Memorial Day - take a moment to remember

[jrance@iacwds.com 716]

Memorial Day is in their honor . . . . Both those who served and those who serve today. Whenever you see a soldier, sailor, marine or coast guardsman, thank them for their service.

 

This first URL takes you to a video doing just that.

 

http://www.forest.ws/WeSupportU.htm

 

These next two URL's are dedicated to the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial at Madingley, a few miles west of Cambridge, England.

 

On the wall of the missing:

"THE AMERICANS WHOSE NAMES HERE APPEAR WERE PART OF THE PRICE THAT FREE MEN FOR THE SECOND TIME IN THIS CENTUARY HAVE BEEN FORCED TO PAY TO DEFEND HUMAN LIBERTY AND RIGHTS ALL WHO SHALL HEREAFTER LIVE IN FREEDOM WILL BE HERE REMINDED THAT TO THESE MEN AND THEIR COMRADES WE OWE A DEBT TO BE PAID WITH GRATEFUL REMEMBERANCE OF THEIR SACRIFICE AND THE HIGH RESOLVE THAT THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY DIED SHALL LIVE ETERNALLY"

 

http://madingleyamericancemetery.info/index.html

 

http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ca.php

 

In the chapel:

"IN PROUD AND GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THOSE MEN OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE WHO FROM THESE FRIENDLY ISLES FLEW THEIR FINAL FLIGHT AND MET THEIR GOD. THEY KNEW NOT THE HOUR THE DAY NOR THE MANNER OF THEIR PASSING. WHEN FAR FROM HOME THEY WERE CALLED TO JOIN THAT HERIOIC BAND OF AIRMEN WHO HAD GONE BEFORE. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE."

 

What follows is about the Marine War Memorial in Arlington, VA.

 

Six Boys And Thirteen Hands...

 

Each year I am hired to go to Washington , DC , with the eighth grade class from Clinton , WI where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly enjoy visiting our nation's capitol, and each year I take some special memories back with me. This fall's trip was especially memorable.

 

Even though none of us were at Iwo Jima, I suspect that several of you know the feeling of a service man when he serves that our nation may remain free so that the few can complain and the majority can remember that freedom and the God who authored that freedom.

 

In my mind there is no greater service than you lay down your life for others.

May our prayers be lifted up and may each one who knows the feeling of service walk tall and proud.

 

On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This memorial is the largest bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the most famous photographs in history -- that of the six brave soldiers raising the American Flag at the top of a rocky hill on the island of Iwo Jima , Japan , during WW II.

 

Over one hundred students and chaperons piled off the buses and headed toward the memorial. I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the statue, and as I got closer he asked, 'Where are you guys from?'

 

I told him that we were from Wisconsin . 'Hey, I'm a cheese head, too! Come gather around, Cheese heads, and I will tell you a story.'

 

(James Bradley just happened to be in Washington, DC, to speak at the memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good night to his dad, who had passed away. He was just about to leave when he saw the buses pull up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received his permission to share what he said from my videotape. It is one thing to tour the incredible monuments filled with history in Washington, DC, but it is quite another to get the kind of insight we received that night.)

 

When all had gathered around, he reverently began to speak. (Here are his words that night.)

 

'My name is James Bradley and I'm from Antigo, Wisconsin .. My dad is on tha t statue, and I just wrote a book called 'Flags of Our Fathers' which is #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list right now. It is the story of the six boys you see behind me.

 

'Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground is Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the Marine Corps with all the senior members of his football team. They were off to play another type of game. A game called 'War.' But it didn't turn out to be a game. Harlon, at the age of 21, died with his intestines in his hands. I don't say that to gross you out, I say that because there are people who stand in front of this statue and talk about the glory of war. You guys need to know that most of the boys in Iwo Jima were 17, 18, and 19 years old - and it was so hard that the ones who did make it home never even would talk to their families about it.

