard.  It should be told as often as possible.

http://annapuna.blogspot.com/2006/11/mike-and-his-flags.html

12 I love stories like this!

13 Nice palate cleanser for an otherwise rough day.

14 I'm completely at a loss for words. The debt we owe the fallen can only be paid by having the courage and fortitude to deny the savages without and the indolent within the satisfaction of dragging this republic down. Yes, I'm talking to you, Mr.President.

15

Every soldier I've known is like this, sweetly humble. We cannot thank them enough. They are the best of us.

16 Thank you for sharing that story, CBD and Observation

17 I had a client who was a D Day EOD guy. I'd meet with him at his house. Sharp, still strong. His grown kids - about my age - were complete douchebags. When I saw Gran Torino, I immediately thought of them. I'd spend an extra half hour or so after business was done letting him talk ... sometimes about D Day, other times about the advance.

18 What chemjeff said

19 My dad was a B-25 pilot out of Sardina during WWII. He stayed in service through the Reserves, and was a bird colonel when he retired. He had a military funeral. At the viewing, I saw that the mortician had pinned both his eagles and his major's bars on him in the casket.

I knew right there that when even morticians are no longer familiar with military rank, that we have turned a corner in our understanding of the military. This is not meant in a good way.

Bless you families of the fallen, and bless my brother, this Memorial Day.

20 Not sure I made any sense, but if we LIB, we dishonor their sacrifice.

21 Thanks for the story.  I know a couple MoH awardees, and if  I may, I think I know the reason he cried.  He was thinking about the colleagues he lost.  In virtually every case, the MoH is awarded for a desperate action where many lives were lost, most known to the honoree.  Its just how they think. God Bless to you both, and for them.

22 That's a fantastic story. Thanks for sharing it, "An Observer".

23 I served in the USAF - I mentioned to my older son, who plays brass in a college marching band, that VA cemeteries are in constant need for volunteers to play Taps at soldiers' funerals. He thought a moment and decided he's going to talk to some of his band mates and see if they can help out with the VA cemetery in their area. - If he keeps that kind of thing up I may have done something right.

24 Anna Puma, thanks for sharing.  Another excellent example of the sacrifice that others have made.

25 Thanks for that, I needed to see it.

26 "An Observation". Sorry for the error.

27 Last night heard a Vietnam vet explain, inadvertently to the whole place, what memorial day means to him.  It went something like this.  "I served with the finest human beings on the face of the planet, the finest men.  Some of them didn't come back and this is the weekend I remember them and thank God for having known and served with them, cheers". 

28

"Not sure I made any sense, but if we LIB, we dishonor their sacrifice.   Posted by: wisenheimer"

 

You are exactly right.

29 AP, thanks for that.  Linked it on my now rarely-used FB page, leading in with Moochelle's "All this for a damn flag" quote.

30 Sean Bannion posted this this morning... http://tinyurl.com/o95mrbu Have some tissue handy, to like clean your monitor, or something. Do not let Mama Winger see this before 5 pm.

31 Makes me want to get a koran for TP.

32 When I came home in 66, there were no spitting idiots, no mention of a Nation at war. Just sameo, sameo. It was very early in the war and most had not even noticed or knew of it. Except the few families of the ones who had been deployed, who didn't attract any national or even state attention.

My Mom who never read the newspaper or watched the news on the TV, just continued to give me support through letters to me. Telling me of her efforts, worries and her love of God and the belief that that same God would watch over me and protect me.

I came home, my friends, my buddies..most didn't. I have llived with that all of these years, its is sometimes easier, but sometimes , sometimes overcomes me.

This Memorial Day, I will be anguished, sad and alone ( except for my grand daughters) but my long gone buds will all come and visit me and we will all hoist a beer in memory of happier days.

Please join with us in memory and in our belief in an America that can be restored!!

33 Please join with us in memory and in our belief in an America that can be restored!! Posted by: Papa Ray at May 25, 2013 12:13 PM (1qBB6) Amen.

34 Hello all! If everything goes right, I may have a special pic by tonight that I may share with you if I receive permission from my Marine stepson. It is a reflection of our current crisis in confidence and trust in our leadership, especially the SCOAMF. Can't say much more about it. But I will keep you all updated.

