Memorial Day...Remembering those...
 

that took the time to assure our freedom. I took my time to assure they are remembered. I attended the Memorial Day luncheon/car show at the Loch Raven Department of Veteran's Affairs Rehabilitation Center. http://www.maryland.va.gov/MARYLAND/...avenVACLRC.asp

A good time was had by all. I was elated to spend the day with the vets and share my car with them. I was even more elated to see a very nice facility for the veterans and many volunteers as well.

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...psfa938c95.jpg


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Nice it looks like it was good time.

Call me crazy but I find all these "Memorial Day" sales that many stores have to be very disrespectful.

I do not know how that got started but I find it a very inconsiderate gesture.Remember the fallen by buying stuff and giving some faceless company money.Now if a store where to have a sale and donate the proceeds to veterans organizations that would be different.

:agree: I couldn't agree more. Good point!

I hate when people say that they support the troops and honor the fallen but they don't give a rat's ass any other day of the year.

You need to remember those who died for your freedom all year and not just Memorial Day.

I know I'll be saying some special prayers for our guys overseas tomorrow though. :sunny:

I would pray more for the living warfare leaves scars on a person both mentally and physically for the rest of their lives.I was lucky to never have been in direct combat but I did see the results of it and that is something I'll never forget although I would be very happy to.

I had a great uncle that was a Marine during WWII he fought in several campaigns ending in Okinawa in 1945 I never met him because he killed himself a few years after the war his experiences where too much for him and in those days the only option was the bottle.He wanted to be a dentist when he was a kid.

I've got my uncle who was in Iraq who's got PTSD. I've seen him watch war movies and break down and cry and have to leave the room. It's heartbreaking. I hope it doesn't come to that with him. Okinawa was some bad stuff... My uncle was a PA in Iraq. He had to work on all the casualties, including one from my local area...who now has a stretch of I-55 named in his honor. :dead: He went out every once in a while. (Almost severely injured himself with his M9 once...) Their unit had a high casualty rate. He's got some good stories but I know it has to be tearing him up inside.

Sad stuff....very sad.... These people deserve respect...and tons of it. They did stuff and saw stuff so that we don't have to in our own country.


A big salute to all members of the military, past and present.

:salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute:

It's funny but, I always remember my father around Memorial Day. I visit his gravesite, plant about 4 US flags, play his favorite Music (Victory At Sea) and say a prayer or two. It's usually an emotional undertaking. He served on an escort carrier in the Pacific during WWII (USS Chenango, CVE28). Last week I purchased two T-shirts. The one I'm wearing now says "Home of the free because of the brave" and features a US Flag with a silhouette of 4 US soldiers.

Last week, I was registering my daughters at the local school district. The waiting room was rather full and I was at the reception desk giving my information to the clerk. A man walked in behind me wearing army fatigues. I turned, glanced at him and asked "Are you active?" (What do I know?). He let out a soft restrained chuckle and said, "I'm full time". With that, I walked over to him, extended my hand and shook his, while thanking him for serving our country. He seemed as if he was caught off guard for a second but then gave a proud sincere "You're welcome" response. The waiting room went quiet for a moment, but no one else followed my example.

Anyway, my father passed away in October of 99 and I somehow always come to remember him the most around Memorial Day.
CVE-28:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ango_CVE28.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Chenango_(CVE-28)

And yet it's an age-old and time-honored American tradition. I have a book called Who Were The Founding Fathers? Despite the title it's not a look at the men themselves, but a peek at how they saw themselves, and how the next generation saw them, and the next, right up through our own time.

And what is the relevance, you ask? Only this. I used to complain about Fourth-of-July sales. Then, from this book, I found that the boarding house in which Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence had within fifty years become the home of a men's clothier. On July 4, 1826, the same day Jefferson and Adams both died, they had what may well have been the first holiday sale. They placed an ad in a local Philadelphia newspaper starting with "When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a man to purchase a new suit of clothes..."

Disrespectful? Sure, but decidedly funny. It's easy to waste time and energy hating people for being mercenary, but it's never going to stop, so why bother?

:salute: To all the crews on Eternal Patrol.:salute:


http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-sculpin-191.htm

http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/Cromwell-J-P-191a2.jpg




http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-wahoo-238.htm

http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/Morton-D-W-238a2.jpg



...and to the last to not return home.

http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-bullhead-332.htm

http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/USS-Bullhead-332.jpg

:salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute:
:salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute:


Twenty-one salutes to all of our fallen brothers and sisters.

"Any nation that forgets it's warriors will itself be forgotten"

:salute: Last year at the end of church camp, an Army Captain showed up to pick up his kid. Me and one of the sports assistants who I was friends with went up and shook the guy's hand. We were the only two in the camp. Not even the kid who had a brother and Dad in the AF even gave him a moment's notice. I don't know. I just thought it was kind of disrespectful for this guy to show up to pick up his kid in uniform and nobody cares to thank him after we had said prayers for members of the military all week. The kid was really really happy to see him but I don't know for sure if the Captain had just come back from overseas.

And a Salute to your Dad for his service. :salute: :salute: :salute:

I never said that I hated anyone I just dont like the sales thing to me it is different because Memorial Day is supposed to honor those that died fighting for this country and having a sale on such a day overshadows the meaning.The sacrifice that military members must make especially today is a very unfair burden I'll stand with them rather than with someone that wants to go shopping on a particular day.You'd think maybe I should spend some time with my friends and family at home or on a lake or something because a lot of people died so that I can and the people in the military spend months and years away form their friends and family perhaps for one day I'll enjoy being with my family rather than buying stuff that I do not need that is made in China.

I bother because I dont agree with it even if I cant win I'll stand up for what I believe in.You ever see those Nazi photos where they are about to hang the partisans and the one man has huge smile on his face because even though he is about to die he is happy to have fought the Nazis? That guy has my personalty.

:salute: RIP all those who died defending the USA.

Salute to all those who have served and continue to ... I too am one of the weird ones like many here who do remember all of our service persons year round not just this day. Thank You so much... does not even come close to what I owe you...but thank you. :salute:

You weren't the only one I was addressing.

And that's a good thing. Standing up to tyrrany is a good thing. I just don't see people looking for yet another opportunity to make a buck as tyrrany. Sad and stupid, sure, but to me it's like banging your head against a wall for nothing. They don't care, and no one can make them. Still, that's just my opinion, for what little it's worth. :sunny: