Memorial Day

[UtahJarhead]

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died, rather we should thank God that such men lived." -- Gen. George Patton



I have nothing to add.

[Car Knocker]

[Korben88]

AMEN!

Sent from my SGH-T759 using Tapatalk 2 (which means I probably should be working)

[My Trigger Guard]

[UtahJarhead]

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.

[My Trigger Guard]

Oh with all the politically correct issues we see around the USA with the nonsense of disrespecting the flag.

I am proud to say I still live in a city that on memorial day in my neighborhood about a 500 yard stretch of houses on my street every house at the curb gets a 8 foot pole and roughly a 5x3 flag. Its a very inspiring imagery to see that many flags its got to be a about 100 flags maybe more.

You know what this year I will get a pic and post it up, driving down my street feels like your in a parade or something. Wants me to break into the song I am proud to be an American, where at least I know I am free!

[divegeek]

One of these years, I will spend Memorial Day here:






https://picasaweb.google.com/1114634695 ... directlink

While I'm here, I'll say again what I always say around Memorial Day and the 4th of July: Remember that the sacrifices of our honored dead did not purchase our freedom, indeed cannot purchase it. What they bought us, and paid so dearly for, was the opportunity for us to decide if we want to be free, and to act upon that decision. Their blood bought us self-determination, the chance to decide what kind of a nation we'll be, without outside interference.

Have we done well? Are we fulfilling the enormous responsibility their sacrifices lay upon us? Are we deciding to be free?

[Cinhil]

I give thanks to all those who have taken up arms to defend this country against foes both foreign and domestic. I give thanks to my father who served in an almost unknown action and was injured and who is no longer here. I give thanks to all my relatives from the beginning of this nation who have fought, lived and died for freedom. I can only hope and pray that others, such as us, have the courage and dedication to do all we can to defend our freedoms, implore our government and stand firm in doing all in our power to keep what our ancestors and current military have fought and died for so that we may remain free. God bless them all!

[My Trigger Guard]

I lived about 15 miles from Washington DC for about 3 1/2 Years, during that time I visited and re-visited all the sites about 6 times each and there are a ton, you could spend a week and not see it all, really two to three weeks is needed. First time out it was amaazing, but after a while with family coming into town and wanting to go it became more of a pain than enjoyable with traffic and hassle of travel in that area. I lived 15 miles but actually an hour in travel time easily.

Its been about 21 years since I have been now and funny enough I miss it and want to go back again. I also know some day I will. A high point though about 6 months ago I got to to the Philly/New jersey/NY area and got to go to the 911 memorial opening week and the liberty bell/courthouse and tour a ported battleship. Was awesome.

If you get to go to DC let me recommend my favorite site to visit, this one never got old for me.
National Air & Space Museum AKA The AiroSpace Museum.

[DaKnife]

Divegeek, you should post some of the pictures of where we normally spend Memorial Day. I have a couple decent ones, but nothing like you get.
In Beaver Utah a full sized flag pole is placed over the grave of every veteran. On Memorial Day the Burial Flag of the veteran is flown from the flag pole. Many flags are raised by the families, we raise six. Others are handled by the Boy Scouts, VFW, or other groups, very few flag poles are empty.

DSC01858 reduced.JPG (176.95 KiB) Viewed 830 times

Usually about 9 am the canyon winds rise and the flags start waiving in the breeze. I couldn't find one of those pictures though I know I have many.

DSC01867 reduced.JPG (124.53 KiB) Viewed 828 times

[NormanXDm]

Divegeek, you should post some of the pictures of where we normally spend Memorial Day. I have a couple decent ones, but nothing like you get.
In Beaver Utah a full sized flag pole is placed over the grave of every veteran. On Memorial Day the Burial Flag of the veteran is flown from the flag pole. Many flags are raised by the families, we raise six. Others are handled by the Boy Scouts, VFW, or other groups, very few flag poles are empty.

DSC01858 reduced.JPG

Usually about 9 am the canyon winds rise and the flags start waiving in the breeze. I couldn't find one of those pictures though I know I have many.

DSC01867 reduced.JPG

Thanks for posting that - I wish all cities would do something similar (many probably do...)

I almost teared up looking at that - thinking about how neat it would be to raise my Dad's flag once each year.

[bltdonahue]

All gave some. Some gave all. To all those who lost a loved one, a friend, a battle-buddy, an acquaintance, or a distant relative, you have my deepest condolences.

I, for one, spent the weekend doing exactly what those who passed before me would have approved of. It was an easy weekend, free of strife, hunger, loneliness, fear and sadness. I hope everyone reading this had a similar weekend.

[Daeyel]

My grandfather, Corporal Cecil Herbert Hutchinson, (Australian Army) pictured in the midst of a firefight in Yamil, New Guinea, 7/18/1945



Description
ULUNKOHOITU, YAMIL AREA, NEW GUINEA, 1945-07-18. PTE J.L. BEARD (1) AND CPL C.H. HUTCHINSON (2), MEMBERS OF 8 PLATOON, A COMPANY, 2/6 INFANTRY BATTALION, REPLYING WITH RAPID FIRE ON THEIR VICKERS MEDIUM MACHINE-GUN. JAPANESE OCCUPY THE HIGHER SLOPES AND LAY HARRASSING FIRE FROM TIME TO TIME.
(Description from Australian War Memorial, picture is now in the public domain)

[divegeek]

I, for one, spent the weekend doing exactly what those who passed before me would have approved of. It was an easy weekend, free of strife, hunger, loneliness, fear and sadness. I hope everyone reading this had a similar weekend.

I had to go through airport security. I wasn't hungry or lonely, and didn't fight with anyone (though I wanted to!), but I did feel a touch of fear and quite a bit of sadness.