35 Don't thank me, thank those who went downtown.  Even as their country turned into something they did not recognize.  Even as their captors listed all the famous people who said they were war criminals.  They kept rising to the challenge and doing their utmost to stay true to themselves and their comrades.  Honor them and the ideals of the nation they so bravely and humbly served.

For this Memorial Day I would like to remember Maj. Ed Rasimus USAF [Ret] who passed away this year.  He did two combat tours of Vietnam, first 100 missions in the F-105 in 1966 and later another 100+ missions in the F-4 Phantom II.  After he left the service he wrote three books, taught college, and wrote for ZDNet.  His last book was Fighter Pilot:The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds. 

Lets all toss a coin on their graves and hoist a tankard in their honour.

36 Caustic If that's true great.... Coming from you everything is suspect

37 "Destination Tokyo"  starting on TMC..

38 Ex hubby's C.O. in Vietnam was Medal of Honor recipient James Day. Marine Corp enlisted and served in WW II, Korea and VN. He eventually retired as a two star General. The only person on earth ex speaks of in reverential tones. Read his Wiki page. So many battles and positions you'd think he was a time traveller. Thank you to those who gave all. We are a better nation for your service and sacrifice. Still and always the best this country has to offer.

39 Not entirely OT, the B-17 Memphis Belle is at Broomfield CO. It was flown in after being restored by the good people at the Air Force museum at Wright-Patterson AFB. Its namesake city couldn't be bothered to take care of it, so thanks to the museum for preserving it.

40 It's stories like this that keep my hopes alive for our country.

41 I had a co-worker whose father went ashore on D-Day in the Canadian 3rd Division. I had met him several times but he only mentioned it the last time I saw him on a New Years Eve get together. He said he was slightly injured 3 months after the landing and when he went for medical treatment the asked him when he landed. When he told them they said they hadn't seen too many like him in a while.

42 http://annapuna.blogspot.com/2006/11/mike-and-his-flags.html 

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at May 25, 2013 11:54 AM (/zgGD)


Thanks for sharing that story, Anna.  

43 Not entirely OT, the B-17 Memphis Belle is at Broomfield CO. It was flown in after being restored by the good people at the Air Force museum at Wright-Patterson AFB. Its namesake city couldn't be bothered to take care of it, so thanks to the museum for preserving it. Posted by: wisenheimer
--------------

A local note about the Memphis Belle. Morgan was a local boy, and this incident is still talked about here:

In his memoirs, Morgan claimed that during his publicity tour, he flew the B-17 between the Buncombe County Courthouse and the City Hall of Asheville, North Carolina, his home town. Morgan wrote that after leaving the Asheville Regional Airport he decided to buzz the town, telling his copilot, Captain Verinis, "I think we'll just drive up over the city and give them a little goodbye salute." Morgan flew north and turned the bomber east down Patton Avenue, a main thoroughfare, toward downtown Asheville. When he observed the courthouse and the city hall (two tall buildings that are only about 50 ft (20 m) apart) dead ahead, he lowered his left wing in a 60 degree bank and flew between the structures. He wrote that the city hall housed an AAF weather detachment whose commanding officer allegedly complained immediately to the Pentagon, but was advised by a duty officer that "Major Morgan...has been given permission to buzz by General Henry "Hap" Arnold."

44 @40 The bocage took a huge toll. People usually remember D-Day and maybe the breakout and Falaise pocket.

45 I'm going to re-post two items from a May 18th thread:
--------------------
53
After my father died I was going through his stuff, and found a small container with granular stuff in it that looks like demarara (semi-processed) sugar. Puzzled, I turned it over. An old faded label on it said
"Iwo Jima. Beach Yellow 2. 19 Feb. 45. 2nd Bn., 24th Marines"

My father,his company's first seargeant,won a battlefield commission on Iwo Jima. Shortly before he died we were going through old photos, one of which had about 40 guys sitting on bleachers. I asked my father if they were a football team.
He said, "No. They're the survivors of B company after Iwo Jima."

"How many guys were in the company originally?"

"240." Posted by: Jay Guevara
----------------------------------------------

25 Rather belatedly, I've gotten around to reading The Greatest Generation.
There is no news in it for me, but the individual stories speak volumes
about the differences between the millennials and their
grandparents/great grandparents.

