Saturday, 24 May 2008
 

Please remember our KIAs this weekend
Contributed by Bill Faith

Before you rush off to the beach this weekend, won't you take a few minutes to remember those who've made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms? I'm not much of a writer any more but I've done some posts in the past I think are worth mentioning again. My favorites:

I also can't let you miss:

See more of my past Memorial Day posts here and here, and some previous related Old War Dogs posts here.

New this year on other sites:

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 24, 2008 at 12:18 AM in Memorial Day | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack


Monday, 28 May 2007
 

Our Memorial Day Collection
Contributed by Bill Faith

Please click here to see all of our Memorial Day posts on one page. You might also want to click here to see some things I've posted on Bill's Bites without copying them to Old War Dogs.

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 28, 2007 at 11:59 PM in Memorial Day | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Winners and Losers
Contributed by J D

J. D. Pendry

“O beautiful for heroes proved,
in liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life…”
- O Beautiful for Spacious Skies, Katharine L Bates, 1904

Small American flags dotted the cemetery, each of them marking the resting place of a Veteran. The cemetery caretakers place them there. A small, solitary flag is all that marked some graves. Maybe their visitors would come later in the day.

Each time I take in that scene I cannot help but wonder, without Americans such as these “who more than self their country loved”, where might we be today? Or, what might we be? Their sacrifices throughout our history have allowed us to live free and prosper. They are winners, “heroes proved”, all of them. They were winners when winning mattered.

Read the rest:

Contributed by J D on May 28, 2007 at 04:23 PM in Caring about our troops, J D Pendry, Memorial Day | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Rest in peace, Mac. Semper Fi.
Contributed by Bill Faith

Unknown USMC

The chaplain wore no helmet,
his head was bowed in prayer.
his face was seamed with sorrow,
but a trace of hope was there.

Our ranks were hushed and silent,
and diminished by our loss.
At our feet, the rows of crosses
told how much a battle cost.

Rows of neat, white wooden crosses
and Stars of David too,
marked the grave sites of our brothers
whose fighting days were through.

Friends of mine were lying there;
Ski, and Ace, and Slim,
Bo, and Jack, Bill and Joe,
Dusty, Tex, and Jim.

Each had a simple marker,
but the closest one to me
was a plain white wooden headboard
marked “Unknown USMC”.

In this final camp of comrades
it was somehow strange and odd,
that a man should lie among them
known to none except his God.

Who can he be, I wondered.
Was he white or black or red?
This man who shares a resting place
with our loved and honored dead.

He cannot be a stranger
but a friend whose lonely track
has brought him here among us.
I think I’ll call him Mac.

Mac is a name we often use,
and it’s been used on me.
Far better than the epitaph,
“Unknown USMC”.

So many times I heard it
in the blackness of the night.
Through the swirling mist of combat,
with a battle at its height.

“Hey Mac” a voice would call,
“We could use some help out here.
I’ve got a man that’s wounded.
Can you get him to the rear?”

“Hey Mac, I’m really burning up.
The suns so blazing hot-
Could you spare a drop of water?
Gee thanks Mac, thanks a lot.”

The day when I was wounded,
hurt and lying in the snow,
a cigarette offered to me
by a man I didn’t know.

He quickly stopped the bleeding
and rolled me on my back,
grinned and gripped his rifle,
and said, “Take it easy Mac”.

A simple word. A simple name.
but still it proves to me,
that no man ever really is
“Unknown USMC”.

The chaplain prayer is finished,
our colors gently dip,
the rifle squad is ready;
the bugler wets his lips.

With blurry eye and saddened heart
I hear the rifles crack.
Taps floats softly on the air
- I say goodbye to Mac

Anonymous

Blatantly stolen from the comments here after "Theresa, MSgt (ret), USAF" copied it to the comments here. I was able to Google it up on a couple of other sites but none that appeared to have any ownership rights.

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 28, 2007 at 04:20 PM in Memorial Day | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Today is Memorial Day....
Contributed by antimedia

....the day that America remembers her fallen, those men and woman who have selflessly given their lives in the cause of freedom — from the beginnings of our country to the present day. It is a day for reflection not recrimination, a day for mourning not politics, a day for thinking about what makes America great.

The men and women of this country who have given their lives in the cause of freedom are not supermen or a special genetic class gifted with a super gene of courage. They are and were ordinary Americans, from every walk of life, who, when confronted with terrifying options, chose to risk their lives in the service of their country and to save and protect their fellow warriors.

Many Americans live selfless lives of sacrifice, toiling away in anonymity, building this country brick by brick, story by story. America's heroes are their inspiration, their hope. Their stories, and the greatness of this country that those stories represent, are what drives others to work long hours and sacrifice for their families.

