We salute them and honor you, their survivors, for their "last full measure" of sacrifice, devotion, and courage.

This is the changing of the guard (3rd Regiment, the "Old Guard," US Army at the Tomb Of the Unknown Soldier--9 minutes worth taking the time for:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4utXb3auOew

The routine is precise down to 1/64th of an inch. Think of this as a 9-minute video meditation. There's also this:

https://washington.org/sites/default/files/michaeldphotos-marine-corps-memorial-sunset_mydccool-homepage-07.06.jpg

And lastly, this (Gettysburg):

http://i.gettysburgdaily.com/imgs/NatCem070111/NatCem07011123.jpg

I trust there's a designated day for honoring your countrymen who gave their all.

He’s had 50 years of a slow and hideous death from Agent Orange poisoning.

I may have read his obit last night in the SLTrib. Words don’t suffice.

A moving tribute at the Grave of the Unknown that symbolizes every soldier who has given his life in service to the country.

I have stood many times at the red poppoy framed grave of Britain's Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey and have read the inscription and thought of a cousin buried in Normandy. The soldier buried there in there abbey was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor while the soldier buried at Arlington was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military honor.

My uncle, who's name I carry, died in Italy in WW2 wearing a Canadian uniform. I honor him every November 11. Remembrance Day here.

Same in Britain where, st the risk of sounding critical, it is a more reverent day not partly refocused as a holiday. Today my mind goes back to all those American boys I saw on the streets of London during the war and after.

It is sobering to stand in the cemetery at Omaha Beach and view the sea of white crowds there. Equally for me to be at the Last Post ceremony performed every night of the year at the Menin Gate in Ypres looking up at rows and rows and rows of the names of the 50,000 remembered there of whom no trace was ever found. Nothing but respect from this child of the blitz.

I remember taking a tour of Oxford University once and seeing in the entryway to one of the colleges--Christ's Church?--a lapidary list of all the students who died in WW1. It humanized the loss of what must have been a high percentage of the college's population.

Devastating.

My uncle Andy is buried in Gradara War Cemetery on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Always wanted to visit his grave.

My two Great Uncles on my Mother's side missing, presumed dead during WW1. Her father, my grandfather, badly damaged by PTSD (shellshock.)

And my other grandfather died very early (his early 40s) as a result of lung damage during a gas attack.

All served in various British military regiments.

My Uncle, who also wore a Canadian uniform, died on D-day. He lived in Lethbridge before he was sent to eastern Canada for training.
When I was a kid I remember the family still grieving over his loss.

Mom said grandma never got over losing her son. Grandma died 4 year later broken hearted.

There were 13 in my graduating high school class that did not have the money for college. They were immediately drafted and died a little over 6 months later in nam. I went to so many unfair funerals.

If you are not currently serving, planning to enlist or a Veteran - why not?

Most excuses don't hold up on any level other than "chicken".

I like the Seventh Day Adventist 'excuse'. They take the "thou shalt not kill" commandment as gospel.

So when drafted, they were content to serve as medics. ...bunch of chicken-hearted Christians! Rag on their chicken-hearted butts, JoeSmith666!! Give'em heckie-poo!!

elderolddog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I like the Seventh Day Adventist 'excuse'. They
> take the "thou shalt not kill" commandment as
> gospel.
>
> So when drafted, they were content to serve as
> medics. ...bunch of chicken-hearted Christians!
> Rag on their chicken-hearted butts, JoeSmith666!!
> Give'em heckie-poo!!


You put it here. They served as Medics.
They did serve when it was necessary.

Wasn't Desmond Doss, Medal of Honor recipient at Hacksaw Ridge, an Adventist?

Not keen on war movies, I knew nothing about Desmond Doss. I'm glad you made me look him up. He was a Seventh Day Adventist...

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/private-first-class-desmond-thomas-doss-medal-of-honor#:~:text=Doss%2C%20born%20in%201919%2C%20was,Adventist%2C%20he%20observed%20on%20Saturday.

He was never the same.

I never met them. They are buried at the Punch Bowl in Hawaii.

Not for the US but I had a g-grandfather on my father's side who died with Napoleon's army in Russia. The winter was cold and they starved and froze. We have this idea of only young men going to war, but the French were sending men well into their fifties and older at the time. It was an army of Senior Citizens.

For a good idea of what that war was like, read The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier. What a brutal war that was.

Mother - Army
Father.- Navy
Brother - Coast Guard
Brother - Marines (only he died while serving)

I ALMOST went into the Air Force (just to close it out, ya know). But as I got older, I changed my mind.

And I hate it when people say, "Happy Memorial Day."

Um. People died. It's not a celebration.