I was struck by one anecdote that Brokaw tells regarding a fellow named Gordon Larsen. One morning, after Halloween, Larsen stopped in at the Post Office where Brokaw's mother worked. He grumbled a little bit about the rowdiness of the high school teenagers the night before. Brokaw's mother, appealing to his sense of humor, says, "Oh Gordon, what were you doing when you were seventeen?"
He looked at her for a moment and said, "I was landing on Guadalcanal." Then he turned and left.

46 Somewhere around here I have a picture of one of my cousins' grave marker in Normandy.  He was KIA on 19JUN1944 with the 9th Infantry Division while advancing on Cherbourg.

I'm also reminded of those that came back and simply became productive citizens.  My uncle, who now seems to be not long for this world, who never talked much about Vietnam.  Several years ago during a visit he started relating tales to me and my cousin later remarked that he had never heard any of the stories told.  Sadly Uncle Tommy appears to be fighting his final battle against cancers brought on by Agent Orange.

I also think about an Assistant Scoutmaster that I had when I was a kid, who no matter the distance of hike we did, limped right along with us, despite the mortar shrapnel still in his leg received in the RVN while serving in the Marines.

I'm one of the lucky ones...my deployment to Iraq was in the late stages of OIF, and we brought everyone back unscathed.

47

Posted by: Mike Hammer at May 25, 2013 12:38 PM (aDwsi)

 

And therein lie our differences.  I sure miss my grandparents.

48 22 BumperStickerist My dad served in the Navy. Ten years ago, I asked a high school student whom I had known as as student she was in junior high to play "Taps" at his funeral, which happened to be on Homecoming. She played at the pep rally, raced to the cemetery, played "Taps," and raced back to play in the marching band during the game. I wrote her a note and enclosed a check to thank her for her trouble. She returned the check with her own note, saying she couldn't accept any gift for the privilege at playing at a veteran's funeral.

49 With all these great stories, maybe there is hope for the Republic after all.

50 I had the privilege of knowing a D-day paratrooper. I built him a car-port and he was up on the roof with me helping. He was 80 years old, bum knee and all, he didnt know any other way. At D-day mission briefing he sat behind two officers who read comic books instead of paying attention, when he loaded on his plane those two were his pilot and copilot. He was the jump master and part of his duty was to look for landmarks. The pilots had been told to hold course no matter what, so as not to drop the men off coarse. As soon as the flack started the plane veered away, he never did see the landmarks. After the jump they gathered up and tried to figure out were they were. They ran out of water and were thirsty as hell, so they found a french farmhouse. The farmer ran out to greet them and gave them a bottle of wine, they wanted water. About this time they notice a German officer sneeking out the back of the farmhouse. They killed the officer at which point the farmers daughter who was fucking the German came running out and snatched the bottle of wine out of their hands and stormed back to the house. SGT. TIM TIMMONS 501 PIR.

51 (((Jay)))

52 44 the differences between the millennials and their grandparents/great grandparents. Posted by: Mike Hammer at May 25, 2013 12:38 PM (aDwsi) Read The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe. They maintain that there are more similarities than differences. The book was published in the 1990s, when some millennials were children and others hadn't even been born yet. If their theories are correct, the millennials may surprise us, in a good way.

53

54 Not the barrel!

55

I've seen many comments on how we can repay those fallen heroes. 

Don't let the legislators drag this country down. Hold them accountable. Be vocal about it. Write often. Support the candidates that espouses what this country started out to be. If they straddle the fence get rid of them. (can you say McRhino?)

56 {whew}

57 Another of the Greatest Generation that I was privileged to know growing was a guy in my hometown named Henry Cannon.  Mr Henry had been a P-51 pilot in Europe and had been shot down and spent about a year in a German POW camp.  He never talked about it, but the Episcopalian rector (as a young teen I was the church organist for the grand sum of $7 a Sunday) told me once that Mrs Cannon had brought him the records from the Stalag Luft in which Mr Henry had been held so that he could translate them for her.  According to the records, Mr Henry, while floating down in his parachute, was flipping the German fighter pilots off with one hand while shooting at them with his pistol in the other.

