Memorial Day - Why we remember...and never forget
- Thread starter ajblakejr
- Start date
ajblakejr
Age quod agis
Final Honors- Flag folding
...watching this flag placed in my mother's hands allowed me to understand the man, the soldier, the father, the husband, the provider, the farmer and my daddy.
...from a grateful national.
Daddy, I promise you this...
...as long as I am alive, I will always hold the men and women that served and are serving Our Great Nation in my heart everyday, not just on D-Day, Veterans Day or Memorial Day.
I will always stop and say Thank You.
As long as I have a voice, I will always do my best to educate others on the importance of Remembrance.
I will push politics out of the picture.
...and I will always be your little girl.
I will always cry and stand in Remembrance during the Star Spangled Banner.
I will always cry when Amazing Grace is played.
And now, when I hear a solo bugle play Taps, I will remember the day we laid you to rest with full Military Honors.
Daddy..thank you for raising me to Love Our Great Country.
And Daddy, before you leave....
Thank You for your service.
A grateful Daughter remembers.
Love, your little girl, MMTB
Memorial Day - Taps
Last edited:
av8torntn
Well-Known Member
Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Saturday, May 23, 2009
This Memorial Day weekend, Americans will gather on lawns and porches, fire up the grill, and enjoy the company of family, friends, and neighbors. But this is not only a time for celebration, it is also a time to reflect on what this holiday is all about; to pay tribute to our fallen heroes; and to remember the servicemen and women who cannot be with us this year because they are standing post far from home – in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world.
On Friday, I traveled to Annapolis, where I spoke at the Commencement of the United States Naval Academy. It was an honor to address some of America’s newest sailors and Marines as their Commander-in-Chief. Looking out at all of those young men and women, I was reminded of the extraordinary service that they are rendering to our country. And I was reminded, too, of all of the sacrifices that their parents, siblings, and loved ones make each day on their behalf and on our behalf.
Our fighting men and women – and the military families who love them – embody what is best in America. And we have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us.
And yet, all too often in recent years and decades, we, as a nation, have failed to live up to that responsibility. We have failed to give them the support they need or pay them the respect they deserve. That is a betrayal of the sacred trust that America has with all who wear – and all who have worn – the proud uniform of our country.
And that is a sacred trust I am committed to keeping as President of the United States. That is why I will send our servicemen and women into harm’s way only when it is necessary, and ensure that they have the training and equipment they need when they enter the theater of war.
That is why we are building a 21st century Department of Veterans Affairs with the largest single-year funding increase in three decades. It’s a commitment that will help us provide our veterans with the support and benefits they have earned, and expand quality health care to a half million more veterans.
That is why, this week, I signed a bill that will eliminate some of the waste and inefficiency in our defense projects – reform that will better protect our nation, better protect our troops, and save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
And that is why we are laying a new foundation for our economy so that when our troops return home and take off the uniform, they can find a good job, provide for their families, and earn a college degree on a Post-9/11 GI Bill that will offer them the same opportunity to live out their dreams that was afforded our greatest generation.
These are some of the ways we can, must, and will honor the service of our troops and the sacrifice of their families. But we must also do our part, not only as a nation, but as individuals for those Americans who are bearing the burden of wars being fought on our behalf. That can mean sending a letter or a care package to our troops overseas. It can mean volunteering at a clinic where a wounded warrior is being treated or bringing supplies to a homeless veterans center. Or it can mean something as simple as saying "thank you" to a veteran you pass on the street.
That is what Memorial Day is all about. It is about doing all we can to repay the debt we owe to those men and women who have answered our nation’s call by fighting under its flag. It is about recognizing that we, as a people, did not get here by accident or good fortune alone. It’s about remembering the hard winter of 1776, when our fragile American experiment seemed doomed to fail; and the early battles of 1861 when a union victory was anything but certain; and the summer of 1944, when the fate of a world rested on a perilous landing unlike any ever attempted.
It’s about remembering each and every one of those moments when our survival as a nation came down not simply to the wisdom of our leaders or the resilience of our people, but to the courage and valor of our fighting men and women. For it is only by remembering these moments that we can truly appreciate a simple lesson of American life – that what makes all we are and all we aspire to be possible are the sacrifices of an unbroken line of Americans that stretches back to our nation’s founding.
That is the meaning of this holiday. That is a truth at the heart of our history. And that is a lesson I hope all Americans will carry with them this Memorial Day weekend and beyond.
