Under current circumstances, for many this "day off" may blend in with the inactivity of the weeks prior and immediately ahead. There will be no parades. Memorializing ceremonies will be modest and few. Yet it is incumbent upon us to remember that the freedoms that were won and preserved came at the cost of great sacrifice, treasure, blood, and life.

We honor the fallen lest we take life and liberty for granted. True freedom is not the norm: it is the exception.

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Well stated...bravo.

I should read Slaughterhouse-Five today.

Trivia question without checking Google. The president was at the Tomb of the Unknown today; A foreign soldier is honored there with a Congressional Medal of Honor, perhaps the only non American so honored (not sure). Who received it?

In my home I keep a little shrine for one of the finest men I have ever known. He was my wife's stepfather, and he raised her from a little girl, when her biological father couldn't or wouldn't.

Bill Smedberg served in the Pacific in WWII. He had a hard time talking about it without crying, so I never did hear his stories. He was at Iwo Jima, and a lot of his service buddies died there. He saw good men shot to pieces when he was very young, and it haunted him for life. Still, the man raised two sets of children and a grandchild. Wherever others failed, Bill stepped in. He never once complained about that.

He died surrounded by loved ones, and I am proud to have been one of them.

I liked that he was an atheist with no delusions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2020 12:34PM by donbagley.

There is no freedom of religion without freedom from religion.

You don't actually believe in freedom dave don't kid yourself we all heard you call it freedumb.

Thank you caffiend.


My father was in the Battle of Leyte in the Philipines. I don't remember all the details now, but there were heavy casualties and he was one of the first to make it to shore alive from the battleship after many before didn't. One of the biggest and most decisive battles of the war.

Dad came home intact but until I was about 10 we had to wake him from across the room because he often awoke fighting. Never talked about the war ever until just before he died and then told us what he had always held inside.


I always liked to be at the cemetery on Decoration Day--as we called it then--that overlooked our valley as they fired rifles in salute to the fallen.

Now at least I have some peonies like the ones my aunt grew, and some lilacs like Andy and Mary's, to remind me of all. There can be a lot to a scent.

In a way, it almost seems wrong to say “happy” Memorial Day. Remembering those who died for us shouldn’t be happy. On the other hand, those who fought for free countries would probably want us to enjoy what they defended. So, I’ll remember the sacrifices, and also be happy today.

As a child I recall seeing American servicemen around London during the latter part of the war and in the years of shortages immediately after. There was no such thing as candy in the stores and the sight of an American soldier walking down the street was a vision of heaven as we knew he likely had gum in his pocket. We would swarm around him in high expectancy and the really great ones would throw a bunch of sticks into our midst to watch the ensuing scrum. Good memories of my first exposure to Americans.

Are you going to honor 100,000 dead by wearing a mask ?

We can do little things that contribute to a larger good. For starters, I'm examining my portfolio in detail so I can sell any mutual fund that has Chinese holdings.

Put everything into Oscar Meyer hot dogs!

that's going to be tough because a good number from the dow and SP500 have some connection to China, Have you considered becoming a Landlord or farmer, those are the most genuine "American Only" investments.

First, I am a landlord, which accounts for most of my income. Incidentally, I'm very hands-on, handling most repairs, maintenance, snow removal etc. myself.

I don't know how to research stocks, so I stay with mutual funds. I subscribe to Morningstar.com, which has several useful research and analysis tools. One is "stock intersect," which tells me which companies are held by my different funds. Thus, I can see if I have a too much exposure to Apple in different funds. I'd avoid another fund which had Apple (ex.).

Investing American is not done easily, just as buying American is a challenge. As a nation, we're waking up to our convenient, but excessive, dependence on cheap foreign goods, Chinese especially.* It took us decades to get into this mess, and won't be solved easily or quickly.

A very positive, bipartisan step which may occur soon: The "Holding Foreign Companies Accountable" passed the Senate unanimously, and is expected to pass the House and be signed by Pres. Trump. This would force Chinese companies to conform to the non-profit Public Company Accounting Oversight Board if they are to be listed on US stock exchanges. Companies like Alibaba have raised billions from US investors this way. This would force them to either shape up and fly right, or resort to listings overseas.

As we know, Chinese financial figures are as reliable as their public health data.

*I saw a meme of people watching Netflix which said, "How do you like your Wuhan Flu lockdown? Enjoying that cheap Chinese screen?"

Its impossible to smoke weed with a mask on dave so we know thats a lie in your case. And watching trucks get shredded isn't helping the cause.

To the atheist the dead do not exist anymore. You can't honor them in your case even if you tried dave. They are a 100,000 non-existents in your case dave and you never knew them anyways so don't act like you cared so deeply. You could say "i can pretend to honor the 100,000 non-existants that i never knew with wearing a mask because i am afraid if i get the virus my smoking weed days are over". Thats more accurate for you dave.

Pop came home deaf in his right ear after serving in the South Pacific during WWII. His tent was bombed and his ear and face were embedded with bone fragments of his companion.

The sorrow was worse than the injury.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2020 01:57PM by kathleen.

Thank you for this post.

Thanks for this post. The stories. The memories. The hopes and dreams. The LOVE of (U.S.A.) Country [all countries] and WOman. And the respect and decency that makes It, and US, what it is (and who we are). Thanks for all good & true posts, comments, thoughts, and shares-everybody.

All MEN - and WOmen - are created equal, no matter how they are born, whenever they live, and however they die. I ain't gonna lie. I love everyday. Especially today!

Memorials~

I appreciate the sentiment, but Memorial Day has become one of my least favorite holidays. It feels so hollow. It seems to mostly be about cleaning the grill and seeing if it still works after the winter, and competitive flower placing at cemeteries.

I'm not sure when Memorial Day change from honoring fallen veterans to putting flowers by the headstones of essentially all graves. My mother always seemed carefully attuned to what other relatives or ward members were putting on their family graves. We had to find something at least as good, preferably better, but not so much better as to look pretentious.

Meanwhile, it all looked to me like a way to sell leftover flowers from Mother's Day. And 5 days later the cemetery grounds crews gather up all the flowers and toss them in a dumpster. I was puzzled by it all.

Like I said, one of my least favorite holidays. In Canada, they have only one veteran's holiday, Nov 11 (Remembrance Day there, Veteran's Day in the US), and they are really, really serious about it. I was both surprised and impressed at my first Remembrance Day in Canada.

I guess I am glad there is still some acknowledgement of the real purpose of Memorial Day, but it feels pretty heavily overgrown with cultural weeds.

Thank God your Canadian then right mate! You don't have to celebrate this US Holiday. I didn't celebrate Victoria day last week because I am an American and Victoria day is a Canadian holiday. I ignore the weeds in my neighbors garden. You may want to try it. Could save you some despair.

I’m pretty sure that Brother of Jerry is American and lives in the US. Correct me if I’m mistaken, BOJ.

I live in SLC, but lived in Canada for a couple of years, and close by for a couple of decades.

Agreed. Same in the UK.

Thank you, caffiend.

My grandfather was a shipfitter on the USS South Dakota in WWII. He came back, but I would hear occasional stories about the battles he was in and the shipmates he lost. I poured out a shot of good rum in their memory today.

A 21-Gun Salute is something you'll never forget.

Do Mormons as a group have a higher or lower rate of service in the military than an other religious group?

Decades ago when I enlisted(Utah) the State was one of the lowest in the nation.

Has that changed?

Let's not use remembrance as a way to justify the idiocy of present and future military policy. We don't need dead, war wounded and psychologically injured people produced in cynical wars.

I misread your post at first, reading "psychologically injured people produced in CYCLICAL wars."

Fortunately, American battle deaths have been on the decline as of late. What I'm curious to find out is as US military power retrenches overseas, will armed conflict among other nations likewise decline?

The fewer gold stars in front windows, everywhere, the better.