58 I've seen many comments on how we can repay those fallen heroes. Don't let the legislators drag this country down. Hold them accountable. Be vocal about it. Write often. Support the candidates that espouses what this country started out to be. If they straddle the fence get rid of them. (can you say McRhino?) Posted by: harleycowboy at May 25, 2013 12:54 PM (+9AX9) Amen. lately I've been getting a tad depressed on Memorial Day considering what is in the White House.

59 So, I shouldn't do this, but...nevertheless: Background: 1. Democrat Antony Weiner likes to send photos of hiself, naked, to women. 2. Democrat Huma Abedin is his wife, and is pushing for the candidacy of Democrat Antony Wriner for mayor of New York City. 3. Democrat Hillary Clinton is the mentor for Democrat Huma Abedin, who all Washington defended last year when Republican Michele Bachman questioned Democrat Huma Abedin's ties to Muslim extremists (apparently, it takes a village, and it takes ties/sympathy to terrorists too). 4. Democrat Huma Abedin, wife of Democratic mayoral candidate Antony Weiner, is a leading candidate to be the Demcratic White House Chief of Staff for Democrat Hillary Clinton should she win the Presidency in 2016. 5. Democrat Hillary Clinton is the wife of Democrat Bill Clinton. 6. Democrat Bill Clinton was supported by Democrats even after numerous allegations of sexual harassment and assault came forward, and after it was proved he asked for or had sex from a young-college age intern/subordinate. 7. Many Democrats are hastening to support Democrat Antony Weiner, husband of Democrat Huma Abedin, possible Chief of Staff for Democrat Hillary Clinton, wife of Democrat Bill Clinton in order to gave connections in a 2017 Democratic administration. 8a. Many Democrats are up in arms over perceived sexual harassment in the military. 8b. Democrat Barack Obama compared such harassment to the IRS scandal just the other day. 8c. Democrats are demanding the military give up centuries old legal forms so as to better get convictions of military personnel for what they define as sexual harassment, and are going on the warpath agaist those who used their granted discretion in a way that absolved a perceived sexual harasser. Kicker: 8d. The mainly Democrat Departments of Justice and Education are trying to impose new sexual harassment standards on colleges, the change being where any offense at all taken is now harassment. Thesis: 9. Many reasonable women would take offense at the actions of the boss having oral sex with a young intern at work, and her getting ahead in a career out of it. 10. Many reasonable women would take offense, more often than not, to being sent nude photos from a man. 11. The new proposed Democrat DOJ/DOE college standards are not for the average "reasonable" woman, but in case any offense at all us taken. Therefore: 12. If he were a college student or military member, the Democrat DOJ/DOE would want to grind Antony Weiner to dust for sexual harassment, bevause at least one person would complain. 13. If he were a college student or military member, the Democrats would want to grind Bill Clinton to dust for sexual harassment, because at least one person would complain. Therfore: Conclusion--Democrats don't practice what they preach (certainly not if it means giving up power), but God forbid they ever think you have transgressed, because they'll ass-rape you. Hard.

60 Hey yall. Thank you for sharing your remembrances. I know we get incensed every day by what the LIV's and the progs are trying to do to our country. But these stories do give me hope that all is not lost, and that there are plenty who will stand to get us back on course. Thank you all for your service, your support of the troops, and your unbelievable wit and humor.

61

I wrote her a note and enclosed a check to thank her for her trouble. She returned the check with her own note, saying she couldn't accept any gift for the privilege at playing at a veteran's funeral.

Damn grass pollen has kick in my allergy, even though I don't have one.

62

I make plenty of jokes about the Burning Times, but agree 100% with those who say we dishonour the memory of those who have sacrificed all in service to your wonderful country by not fighting the FSA, the LIVs, and the fucktards of the Obama Administration with every last breath.

The Burning Times may very well come - and should be prepared for - but nothing is inevitable.

Anyway, for what it's worth, many thanks and appreciation from this Canadian on your Memorial Day weekend.  America makes some the finest soldiers the world has ever seen, and so many have sacrificed all to maintain peace and justice throughout this often shitty world.  And you often get sneered and jeered at for doing so.