Thank you.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
This Memorial Day weekend, Americans will gather on lawns and porches, fire up the grill, and enjoy the company of family, friends, and neighbors. But this is not only a time for celebration, it is also a time to reflect on what this holiday is all about; to pay tribute to our fallen heroes; and to remember the servicemen and women who cannot be with us this year because they are standing post far from home – in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world.
On Friday, I traveled to Annapolis, where I spoke at the Commencement of the United States Naval Academy. It was an honor to address some of America’s newest sailors and Marines as their Commander-in-Chief. Looking out at all of those young men and women, I was reminded of the extraordinary service that they are rendering to our country. And I was reminded, too, of all of the sacrifices that their parents, siblings, and loved ones make each day on their behalf and on our behalf.
Our fighting men and women – and the military families who love them – embody what is best in America. And we have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us.
And yet, all too often in recent years and decades, we, as a nation, have failed to live up to that responsibility. We have failed to give them the support they need or pay them the respect they deserve. That is a betrayal of the sacred trust that America has with all who wear – and all who have worn – the proud uniform of our country.
And that is a sacred trust I am committed to keeping as President of the United States. That is why I will send our servicemen and women into harm’s way only when it is necessary, and ensure that they have the training and equipment they need when they enter the theater of war.
That is why we are building a 21st century Department of Veterans Affairs with the largest single-year funding increase in three decades. It’s a commitment that will help us provide our veterans with the support and benefits they have earned, and expand quality health care to a half million more veterans.
That is why, this week, I signed a bill that will eliminate some of the waste and inefficiency in our defense projects – reform that will better protect our nation, better protect our troops, and save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
And that is why we are laying a new foundation for our economy so that when our troops return home and take off the uniform, they can find a good job, provide for their families, and earn a college degree on a Post-9/11 GI Bill that will offer them the same opportunity to live out their dreams that was afforded our greatest generation.
These are some of the ways we can, must, and will honor the service of our troops and the sacrifice of their families. But we must also do our part, not only as a nation, but as individuals for those Americans who are bearing the burden of wars being fought on our behalf. That can mean sending a letter or a care package to our troops overseas. It can mean volunteering at a clinic where a wounded warrior is being treated or bringing supplies to a homeless veterans center. Or it can mean something as simple as saying "thank you" to a veteran you pass on the street.
That is what Memorial Day is all about. It is about doing all we can to repay the debt we owe to those men and women who have answered our nation’s call by fighting under its flag. It is about recognizing that we, as a people, did not get here by accident or good fortune alone. It’s about remembering the hard winter of 1776, when our fragile American experiment seemed doomed to fail; and the early battles of 1861 when a union victory was anything but certain; and the summer of 1944, when the fate of a world rested on a perilous landing unlike any ever attempted.
It’s about remembering each and every one of those moments when our survival as a nation came down not simply to the wisdom of our leaders or the resilience of our people, but to the courage and valor of our fighting men and women. For it is only by remembering these moments that we can truly appreciate a simple lesson of American life – that what makes all we are and all we aspire to be possible are the sacrifices of an unbroken line of Americans that stretches back to our nation’s founding.
That is the meaning of this holiday. That is a truth at the heart of our history. And that is a lesson I hope all Americans will carry with them this Memorial Day weekend and beyond.
Thank you.
av8torntn
Well-Known Member
Sunday Forum: They died for you
Author RICK ATKINSON tells us 10 things Americans should know about World War II
Sunday, May 24, 2009
The first thing to know about World War II is that it was a big war, a war that lasted 2,174 days and claimed an average of 27,600 lives every day, or 1,150 an hour, or 19 a minute, or one death every three seconds. One, two, three, snap. One, two, three, snap.
In an effort to get our arms around this greatest calamity in human history, let's examine 10 things every American ought to know about the role of the U.S. Army in WWII.
1) The U.S. Army was a weakling when the European war began in earnest on Sept. 1, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland. The U.S. Army ranked 17th among armies in size and combat power, just behind Romania. It numbered 190,000 soldiers. It would grow to nearly 8.5 million by 1945.
When mobilization began in 1940, the Army had only 14,000 professional officers. The senior ranks were dominated by political hacks of certifiable military incompetence. Not a single officer on duty in 1941 had commanded a unit as large as a division in World War I. The Army's cavalry chief assured Congress that four well-spaced horsemen could charge and destroy an enemy machine-gun nest without sustaining a scratch.
