Memorial Day.

[Catatonic]

A great picture by an ex-Marine friend of mine - David Akoubian.

Marietta National Cemetery

 

[Jones]

A couple of my favorite Memorial day poems, both from WW1. John McCrae and Wilfred Owen fought in that war, and both died before it was over. McCrae contracted pneumonia while working at a field hospital, and Owen was killed in action a week before the war ended.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
- John McCrae

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
- Wilfred Owen

 

[Lue C Fur]

Amazing Grace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK0T4pVHP28

 

[moreluck]

Trace Adkins..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOih0MHNmZU&feature=related

 

[dilligaf]

Amazing Grace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK0T4pVHP28

Thank you, Lue. There is no better song than this.

Tie, this song is to me what Taps is to you.

 

[cachsux]

An interesting story for today..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37416579/ns/us_news-life/

 

[tieguy]

An interesting story for today..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37416579/ns/us_news-life/

And in Section 60 a widow, young and beautiful and dressed in black, clutches her toddler son. Before her, standing to attention, the honor guard that had processed behind her husband's coffin, pulled in a caisson by six white horses. In the distance, the rifle guard that had fired the salute. In a far corner, the lone bugler who had played taps.
On this steamy spring day, beneath a towering oak, a 27-year-old Army sergeant, killed in an attack in Pakistan a month earlier, is about to be laid to rest.

that is so sad.

 

[tourists24]

I want to pay a special happy Memorial Day shout out to my favorite veteran on this forum: AV8TORN

To all who have served,,, thank you

 

[fethrs]

A thank you to all the military people who have sacrificed their lives to serve out country and help keep it safe. A special thank you to my father who served in the Marine Corps. You are not forgotten.

 

[Babagounj]

Don’t thank a vet Monday – it’s Memorial Day

This is not early Veterans Day. It is MEMORIAL DAY. Memorial Day, and certainly not to insult anyone’s intelligence, is our country’s day to remember its fallen heroes. So don’t go around thanking veterans for their service on this day, especially if you don’t bother to do it any other day. To thank a veteran in this country’s current situation will most likely offend him or her, since most are now either directly or indirectly acquainted with a service member who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Memorial Day is a day for those who gave their lives for their country. No matter how many times the media tells you to “thank a veteran” on Monday, do not do that.

 

[packageguy]

To all our veterans past and present, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU,

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Don’t thank a vet Monday – it’s Memorial Day

This is not early Veterans Day. It is MEMORIAL DAY. Memorial Day, and certainly not to insult anyone’s intelligence, is our country’s day to remember its fallen heroes. So don’t go around thanking veterans for their service on this day, especially if you don’t bother to do it any other day. To thank a veteran in this country’s current situation will most likely offend him or her, since most are now either directly or indirectly acquainted with a service member who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Memorial Day is a day for those who gave their lives for their country. No matter how many times the media tells you to “thank a veteran” on Monday, do not do that.

There is never a "right" or "wrong" day to thank a veteran just like there is not only one day in the year to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

 

[cachsux]

There is never a "right" or "wrong" day to thank a veteran just like there is not only one day in the year to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

You made me think. His post would be like implying one could only thank Jesus on Christmas day.

 

[moreluck]

Every day is Atheist day ...... but no atheists in foxholes!

 

[wkmac]

Every day is Atheist day ...... but no atheists in foxholes!

You know absolutely nothing about Pat Tillman I see!
Or his brother!

 

[The Other Side]

You know absolutely nothing about Pat Tillman I see!
Or his brother!

KNowledge isnt one of her strong suits.

Peace.

 

[Jones]

Atheists in Foxholes

 

[trplnkl]

You know absolutely nothing about Pat Tillman I see!
Or his brother!

I know about Floyd Tillman

 

[moreluck]

KNowledge isnt one of her strong suits.

Peace.

....so you have 3 or 4 degrees like your BFF?

 

[moreluck]