Fuck those fuckers in their fucking fuckholes.  You guys rock.

63 If their theories are correct, the millennials may surprise us, in a good way.

Posted by: rickl

-------------------

Hope springs eternal. The problem is that a large segment of the population has no knowledge or appreciation of how fragile freedom is, they have paid nothing for it, and imagine it to simply be their 'right'. To the extent that they care, they believe that life is *free*..., because it always has been for them, and that happiness is something that can be purchased with money, or some social 'policy' that is adopted by the 'government'. Morality has been reduced to personal  'values'.

We shall see, and I will take a look at the book. Thanks for the recommendation. I have one for you, but it is not encouraging, I am afraid. It is not a screed, but a very well documented book: "We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism"

Here is a mini critique from Amazon:

"To his fellow conservatives, John Derbyshire makes a plea: Don't be seduced by this nonsense about "the politics of hope." Skepticism, pessimism, and suspicion of happy talk are the true characteristics of an authentically conservative temperament. And from Hobbes and Burke through Lord Salisbury and Calvin Coolidge, up to Pat Buchanan and Mark Steyn in our own time, these beliefs have kept the human race from blindly chasing its utopian dreams right off a cliff.

Recently, though, various comforting yet fundamentally idiotic notions of political correctness and wishful thinking have taken root beyond the "Kumbaya"-singing, we're-all-one crowd. These ideas have now infected conservatives, the very people who really should know better. The Republican Party has been derailed by legions of fools and poseurs wearing smiley-face masks. "

64 Fuck those fuckers in their fucking fuckholes.

you left off a "fuck"

65

Papa Ray at May 25, 2013 12:13 PM

I raise my glass in salute to you and your kind.

66

In his memoirs, Morgan claimed that during his publicity tour, he flew the B-17 between the Buncombe County Courthouse and the City Hall of Asheville, North Carolina, his home town. Morgan wrote that after leaving the Asheville Regional Airport . . .

 

Apart from my years in college and grad school, I have lived here for 30 years and never knew any of that.

67 I was reading a 10-k today for work stuff and didn't realize they have a "climate change" section required in the disclosures. Unbeliebable. http://tinyurl.com/osfemz7

68 Fuck those fucking fuckers in their fucking fuckholes. you left off a "fuck" Posted by: chemjeff at May 25, 2013 01:12 PM (BBWjt) FIFY

69 I had the privilege of attending the funeral of a recipient of the Medal of Honor.  This was about 10 years ago. The military did its fullest to show the respect due the deceased. I was very proud of my country. I you ever get the chance don't miss it.

70

Skepticism, pessimism, and suspicion of happy talk are the true characteristics of an authentically conservative temperament. And from Hobbes and Burke through Lord Salisbury and Calvin Coolidge, up to Pat Buchanan and Mark Steyn in our own time, these beliefs have kept the human race from
blindly chasing its utopian dreams right off a cliff.

 

Interesting definition of "conservative" that includes Hobbes, who was the archtypical statist.

71 Please join with us in memory and in our belief in an America that can be restored!!

Posted by: Papa Ray at May 25, 2013 12:13 PM (1qBB6)

Thank you and God bless.

72 Memorial Day (2010) directed by Fischer with James Cromwell and Jonathan Bennett very good inter-generational story we just saw online http://tinyurl.com/7j55yej

73 My nephew finished basic training at Fort Jackson and is on his way home. Bad new his flight was delayed and he missed his connecting flight so he has a 24hr layover. Now he known the meaning of hurry up and wait.

74 Fuck those fucking fuckers in their fucking fuckholes.

you left off a "fuck"

Posted by: chemjeff at May 25, 2013 01:12 PM (BBWjt)


FIFY

Posted by: YIKES!

 

 

Fuck.  That's what I get for posting sober.

75 67 Fuck those fucking fuckers in their fucking fuckholes. you left off a "fuck" Posted by: chemjeff at May 25, 2013 01:12 PM (BBWjt) FIFY Posted by: YIKES! at May 25, 2013 01:19 PM (mETGQ) FIFY = Fucked it for you?