2) The war affected all Americans. A total of 16 million served in uniform; virtually every family had someone in harm's way; virtually every American had an emotional investment in our Army. That WWII army of 8.5 million existed in a country of about 130 million; today we have an army of roughly 500,000 in a country of 307 million.
Still, the U.S. Army mobilized only 90 divisions by the end of the war. That compares to about 300 for Germany; 400 for the Soviet Union, and 100 for Japan.
One reason was the gradual recognition that the Soviet Union was fighting most of the German army. Another was the recognition that the United States could provide industrial muscle unlike any nation on earth, to build tanks, airplanes, and trucks, to make things like penicillin and synthetic rubber, not only for us but for our Allies. That meant keeping a fair amount of manpower in factories and other industrial jobs, while getting women into the workforce as never before.
3) The U.S. Army did not win World War II by itself. We can be proud of our role, but we must not be delusional, chauvinistic or so besotted with American exceptionalism that we falsify history.
The war began 27 months before America joined the fray. It was fought on six continents, a global conflagration unlike any seen before or since. The British had done a great deal in those 27 months to keep alive the hopes of the western democracies. Russia lost an estimated 26 million people in the war, and its military did most of the bleeding for the Allied cause. By the end of the war, there were about 60 nations on the Allied side. In Italy alone, Brazilians, Poles, Nepalese, New Zealanders, French, Italians and a number of other nationalities fought beside us.
Author RICK ATKINSON tells us 10 things Americans should know about World War II
Sunday, May 24, 2009
The first thing to know about World War II is that it was a big war, a war that lasted 2,174 days and claimed an average of 27,600 lives every day, or 1,150 an hour, or 19 a minute, or one death every three seconds. One, two, three, snap. One, two, three, snap.
In an effort to get our arms around this greatest calamity in human history, let's examine 10 things every American ought to know about the role of the U.S. Army in WWII.
1) The U.S. Army was a weakling when the European war began in earnest on Sept. 1, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland. The U.S. Army ranked 17th among armies in size and combat power, just behind Romania. It numbered 190,000 soldiers. It would grow to nearly 8.5 million by 1945.
When mobilization began in 1940, the Army had only 14,000 professional officers. The senior ranks were dominated by political hacks of certifiable military incompetence. Not a single officer on duty in 1941 had commanded a unit as large as a division in World War I. The Army's cavalry chief assured Congress that four well-spaced horsemen could charge and destroy an enemy machine-gun nest without sustaining a scratch.
2) The war affected all Americans. A total of 16 million served in uniform; virtually every family had someone in harm's way; virtually every American had an emotional investment in our Army. That WWII army of 8.5 million existed in a country of about 130 million; today we have an army of roughly 500,000 in a country of 307 million.
Still, the U.S. Army mobilized only 90 divisions by the end of the war. That compares to about 300 for Germany; 400 for the Soviet Union, and 100 for Japan.
One reason was the gradual recognition that the Soviet Union was fighting most of the German army. Another was the recognition that the United States could provide industrial muscle unlike any nation on earth, to build tanks, airplanes, and trucks, to make things like penicillin and synthetic rubber, not only for us but for our Allies. That meant keeping a fair amount of manpower in factories and other industrial jobs, while getting women into the workforce as never before.
3) The U.S. Army did not win World War II by itself. We can be proud of our role, but we must not be delusional, chauvinistic or so besotted with American exceptionalism that we falsify history.
The war began 27 months before America joined the fray. It was fought on six continents, a global conflagration unlike any seen before or since. The British had done a great deal in those 27 months to keep alive the hopes of the western democracies. Russia lost an estimated 26 million people in the war, and its military did most of the bleeding for the Allied cause. By the end of the war, there were about 60 nations on the Allied side. In Italy alone, Brazilians, Poles, Nepalese, New Zealanders, French, Italians and a number of other nationalities fought beside us.
moreluck
golden ticket member
THIS ONE PACKS A FIRM PUNCH
This was written by a Canadian woman but oh how it also applies to the
U.S.,U.K. and Australia.
Here is a woman who should run for Prime Minister!
Written by a housewife in New Brunswick to her local newspaper. This
is one ticked off lady.
'Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not
started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11th
2001 and have continually threatened to do so since?
Were people from all over the world not brutally murdered that day in
downtown Manhattan across the Potomac from the nation's capitol and in
a field in Pennsylvania ?