When you read the stories of Medal Of Honor recipients (they are not winners!), you are struck by the similarity of their stories. Without regard for their personal safety and fully aware of the extreme danger which they were encountering, they pressed forward toward a goal; taking a ridge, saving a buddy, destroying the enemy, defending their position.

From the famous, and even legendary, to the unknown and the almost forgotten, from youngsters who lied to enlist to aged warriors fighting in their nth conflict, from the dispossessed to the disenfranchised, these men and women exemplified the best of America; the willingness to take on insurmountable odds, the refusal to accept defeat under the worst of circumstances, the indomitable spirit that built this great country and sustains it still.

All of these are values we, as Americans, should not only celebrate but strive to emulate. When we refuse to celebrate the lives and sacrifices of these men and women, when we allow others to denigrate them and insult them, when we ignore them and don't think about what their lives mean to us personally, we cheapen America. Bit by bit, piece by piece, we chip away at the edifice these men and women fought to defend.

Abraham Lincoln, who himself gave his life for this country, once said, "Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure." His words, spoken more than a century ago, are more important now than at any time in our history.

This nation cannot long survive if it continues to forget what, and who, made it great.

Crossposted at Media Lies.

Contributed by antimedia on May 28, 2007 at 03:42 PM in Antimedia, Memorial Day | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Saturday, 26 May 2007
 

Don't let them be forgotten
Contributed by Bill Faith

Don't forget to take some time between beers this weekend to remember our POWs and MIAs. This would also be an excellent time to discover Marsha's new blog I'm still in the process of putting the finishing touches on; click here.

A Mother’s Tears
Marsha Burks-Megehee, 2003

A mother’s tears were shed today
For a battle long ago;
Her precious gift to a warrior son
Whose fate she’ll never know.

Not heroes’ shiny medals
For courage through their fears,
No ribboned badge of honor
Can match a mother’s tears.

A mother’s tears are courage.
A mother’s tears are hope;
For the babe once at her bosom,
Led away in captive’s rope.

Her badge of honor, “Mother’s Tears“,
More precious than the gold
In all the gleaming medals
Of heroes, brave and bold.

A mother’s tears forever
Undimmed by grief and years,
Never tarnish….never fade,
“God’s Diamonds….A Mother’s Tears!”

Marsha Burks-Megehee, 2003

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 26, 2007 at 01:54 PM in Marsha Burks Megehee, Memorial Day, Poetry | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Three for a long weekend
Contributed by Bill Faith

Read 'em in order. One today, one tomorrow and one Monday maybe.

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 26, 2007 at 12:17 AM in Caring about our troops, Memorial Day | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Friday, 25 May 2007
 

Fred Thompson remembers on a Memorial Day Weekend
Contributed by Bill Faith

I Remember
Fred Dalton Thompson

I remember when I was a kid; one thing was clear to me. The more I learned about the rest of the world, the luckier I felt just having been born in America. The more I learned about America, the more I appreciated what those who came before us built; and how exceptional they were.

Not that there aren't other great places to live, but America is unique. It's not just that we are the freest and most prosperous county the world has ever seen. America has also freed more people than any other nation in history.

A lot of people have done their part to see that we are blessed with the advantages we enjoy -- from hardworking pioneer mothers to the Framers of the Constitution. Memorial Day is coming up, though, and I'm thinking more about American soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice -- those who died to protect our way of life and make the world safe for democracy.  ...

Read the whole thing, or listen to Sen. Thompson read it, here.

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 25, 2007 at 09:38 PM in Decision '08, Fred Thompson, Memorial Day | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Thursday, 24 May 2007
 

Decoration Day
Contributed by J D

J. D. Pendry

We still call it Decoration Day here in Wild Wonderful. Many of us will visit a cemetery this weekend and pay our respects to those who have stood final muster and answered their last recall. I’ll visit my Father, WWII Navy Veteran Hudson Grey Pendry. Most of our youngsters don’t know about this special day and what it represents. Take the opportunity this weekend to forget politicians and their antics. Instead, take time to visit a cemetery and reserve some time in your mind and heart for people who truly deserve our thoughts. Take time to educate a youngster about Memorial Day. Tell them why we must remember the Men and Women who have sacrificed so that we can remain a free nation.

As you remember those who’ve served and sacrificed, take a moment and a knee and give thanks for those who are serving and sacrificing now.

Please have a safe Memorial Day Weekend.

Franklin Roosevelt's D-Day Prayer

June 6, 1944

My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong.

He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas -- whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them--help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces. And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith.

Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men.

And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

Contributed by J D on May 24, 2007 at 07:00 PM in Caring about our troops, J D Pendry, Memorial Day, Patriotism | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Coming Monday: The National Memorial Day Parade
Contributed by Bill Faith

Click the image to learn all about it and check out the way cool photo gallery. (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin)

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 24, 2007 at 04:07 PM in Caring about our troops, Memorial Day, Patriotism | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack