Locally, there seems to be a lot of talk about how this holiday isn't properly observed. The argument is that it should be more solemn and contemplative and not-exactly celebrated. I agree that it should be a time of reflection and remembrance but...we have much to be thankful for in this country as well. As a boy, the holiday seemed to be largly for the veterins of WWII and Korea. Since that crowd has largely passed from the scene, the flavor of the observence has changed somewhat, at least for me. It seems now to be more fully-encompassing. I now think of all the lives devoted and lost to secure what we still have here today. Still the greatest gift humanity has ever known... liberty, and continued hope for better days yet to come. God bless them all, each and every one! And....if that observence includes a gathering of friends and family that is upbeat and cheerful, all the better.

Thanks for the reminder Lloyd. I don't think it's just this time around. I think it's seen by many to be a kick off to the summer season. Maybe, this year an upbeat and positive theme would be something folks in general would be thankful for?

edit to add, I missed your addition

Forever Young:
SSGT Thomas Henry Laird, "Air Apaches", 500th Bomb Sqdn, 345th Bomb Group, 5th Air Force, MIA/KIA October 16, 1943, Wewak, New Guinea
PFC Robert Hardeman, 2nd Marines, KIA July 2, 1944, Saipan.

Mom's oldest brother; mother-in-law's only brother.
Throughout America in large cities, small towns and villages this is what happened over 75 years ago to the families left behind.
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-24181.html
Gil

http://www.trapshooters.com/threads/memorial-day-weekend.489513/

In memory of my beloved Father, Julius M. Westberg, 3rd Bn, 351st Inf Regt, 88th Inf Div ("The Blue Devils" - as the Germans called the division). Fought in the Italian Campaign from entering Rome thru the occupation.

The finest man I've ever known.

And to all your family who served and are now in God's loving arms.

God Bless them all!

Greg

Have a blessed Memorial Day, remembering those we've lost.
Karl

in memory of my grandfather, Thomas Manning Mitchell,
Sargent, Company M, 156th Infantry, A.E.F.; France 1917-8.
i'm wearing his service ring as i type this. i inherited
his name but not much else...he was killed in an accident shortly before i was born in 1949.

https://poets.org/poem/spires-oxford

In memory of PFC Dwight Henry Ford- 23 Feb 1945, 4th Marine Division, IWO JIMA. My dad's baby brother.
Mike

In memory of all who have died defending and securing our freedoms, may we strive so that they did not die in vain!!

My late Father’s birthday is today, May 24th, 1929. He was an orphan who witnessed hard times, and in that era it was just assumed orphans went into the service, and volunteered first for the crummy assignments. He made the USMC his life, and did 22 years active duty, and 8 years as a reservist.

We lost him 11 years ago last month. He was 31 days short of 80 years old.

I wasn’t aware of how few my hunting partners were, until he was gone.

To all you service guys, a day of memorial, with those close to you, and those close to you in spirit.

Best,
Ted

Although he did not die in service to our nation I remember Maj. Jerome Wilson, USMC, my dear friend and muzzleloading mentor. He flew Corsairs in combat in WWII and Korea, flying off of at least 13 different carriers. He served for a time with VMF-214, which some will recognize as the "Black Sheep Squadron", and later with VMF-235. He flew in the movie "The Flying Leathernecks", starring John Wayne.

"Mr. Jerry", as many affectionately called him, was like a father to me. He was bigger than life, and when we lost him in 2001 I told his widow that it did not feel real because he was too big to die. Thank you, Mr. Jerry, for your years of service to our great nation.

SRH

Will leave this poster at the WWII memorial tomorrow as usual.....and have three posters for the VN memorial. Freedom is not Free.

James P Emery Father WW1 france
James Son D Day First wave.
Charles Korea Vietnam
Robert Korea [still present]
Son John USMC[still present]
A history we are proud of and honor them on this day every year.

Happy Memorial Day to all veterans. It is a mystery to me how all veterans who post on internet sites seem to have been a member of a famous combat unit and have also been involved in a famous battle. I'm not complaining, but I was in the U.S. Army in 1967 to 1969, a "great time" to be an infantryman, was not in a unit that is famous and was not involved in any combat battle that anyone would recognize by name. I find it strange, maybe suspect, that so many veterans were in such units and in such battles. I regard myself as a hero because I volunteered, I went where I was told, regardless of the dangers that were out there. On another subject, today's volunteers are subjected to the same dangers I was, but there is a difference. I was subjected to 13 months of danger if I were sent to a combat zone and today's volunteers are subject to tour after tour of danger with no guarantee of an end to the tour of danger. I knew what the end was, today's soldier does not know where the end is. Congratulations and thanks to today's volunteer soldiers who most certainly have it worse than I did. Thank you so much for your service on this Memorial Day.

Today, Stan- we all honor all the brave men who served our Country, regardless of branch of service, combat zones, world-wide, as the world of today is a perilous one. As a Marine, I appreciate your comments about "Mr. Jerry"--But I respect All branches of our military- those brave men and women whose commitment to our Stateside security. Semper Fi RWTF

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Ronald Reagan, 40th POTUS
JULY 6, 1987

eightbore:
Having read your' reply I couldn't help but reply.
Having served in such a unit I always felt that to talk of it with others that served and had not been fortunate or unfortunate to have been selected I always felt they deserved the same respect as any other soldier that put their life on the line. That said this is now that was then. God bless our nation.

Yes, Francis, I agree. All branches of service.

Another I remember today is Maj. Charles (Madman) Kelly, my cousin's husband. He lost his life "medivacing" wounded from a hot zone in Vietnam on 1 July, 1964. He is credited with being the driving force behind instituting the use of choppers (Operation Dustoff) to evacuate wounded from battle zones. I attended his funeral as a 12 yr. old lad. It made a lasting impression on me with taps bugled, the gun salute, and the missing man formation fly-by.

From Wikipedia:

Kelly was killed in action on July 1, 1964, when, after being warned out of a hot LZ, he replied, "When I have your wounded." A bullet entered through an open cargo door and pierced his heart. Major Kelly became the 149th American to die in Vietnam. The following day, an officer tossed the bullet on his desk in front of Kelly's successor, Captain Patrick Henry Brady and asked if they were going to stop flying so aggressively. Brady picked up the bullet and replied, "we are going to keep flying exactly the way Kelly taught us to fly, without hesitation, anytime, anywhere."[1]Kelly is buried in Georgia[2]

Days like this I remember the closing scene of the movie "Saving Private Ryan". As an old man he is visiting the grave of John Miller who was instrumental in saving his life and helping him get home. He says to the fallen Miller's grave "I hope that at least in your eyes I have earned all that you have done for me". That is my wish, too, to live a life worthy of the sacrifices made so that I and my family may live free.

SRH

Memorial Day on the Mall. Two things...first it was 67 degrees at 1030 hrs on Memorial Day...never in my life have I seen it below 85. And second...the whole mall was quasi-deserted. WWII Memorial, VN Memorial all were open. People just chose to stay away.

Here's the VN Memorial about 1100 hrs today. Amazing.

Remembering CPL Russell Evans, Sylvania, GA. Panel W23, Line 26, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. "Rusty" loved little hydroplanes, and shooting pool.

Gone, but not forgotten.

SRH

Remembering 2nd. Lt. Donald B. Adamson USA 7th Air Cav. KIA 22/Feb/1966 Pleiku. East 5 panels. 63rd line down. "In Flander's Fields, where poppies grow, there stand white crosses, row upon row--- RWTF

My late Uncle, James Nolan. He did 4 years in the USMC, mostly in Japan and Korea, and was in Korea for the festivities. The only story he told me was of walking back alone from church on a Sunday morning, and being attacked by mortars on the road. He jumped into a rice paddy full of human excrement and hid until the attack was over. I do not believe he was in a combat position, but, don’t know. Like my Dad, he never spoke of it to me.
Uncle Jimmy, as we called him, just passed in March of this year.

Best,
Ted

No surprise-- Korea, Japan, China- none of them are Christian nations, and do NOT adhere to the Geneva convention rules. The gooks coated the punji sticks with tiger shit, to further the pain and destruction . One of many reasons why our Armed Forces mantra became: "Kill them all, let God sort 'em out in the next world. RWTF

Moral of that story is don’t go to church.


__________________________

...are still there, we’re long gone.

Really? Are you serious ? If not, your attempts at humor exceed sensibility.

Consider "Think twice, speak once". It may help ......... sure can't hurt.

SRH

Just my experience, Stan, banging in and out and around the military since ‘79.

Bunch of us sat around yesterday swapping stories just like that. If anyone was butt hurt they didn’t mention it. I had a good one about October 23, 1983.


_________________________
They would hold services in the basement of the Marine barracks.

Thanks for your service. Better moral, don’t go to Korea.

Best,
Ted

________________________________________________
We can help, but, from now on, it is measured in megatons.

Of those mentioned here for their sacrifices, did any tell family members they were heroes? The hundreds of survivors I've interviewed never thought of their service as anything more than doing their duty. Most described it as the greatest experience of their lives. I don't believe there was any difference in this respect among allied and axis men at arms.

I believe my Father was specifically told not to discus his actions or assignment in Southeast Asia.
A career Marine NonCom told me about it, briefly, at the funeral.

I’m OK with it. I figure Dad was, too. I heard lots of stories about shore leave, the buddies he hunted with, and daily things that occurred in out of the way duty stations. Dad loved the Corps.
Dad told me if I wanted to join, join the Coast Guard. He thought the duty stations were better. Dad was biased to hunting and fishing, and figured the Coasties had more opportunity where they went.
I had pretty good options out of school.

Best,
Ted

After reading King’s comments about the survivors not considering themselves to be heroes but only doing their duty got me thinking of one of dad’s lifelong friends, the late Harold Blumberg, who was crew chief on a B17 over Europe. After Harold died, his family found a trunk in the attic that contained papers and old uniforms and other war memorabilia. Among the papers was a Polish medal for valor and citation recounting a raid over Warsaw and his valor in defense of the flak-riddled plane and for repairing a defective bomb bay. According to the citation among other things, he crawled out on the catwalk over open doors to repair the mechanism to drop the armed and live load. Harold’s deeds during that raid were written about in the Stars and Stripes in April of 1945 by Andy Rooney. True to form, according to the article Harold didn’t tell the story to Rooney as he was on furlough at the time the article was written. Harold had never told anyone in his family about the raid or the Polish citation for bravery as he never spoke about the war to his wife or children. The Rooney article was recently reprinted by Stars and Stripes in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the war’s end. I found the article this morning as I looked for Harold’s obituary.
https://www.stripes.com/news/special-rep...berlin-1.462690

I had a favorite uncle who served in Korea. The only story I remember him telling was about his unit once coming under mortar fire. Everyone ran for a foxhole and piled in. The troops were worried about my uncle and were asking what happened to Captain Strickland.

He replied from the bottom of the pileup that he was the first one in the hole and the rest of them nearly killed him jumping in on top. He came home at the end perfectly healthy...Geo

George
Your mention of "Captain Strickland" reminded me of my uncle Troy Strickland who served in WWII and participated in the invasion of Sicily and the Italian campaigns. He was a corporal, was wounded twice, and sent back to the front both times after recuperation; and like most WWII veterans, told very few stories of his experiences. But one story he related very late in life involving the second time he was wounded I'll always remember; it was from the battle of monte casino. It was bitter cold and the battle had devolved into close range skirmishes and hand to hand combat. Occasionally a truce would be called and during that time both sides would gather dead and wounded (he said corpses would be stacked like "cord wood"); and often during these truces German and American troops would visit each other and the Americans would trade cigarettes and chocolate for items the Germans had. He said these visits were always friendly, but as soon as the truce period ended both sides went back to killing each other. During one of those skirmishes, he was shot thru the leg by a German gunner he could clearly see about 30 yards away; the bullet broke his leg, and he was saved by another trooper who pulled him to safety. But the thing I remember most is what he said about the German who shot him. Said he held no grudge or animosity towards the man, as he knew the only reason he was there shooting at him was for the same reason he had to be there; because his government gave him no other choice.