Did nearly three thousand men women and children die a horrible burning
or crushing death that day or didn't they?
And I'm supposed to care that a few Taliban were claiming to be
tortured by a justice system of the nation they come from and are fighting
against in a brutal insurgency.
I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents
for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.
I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring
about the Holy Bible the mere belief of which is a crime punishable by
beheading in Afghanistan.
I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacking
off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed
throat.
I'll care when the cowardly so-called 'insurgents' in Afghanistan come
out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by
hiding in mosques.
I'll care when the mindless zealots who blows themselves up in search
of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide
bombs.
I'll care when the Canadian media stops pretending that their freedom
of speech on stories is more important than the lives of the soldiers on
the ground or their families waiting at home to hear about them when
something happens.
In the meantime when I hear a story about a CANADIAN soldier roughing
up an Insurgent terrorist to obtain information know this:
I don't care.
When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not
to move because he might be booby-trapped you can take it to the bank:
I don't care.
When I hear that a prisoner who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat and
'fed special' food that is paid for by my tax dollars is complaining that his
holy book is being 'mishandled' you can absolutely believe in your heart of
hearts:
I don't care.
And oh by the way I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled 'Koran' and other
times 'Quran.' Well Jimmy Crack Corn you guessed it.
I don't care!!
If you agree with this viewpoint pass this on to all your E-mail
friends Sooner or later it'll get to the people responsible for this
ridiculous behaviour!
If you don't agree then by all means hit the delete button. Should
you choose the latter then please don't complain when more atrocities
committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great Country!
And may I add:
'Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a
difference in the world. But the Soldiers don't have that problem.'
I have another quote that I would like to add AND.......I hope you
forward all this.
One last thought for the day:
Only five defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The Canadian Soldier.
3. The British Soldier.
4. The US Soldier and
5. The Australian Soldier
One died for your soul the other 4 for your freedom!
YOU MIGHT WANT TO PASS THIS ON AS MANY SEEM TO FORGET ALL OF THEM.
AMEN!
This was written by a Canadian woman but oh how it also applies to the
U.S.,U.K. and Australia.
Here is a woman who should run for Prime Minister!
Written by a housewife in New Brunswick to her local newspaper. This
is one ticked off lady.
'Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not
started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11th
2001 and have continually threatened to do so since?
Were people from all over the world not brutally murdered that day in
downtown Manhattan across the Potomac from the nation's capitol and in
a field in Pennsylvania ?
Did nearly three thousand men women and children die a horrible burning
or crushing death that day or didn't they?
And I'm supposed to care that a few Taliban were claiming to be
tortured by a justice system of the nation they come from and are fighting
against in a brutal insurgency.
I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents
for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.
I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring
about the Holy Bible the mere belief of which is a crime punishable by
beheading in Afghanistan.
I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacking
off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed
throat.
I'll care when the cowardly so-called 'insurgents' in Afghanistan come
out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by
hiding in mosques.
I'll care when the mindless zealots who blows themselves up in search
of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide
bombs.
I'll care when the Canadian media stops pretending that their freedom
of speech on stories is more important than the lives of the soldiers on
the ground or their families waiting at home to hear about them when
something happens.
In the meantime when I hear a story about a CANADIAN soldier roughing
up an Insurgent terrorist to obtain information know this:
I don't care.
When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not
to move because he might be booby-trapped you can take it to the bank:
I don't care.
When I hear that a prisoner who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat and
'fed special' food that is paid for by my tax dollars is complaining that his
holy book is being 'mishandled' you can absolutely believe in your heart of
hearts:
I don't care.
And oh by the way I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled 'Koran' and other
times 'Quran.' Well Jimmy Crack Corn you guessed it.
I don't care!!
If you agree with this viewpoint pass this on to all your E-mail
friends Sooner or later it'll get to the people responsible for this
ridiculous behaviour!
If you don't agree then by all means hit the delete button. Should
you choose the latter then please don't complain when more atrocities
committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great Country!
And may I add:
'Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a
difference in the world. But the Soldiers don't have that problem.'
I have another quote that I would like to add AND.......I hope you
forward all this.
One last thought for the day:
Only five defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The Canadian Soldier.
3. The British Soldier.
4. The US Soldier and
5. The Australian Soldier
One died for your soul the other 4 for your freedom!
YOU MIGHT WANT TO PASS THIS ON AS MANY SEEM TO FORGET ALL OF THEM.
AMEN!