 

(He pointed to the statue) 'You see this next guy? That's Rene Gagnon from New Hampshire If you took Rene's helmet off at the moment this photo was taken and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a photograph... a photograph of his girlfriend. Rene put that in there for protection because he was scared... He was 18 years old. It was just boys who won the battle of Iwo Jima . Boys. Not old men.

 

'The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was Sergeant Mike Strank. Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called him the 'old man' because he was so old. He was already 24. When Mike would motivate his boys in training camp, he didn't say, 'Let's go kill some Japanese' or 'Let's die for our country.' He knew he was talking to little boys.. Instead he would say, 'You do what I say, and I'll get you home to your mothers.'

 

'The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from Arizona . Ira Hay es was one who walked off Iwo Jima . He went into the White House with my dad. President Truman told him, 'You're a hero' He told reporters, 'How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the island with me and only 27 of us walked off alive?'

 

So you take your class at school, 250 of you spending a year together having fun, doing everything together. Then all 250 of you hit the beach, but only 27 of your classmates walk off alive. That was Ira Hayes He had images of horror in his mind. Ira Hayes carried the pain home with him and eventually died dead drunk, face down at the age of 32 (ten years after this picture was taken)..

 

'The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop, Kentucky . A fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is now 70, told me, 'Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the Hilltop General Store. Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows couldn't get down. Then we fed them Epsom salts. Those cows crapped all night.' Yes, he was a fun-lovin' hillbilly boy.... Franklin died on Iwo Jima at the age of 19. When the telegram came to tell his mother that he was dead, it went to the Hilltop General Store. A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to his mother's farm. The neighbors could hear her scream all night and into the morning. Those neighbors lived a quarter of a mile away.

 

'The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John Bradley, from Antigo, Wisconsin, where I was raised. My dad lived until 1994, but he would never give interviews. When Walter Cronkite's producers or the New York Times would call, we were trained as little kids to say 'No, I'm sorry, sir, my dad's not here. He is in Canada fishing. No, there is no phone there, sir. No, we don't know when he is coming back.' My dad never fished or even went to Canada . Usually, he was sitting there right at the table eating his Campbell 's soup. But we had to tell the press that he was out fishing. He didn't want to talk to the press.

 

'You see, like Ira Hayes, my dad didn't see himself as a hero. Everyone thinks these guys are heroes, 'cause they are in a photo and on a monument. My dad knew better... He was a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin was a caregiver. In Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died. And when boys died in Iwo Jima , they writhed and screamed, without any medication or help with the pain..

 

'When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad was a hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me and said, 'I want you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who did not come back. Did NOT come back.'

 

'So that's the story about six nice young boys.. Three died on Iwo Jima , and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7,000 boys died on Iwo Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is giving out, so I will end here. Thank you for your time.'

 

Suddenly, the monument wasn't just a big old piece of metal with a flag sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the heartfelt words of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero... Maybe not a hero for the reasons most people would believe, but a hero nonetheless.

 

We need to remember that God created this vast and glorious world for us to live in, freely, but also at great sacrifice

 

Let us never forget from the Revolutionary War to the current War on Terrorism and all the wars in-between that sacrifice was made for our freedom..

 

Remember to pray praises for this great country of ours and also pray for those still i n murderous unrest around the world.

 

STOP and thank God for being alive and being free at someone else's sacrifice.

 

God Bless You and God Bless America .

 

REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great day.

 

One thing I learned while on tour with my 8Th grade students in DC that is not mentioned here is . . that if you look at the statue very closely and count the number of 'hands' raising the flag, there are 13. When the man who made the statue was asked why there were 13, he simply said the 13th hand was the hand of God..

 

Great story - worth your time - worth every American's time.

 

The above article was written in October 2000 by Wisconsin resident Michael T. Powers, translated from a videotape he made of the talk given by author James Bradley at the Marine Corps War Memorial.

[nalioth 405]

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

It is a day of remembrance, and a day to recognize the people who risk their lives today, as well as those who lost their lives defending our freedom.

Copied from Wiki....."Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action."

