Memorial Day weekend…

Posted on by May 24, 2019

Lots of folks are off for a long weekend, and will be hitting the sales and enjoying picnics, etc.

But take a moment and remember those in the military who never came home and will never be able to enjoy any of those things.

Remember these men and women from all races and religions, who gave their all…

Comments

Memorial Day weekend… — 18 Comments

  1. Hey Old NFO;

    We honor them. I hope every one will this holiday weekend.

    P.S. Yay I am first again 😀

  3. I really am NOT against cook-outs.
    But I’m wearing my “All gave some, some gave all” T-shirt to church on Sunday.

  6. Too many in the Naval Aviation service have gone out, to never come back. Godspeed, good fliers all.

    And to the rest of those that served. Thank you, fallen ones, for your sacrifice to us.

  9. It’s good to recall the debt to fallen heroes that we can never repay, except by honoring the Constitution and trying to pay it forward on their behalf.

  10. Bob Poxon. M.O.H.
    Deane Taylor.
    John Richardson.
    Richard Schoenberg.
    Patton said I should not mourn their deaths but rejoice that they lived.
    So I’ll try.

  11. We will have a small family gathering Monday to remember all the family members who served. Important for the young ones to learn about what service means.

  15. My grandfather served in WWI as a Navy radio operator. He described the living conditions aboard ship, and they were pretty harsh, but he thought having a place to sleep out of the elements and safe from criminals was pretty good. He didn’t like it much, but he served just like a lot of other people.

    My father served in the U.S. Coast Guard in WWII. He didn’t like it, but you just did what you had to do. The men made the best of it. Dad was in the mounted patrol in South Carolina – he was one of the few who had actual riding experience – and would patrol the beach looking for submarines and such. Wellsir, the Hollywood types came through wanting to make a newsreel, and they had it all figured out. The men were supposed to come galloping through in a line, draw their .38 revolver and fire six shots at a target. You can just guess how that went. So, in the middle of all this, with things not working out the way the director wanted them to (those targets were safe, let me tell you), and with ‘some damned officer’ raising hell, one rider lost his reins, the horse took off, and he bent over, grabbed a rein and pulled – with the revolver still in his hand. He shot the horse in the head, and that was about it for that particular newsreel. Then they made another one with all the men galloping down a sand dune, and a couple of the horses fell down, men fell off, and the whole business got scrapped. I’ve got a digitized version of the newsreel, and dad pointed out where he was in the mix up. The horse in front of him fell down, and he remembers swerving around to his right.

    My feelings of sympathy go out to those men and women who were staying at home in the U.S., waiting for news, waiting for their loved ones to come home. Some never did make it home, and those men and women are in heaven. I’m sorry for their families.

  16. Memorial Day has always held a special place in this family. But eight years ago this day took on a new, somewhat related meaning. My dad passed on this day at 1735 hours. We were shaking hands and with his eyes fixed upon me his last words were meant only for me.

    ROTC in high school, enlisted USMC the very day of the last class of his senior year. He was a mustang and because of ROTC he did not go through Parris or San Diego. Age 17 in hand-to-hand, the first of three PH, and Silver Star. Age 18, another PH and Bronze Star. He finished Korea as a GySgt, apparently command saw leadership in him which is no surprise to me. One of the ‘frozen Chosin’, hes toes nearly fell off and that resulted in a lot of pain for the rest of his mortal life. He made the news with several others of his squad who wanted to re-up because, ‘I am a Marine and one tour is not enough for a guy.”

    Three tours of VN was enough, he separated just prior to a 4th deployment. Twenty-six years active, 9 of those a D.I..

    Now I know there are many men who are equal to my dad for I have met many and I have read of many others. What I am trying to do is work myself up to give a warning to all y’all. The memories flooding in mean I don’t get to it straight away.

    Here it is: when my dad passed away before midnight on the last day of the fifth month, it caused all manner of red tape to become active. On this end, the result was all disbursement of income to my mother was immediately halted. It took no less than 4.5 months for this grieving widow to get *some* of the income tap turned back on. Just one example of the MF inanity of the fedgov, every department mother had to contact wanted an original death cert. Ok, can do..except most of those would not further process unless a second original death cert was received. OBTW, it must be received before xx date from the date of their letter which is now yy days old. There is so much more to be said of this but here is what you need to absorb…How have YOU prepared your loved ones?

    It was a complete effing heartbreak to watch my mother bare up under this stupidity of fedgov of which so much had been given. Through the struggle I found several others who had very similar troubles.

    I am very sorry to have turned the tone of Jim’s post. Yet this has been laid on my heart for some time. It needed to be said. Thank you.

  17. All- Thanks for the comments, R- No problem, and appreciate the ‘warning’. I WILL let my kids know. Thank you!

    Posted from my iPhone.