I know some of you have served or are serving in the military. Thanks. My grand uncle died in WWII. Much gratitude to him and all the families that paid the "supreme sacrifice." Enjoy this Memorial Day!
Ya know, the 8 years of military service (VFW) were the best working years of my life. I loved serving in the military. It was an honor.
My grandfather served in WWI. God Bless our troops. God the Bless the families of the fallen. God Bless America.
Thanks for posting, BlueFrog. ANd the following responses. If I could get on a soapbox for a second, there's a slight difference to me b/w "Memorial Day" and "Veterans' Day". Yeah, today's generally considered the "Start to Summer" and that's about it anymore, and Veteran's Day is basically just a day off (and not even that in some places) for kids in the middle of the week, if they're lucky. But Memorial Day (to me) is a chance to think not about those who are serving (though they deserve it any chance you think kindly toward them), but about those who've died, and those families impacted by those deaths...in memorial for all the things that made our country great. Veterans' Day is a chance to honor those still among us. Fleet Weeks and things of the like are great ways to support your troops. But for me, I keep thinking "did all those guys die on Normandy so that we could have countries openly espousing the destruction of a race of people? What would the millions who died in the Civil War say about us still talking about racism 150 years later? Would the Marines of the inter-war years have said "Forget Darfur...it's too out-of-the-way and small-time for us to worry about helping out people in need"? It makes me want to continue the things that made and make America great. I think about Washington and his views on things like Standing Armies, States' Rights, limits of presidential power...and I think about how fundamental aspects of our country are being disintegrated and minimized by those who don't care about their fellow man and don't really care about service to anyone, much less their country . Are we good stewards of the last 200 years of lessons learned in blood, and by men and women standing guard? Hope everyone had a blessed Memorial Day, and a Happy "Start of Summer" to you all!
So where is all the love the other 363 days? I'm treated like crap on here from everybody and a little thank you today is supposed to make up for it?
Before Memorial Day was turned into Veterans Day Jr. it was called Armistice Day. "Armistice" means a peace declaration ending war. Armistice Day celebrated the end of war, and the hope that there would be no more war. It was a "Peace Day." After WW1 the vast majority of Americans wanted no more war. After WW2 the country was put onto a permanent nuclear war footing and such communist antiwar sentiments were not allowed to fester. Now each year we have 1 Christmas, 1 Easter, 1 Thanksgiving, and 3 Veterans Days (Veterans Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day).
First, Armistice Day became Veteran's Day. As in the Armistice of WWI. 11th hour, 11th day, 11th month. Nov. 11. Not Memorial Day. Memorial Day started in 1868 as a remembrance of Civil War dead as a General Order from Gen. Logan. He ordered flowers placed on Union and Confederate graves at Arlington. It's never been "Veteran's Day, Jr....seeing as how it pre-dated Veteran's (Armistice) Day by 50 years. After WW2, the country was put on permanent nuclear war footing by virtue of the fact that badguys got nukes. It was our deterrence that's stopped them from being used.
Okay, Armistice Day became Veterans Day. We still have 3 redundant Military Days. There used to a Veterans Day, an Antiwar Peace Day, and a Celebrate our Liberal Revolution Against Monarchy Day (4th of July). It used to be that liberals and conservatives could celebrate. Now it's all conservative, and many Americans feel left out.
what does liberal vs. conservative have to do with the Declaration of Independence? why would anyone feel left out? Did those republicans set up a monarchy while I wasn't looking? Is it hard for liberals to support the troops that our democratic president and Democratic congress keep sending into harm's way one day a year?
Nothing, if that's what the 4th of July were still about. But it's not anymore. Instead, it's now about celebrating veterans and being pro-war. That's what you hear on Independence Day. Same message on the other 2 Military Days.
Today, I live freer than the vast majority of the people on this planet. And that freedom was paid for by others who made the supreme sacrifice. You bet your ass I took Monday to honor their memories.
While thanking the "guys" and "brahs", please remember the ladies and sistahs. My mother served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. It's a bit of a story; she had to try 3 services before she could join (wonder where I got my stubbornness?) and up until then she had never been out of her Brooklyn neighborhood. She was one of four sisters, her father was dead, and she was determined that her all-female family would be part of the war effort. Women were not in combat, but the war would not have been won without the supplies that they kept stocked and all the other services they performed. My mother went to college on GI Bill and at her funeral was entitled, as an active duty veteran, to a flag-draped coffin.