 

I go out of my way every day to honor those in the military. To me, today is a day to remember those who have fallen, past and present, and to get out and celebrate their lives, rather than sit around mourning their deaths. That's why I organized a shoot here at my place yesterday, and will be shooting again today before cleaning up all the mess from yesterday. That's just my way of saying thanks for the men and women who protect my right to even own and shoot firearms right here on my own land.

[Ruffian72 548]

Was out raising the flags at 06:00 with the other VFW members and our helpers. Each pole has a flag for a fallen service person. Were the flag's goument border is the VFW auxilary has stitched the name of the fallen. We go in order from 1853 to present. My boy was the last raised. Services were at 09:30. Myself(44) youngest and other honor members up to age 68. Old guys trying to be sharp not to disgrace their memory. Not many people this year. Beautiful day out. Going to work on his pickup we were restoring. Got 14yrs to finish it for his boy to drive.

[Juggernaut 11,054]

Was out raising the flags at 06:00 with the other VFW members and our helpers. Each pole has a flag for a fallen service person. Were the flag's goument border is the VFW auxilary has stitched the name of the fallen. We go in order from 1853 to present. My boy was the last raised. Services were at 09:30. Myself(44) youngest and other honor members up to age 68. Old guys trying to be sharp not to disgrace their memory. Not many people this year. Beautiful day out. Going to work on his pickup we were restoring. Got 14yrs to finish it for his boy to drive.

 

Alas, a few years back, I was removed as Captain of our Marine Corps League Honor Guard (DET.841) after Co-founding it, and having it's duty's bestowed upon me by a an older Marine Corps Brother, (who now guards the streets of Heaven)..... I made a promise to honor our fallen...

 

A Politician wormed his way into our local Commandant's chair... and I did not meet his litmus test or he felt challenged by my youthfulness.... Either way... our Detachment has forgotten that they are Marines in lieu of Politics.

 

The Promise I have made to carry out my task have been removed from me.....

Although, I do my best to carry out my Chartered duties regardless....

 

Perhaps, one day... we will remember we are Marines again.... Set aside our selfish desires, and serve with dignity and purpose.... Remembering the desires of our fallen... and what they were willing to "Give all" for...

Sadly, even some Veterans can not overcome the ideals of serving something greater than ourselves....

 

I hope I never do anything to tarnish THEIR sacrifice..... only honor it by my own actions.......

[Juggernaut 11,054]

Ruffian, With a tear in the eye and the most proper salute I can render...

Thank you for the service and Sacrifice your family has offered at the alter of Freedom...

I will do my best to never let it be in vein....

 

 

As Macbeau so eloquently stated once, when I lost a High School buddy to an IED...

 

Seldom is the offering so great as the sacrifices placed on the Alter of Freedom...

We (you and I and several others here) are (or have been) warriors in the true sense and understand that this is what sometimes (often) happens when warriors go to war in the name of freedom's line of work. It's not fun. It's not easy. It's not something everyone should/could/would do... But, it's a job that through out history has had to be done, by people like you and I... It is our ethos...

 

Sempre Fi (Sempre Fidelis) - Always faithful

De Opresso Libre - To Free the Oppressed... Read More

So That Others May Live

Those Who Dare, Wins

Pamwe Chete - All (of us) Together!

Follow Me

KAPHAR HUNNU BHANDA MORNU RAMRO CHHAA - [iT IS BETTER TO DIE THAN LIVE A COWARD]

 

Don't think of this as the loss of someone who had their whole life ahead of them, but rather the fulfillment of a warrior who done his duty and completed his mission...

 

Semper Fi

[G O B 3,516]

A day to honor those who gave us the liberty, freedom and prosperity to be able to take a day from our labors to give them thanks.

[Ruffian72 548]

Folded flags at 19:30. After all were cased, the main cemetary flag was lowered as an Eagle scout played taps. Family has been warriors since recorded history. We have always known cost, as many here, and our fellow countrymen. To Juggs and all members here. Appreciate the salute. As I salute all before and after who will pay the price to keep ourselves and others worldwide from evil. Semper Fi and God Bless to all.