Hoping it will not be too far off topic I will relate a story told me by my Grandfather, who took me in as a partner on the farm at about the age of 22, despite my youthfulness and inexperience.

During WWII there were German and Italian prisoners of war housed in Waynesboro, GA, our county seat. They were allowed to leave for the day and work on farms in the county. Grandaddy would drive to town, pick up a truck load of them, and work them all day before returning them to camp in the evening. He related that the Germans were all former soldiers from Rommel's Afrika Corps, and were very handsome and physically fit men. They kept themselves very clean, worked hard, had great attitudes and were in "heaven" if they were assigned to work around or on a piece of machinery. They traded cigarettes to Grandaddy's hands for soap. He said they could never get enough soap.

The Italian prisoners (apparently German sympathizers) were just the opposite. He related how they were lazy, complained of thirst constantly..... crying out "Acqua! Acqua!". They would not do their work properly. One result was that the peanut vines they were stacking would not be shaken free of the dirt before stacking on the poles and when it rained the peanuts would sprout and ruin. Grandad soon got enough of the Italian POWs, but always spoke very admirably of the German ones.

SRH

Interesting, Stan. In some small way, perhaps, relates to how the Italian Army under Mussolini "fubared" the African campaign, and Hitler had to send Irwin Rommel and his storied Afrikan Korps to bail out the Italians. One of many stories about Rommel's leadership- sort of akin to USMC General Lewis B. Puller's words" Officers always eat last"-- In the African campaign, one of Rommel's staff- Oberst-Colonel captured a case of fine brandy from the British Officer's mess (before "Monty" replaced Auginclauch as C.O) and was going to hoard it for the top ranked officer's- Rommel told him that each enlisted man in his command was to receive a small glass of that brandy that evening after supper- or else Rommel would line them up on a mess table, clear the dining area, and with his Walther, use each one for target practice and watch the rare liquor drip down into the sand. Rommel was not a drinker, by the way. Great C.O., wish the Limeys had him on their side instead of Monty.

Ted, paralleling your experience at your dad's funeral, after dad died one of the men under him told me an account between him and my dad during the war.
Dad was a 21 year-old 1st Lt. leading an infantry heavy weapons platoon (81mm mortars and machine guns) post D-Day in the push through France into German territory. He never spoke much about the war. After attending mom's brother's (KIA/MIA) unit reunion in our hometown, he asked me to locate his “runners” which were enlisted men who would relay messages when radio or wire communications broke down. He was able to speak with one, Pete, before he died. After he died, I spoke with Pete. Pete’s last memory of dad was when Pete was hit by shrapnel from an 88 mm shell. The German 88 mm made a lot of Christians out of GI’s. Being supersonic, there was usually little or no warning of incoming. His platoon was engaged between the Germans and the main line of US forces. He said dad scooped him up and ran like a deer towards the rear where medics carried him in a jeep to the safety, the whole time Germans taking pot shots at them. That was the last time Pete saw dad and didn’t speak with him until I located him about 17 years ago. The day after Pete was wounded, dad was wounded for the second time and spent 16 months in hospitals in England and the US recovering from a severe leg wound which gave him a noticeable limp for the rest of his life. It ended his football days; he had been a scholarship starting end for Clemson and left school for the war after his sophomore year. He completed his education after the war, returning to Clemson for a degree in architecture. I was born his last year at Clemson, the first of my parent’s ten children. Gil

A bunch of history that will never be retold, Gil. Thanks.

Best,
Ted

Up until the 1950s, Clemson was a military school, one of two in S.C.; the other was The Citadel. Here's the team photo from 1942. Dad's the right end. Franklin and Rothell, the starting backs, according to dad's penciled in writing on the annual, were KIA. Gil