76 Apart from my years in college and grad school, I have lived here for 30 years and never knew any of that. Posted by: Grey Fox
-----------------

Well..., it isn't as though the Progressives that rule the place would celebrate that kind of thing. Morgan was quite the local hero. Also:
"The official lineage of AFWA began 14 April 1943, when the Army Air Forces organized and activated the Weather Wing. On 3 May 1943, the headquarters of the Weather Wing relocated from Washington, D.C., to Asheville, North Carolina, where it quickly established itself."

I have a nice postcard showing the Asheville City Hall as "Army Air Forces HQ"

77 Grey Fox- Should we consider an AoSHQ local?

78 Coming back on the mid-tour from Iraq, because of a long layover, we were issued meal chits that were good for 10 bucks or so at many restaurants in the concourse. A young Army Lt and I sat down at a TGI Fridays and started eating.  We were chowing down, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a young woman approach.  She was a late-twenty-ish hippy looking thing, with long dreads and the faded clothes that tell everyone how sustainable you are. Or something.  We were in uniform, and she made a bee line to our table.
I thought, uh-oh, here comes a scene.
She stops at our table and asked if we were just coming back from the war.  We both replied "yes".
She set her jaw, and disappeared for a few minutes.
The LT and I looked at each other and shrugged, feeling we'd dodged some sort  of bullet.
But it was too soon. She reappeared, looking fairly smug.
"Well, you can't pay for your meals here" she said after she arrived back.
We were confused, saying, that "well, we have these chits and...."
"No" she interrupted.  "I meant that the manager and I just had a fight about which one of us would be paying for your meals".
She flashed a brilliant smile..
"I won."
She gave us big, long, hugs, and left.
That was a good day.

79 My brother and I were both in the 9th I.D. in V.N. He was badly wounded and died of Agent Orange caused cancer a couple years ago. Horrifying casualties in his unit, "A", 4th Bn, 47th Inf. Regt.
http://tinyurl.com/bcv8as9

Cousin in 4th ID, Utah Beach, Dad 8th Air Force, another 1st cousin, Canadian Army WW1, Uncle 7th ID, Korea, gg-Uncle, Canadian Army, Boer War,  g-Grandfather enlisted with brother in 1st Michigan Cavalry, Civil War. Parents came and got him, he was too young (bugler). He ran away from home a year later and joined 10th Michigan Cavalry, served till end. Brother captured at Gettysburg, died at Andersonville.
g-grandpa's wife's brother killed at Fredericksburg, 4th Michigan Infantry, shot in face charging stone wall.
 A gg-uncle, Alonzo Woodruff, MOH awarded, Hatcher's Run , Virginia, 1864.
http://tinyurl.com/qx4hu6d

Several other great uncles, 93d New York Infantry from the NY mountains, several 15th Iowa Infantry. More in Canadian Army, both World Wars.

I salute them all, and all who served honorably, including those of our allies.

80 Mike Hammer: I like Derbyshire, from what I've read by him. Also, keep in mind that increasing numbers of millennials are being homeschooled. That may make a difference. ----- I don't know whether you saw my comment in the last thread, but thanks for the link to the video of the old woman and her dog. I had tried to view that video at three different websites, but it wouldn't play for me. Your link finally worked.

81 Oh, and at risk of horn tooting.
On the other side of the coin, after the election of BO, I wrote this; it got a little press.
http://tinyurl.com/2vaudvx

There are limits to those who serve.

I often thought that it would be a great follow on book.  What does it take for an average citizen to take up arms against their government?

In the 1770's, what was it like for a regular guy/gal to finally say" Im going to risk everything to fight back".  I read "The Patriots" and loved it.  I wonder about today though....
I reached my limits on serving in the military after the election.
I dont know what my decision point is for follow on actions...

82 One story I just learned this Christmas shows how much love brothers can have.

My step-grandfather was Army, Combat Engineers, who went ashore in Tunisia and made every landing in Europe save Operation Dragoon.  He ended the war in southern Germany before rotating home.

So he is back in the States trying to make a go of things.  His baby brother is coming to draft age.  So grandfather drags him to the USAF recruiters and has them sign his brother up.  He was not going to have his baby brother go through what he did in WWII.  So his baby brother did time in the USAF and missed out going to Korea.

83 Mike Hammer,

Skepticism and hope aren't mutually exclusive.  There is a difference between coldly seeing the world as it is and not how we wish it to be and being a stoic.

