doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Veteran's Day

As a fellow Veteran, I want to wish all the veterans a Happy Veteran's Day as well as a heartfelt thank you for your service. Let us remember those who sacrificed their lives, as well as those who are serving this day.
God bless America!
Karl

Karl-
Thanks for your service. Army 1966-69.

Happy veterans Day to all of my brothers in arms; Past and present.
And lets not forget the scourge of veterans; suicide. 44 a day are taking their lives. A sad situation.
If you know a vet struggling. talk to them. Listen to them.

Myself . . . . . . - US Special Forces, MACV SOG - 2 tours in Vietnam, 8 years off/on in Afghanistan
Twin Brother . .- US Special Forces - 13 months in Vietnam
Brother . . . . . - Army Security Agency, "tour driver"* in E.Berlin - fluent German speaker - 4 years
Nephew. . . . . - Marine Harrier Pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan
Father. . . . . . - Commander Pathfinder stick for 3 BN 508 PIR in Normandy - Killed at Pretot
Uncle. . . . . . . - B-24 Navigator flying out of England 1943-44 - 30 missions
Step-Father. . . - US Navy, Radar officer on USS Pensacola.
Uncle. . . . . . . - Corsair pilot in US Navy 1945-1949, reserve pilot served in Korea
Uncle. . . . . . . - 30-year navy pilot/officer - USS Enterprise Air Wing commander 1968 off Vietnam
Grand-father. . - tank battalion in WWI battle of the Somme - lost an eye
Grand-father. . - Merchant Marine officer plying the N,Atlantic during WWI
etc. etc.

Veteran's Day used to be Armistice Day. Memorial Day remembers the fallen. But this is the day for us the living (and sometimes we have to think about why that is). Thanks to the American people and God Bless America.

*The US mission in Potsdam E.Germany during the Cold War (WW-III) had the right to drive through E.Germany to "inspect" things, just as the Soviets did in West Germany. They put him through race car driving and used disguised 4wd Fords (illegal) where they would lose surveillance and run down tank trails to photograph military equipment on sidings. One was murdered by the Soviets. He was getting out to finish Mechanical Engineering degree at Stanford and the Army decided they had to "prepare" him for civilian life so posted him to a Mercedes factory - hummmm. Mercedes = Mechanical engineer; "Please Mr. Bear, don't throw me in that briar patch." He advised buying Mercedes made in the morning - because every worker consumed 6 beers during lunch.

Well, I'll just have to be a little out of step with you and your strictest proponents, Gene. As well as the living ones I will always remember the Veterans that have died, but who did not die while serving, on Veteran's Day. If the military sees fit to send an honor guard to a funeral of a Veteran I sure think they need to be remembered on Veteran's Day.

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Where do dead Veterans get honored, if not on Veterans Day?

Stan, mourning US military personnel who died while serving is what Memorial Day is all about. Veterans Day is for all Veterans who served in the US military, peacetime or wartime, and that includes the KIA and those who repaired the tanks, typed the orders, did the intelligence work, supplied the armaments.

"Veterans Day honors all who have served in the U.S. military, not just those who have served in combat. It is a day to thank and honor all American veterans, both living and deceased, who served honorably during wartime or peacetime."

So I sort of think of Memorial Day as solemn. Veterans' Day as that raucous parade down Constitution Avenue in 1982 led by Gen. Westmorland to celebrate the opening of the Vietnam Memorial (and the return to "respectability" of the Vietnam era Veteran - grudgingly so by the Ho Chi Minh loving media):





(And I missed that parade. I came back from Africa in late September 1982 and got married, attended the hearings on putting a statue and flag on the memorial - an amazing experience, the room filled with big angry men outraged at Jane Fonda. I wanted to stay for the parade but was told that if I were gone "more than three weeks," I wasn't necessary. So new wife represented me. And the 6 page letter she wrote to me in French on attending the reading of the names at the Cathedral to the march itself was so evocative that I translated it three times in three different ways for the Marine Gunney Sgt in Brazzaville. Perhaps I'll post it.)

On those early Oct 1982 hearings at the "fine arts commission" in DC on changes to the "Black Wall of Shame" as VN Veterans then referred to the VN Memorial, which demanded a flag and statue, here is a political cartoon from the era. You had to have been there to understand: (The "Hey Mama San" referring to the Mya Lin designer is devastating).

Argo44, I was addressing your statement that Veteran's Day is "the day for us the living". I pointed out that it is also for the Vets who have died, not just the living ones. That's all. No elaboration necessary for my part.

Thanks to all Vets for their service, both the living and the dead.