Stoics end up in a closet with a pistol in their mouth, conservatives fight the good fight for civilization.

84 77 Posted by: MikeB A Flowershop in Baghdad at May 25, 2013 01:30 PM (8Ik17) That's a great story. As the saying goes, you can't judge a book by its cover. That gives me hope that at least some young people do in fact have their heads screwed on straight.

85
For this Memorial Day I would like to remember Maj. Ed Rasimus USAF [Ret] who passed away this year. He did two combat tours of Vietnam, first 100 missions in the F-105 in 1966 and later another 100+ missions in the F-4 Phantom II. After he left the service he wrote three books, taught college, and wrote for ZDNet. His last book was Fighter Pilot:The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds.

Lets all toss a coin on their graves and hoist a tankard in their honour.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD)

 

Indeed, he was a very remarkable man with a quick wit and a way with words.

He would comment on FB with some of my friends there and his blog was always worth a read.

 

and now I think I'll have to stop because I'm having trouble reading the keys, I think my allergies just kicked it into ludicrous speed.

86

Flowershop in Bagdad.  Nice letter! 

87 Posted by: JHW at May 25, 2013 01:34 PM (B38OD)

Sounds like our forebears faced off against each other in "The Late Unpleasantness".  I had some family also captured at Gettysburg, on the first day while serving with the 5th Alabama (Regiment, not Battalion).  Ggggrandfather served with the 5th as well, captured during Chancellorsville and paroled, later put out of the war when he was hit in the leg in the Mule Shoe at Spottsylvania.  So far (I'm still researching), over 70 Confederates in the family tree.  Only found one Yankee, who was with an Indiana regiment.

88 OK  We are going to stop this shit.  I am running out of tissues.

89 #86 Country Singer, very interesting,   I wish you well on your search, Confederate records are a lot harder to trace than Union ones. I saw your earlier post about your cousin in the 9th Inf., that was also my brother's and my old unit, different war, kind of a neat lesson there , Union and Confederate descendants in a united nation, long may it be so.

90

Thank you for sharing that story.

Carol

91 Its easier to justify a burning by realizing its not the country per se that's going down, rather the irreparable regime that's fucking it up. 

The Russians have the right word for it -- Rodina.  Rodina stood above the communists, the Tsars, etc.

Burning celebrates the primacy of Rodina over Regime. 

92

My annual Memorial Day post:

HereÂ’s to:

My cousin: Sgt. Francis P. Ford
Sgt. 134th Infantry, 35th Division

Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts
Dec. 9, 1944
He lies in the Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France
Thanks, Sarge!

Here's to Uncle Steve: Flew a B-17 over Germany, a B-29 over Korea, ended as a short Colonel with SAC maintenance wing.
Uncle Jim: Tiny little minesweeper at D-Day, 3 months after leaving the mountains of central Pennsylvania.
Uncle Bud: Medical corpsman in the South Pacific.
Dad: Who made the machine tools to make the weapons.

Uncle Bob: making sure the trains delivered all the goods needed for the war effort.

Here's to:
William "Bud" Morrisey. 347th Combat Engineers and the 817th Tank Destroyer Batallion. Northwest Europe 6/29/44 to 5/06/45. Every now and then he scratches at his arm from the phosphorus burns.
The bodies were still in the water when he landed.
Headed for the Pacific when that war ended.
Thanks, Bud, my favorite next door neighbor.
Here's a strange one: when I got the picture of the cemetery in Lorraine where my cousin is buried, I took it in to show Bud. What does he do? He pulls out the map he had on the campaign in Europe, his entire itinerary penciled in, and what's even stranger, he had gone through the town where the American cemetery was eventually located.

We lost Bud this year, and the Greatest Generation continues to diminish.

If you know someone who fought in WWII, sit them down, ply them with strong drink, and get them reminiscing. It’ll take some doing, but you may never have the chance again, because they “….didn’t do anything special. And the real heroes are the ones who never came home.”

93 Goosebumps!! Excellent remembrance...

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Wonderful story, CBD. ...And thanks, An Observation, for sharing it with us.

 

 

95 Hoooyaaaaaaaaa!