Memorial Day originated as Decoration Day after the Civil War, established as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers and flags.
It is the rare family who does not have fathers, uncles, cousins, brothers or sisters who served – or are serving – in our armed forces, who have pledged to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
Most families have lost loved ones in the line of duty. My family was lucky; all of our soldiers and sailors came home.
On Memorial Day we remember those who fought and gave their lives in service to our country. As Abraham Lincoln said,
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
As I put out my flag today, I will remember all who gave their lives in service to the United States of America, and in defense of their fellow citizens. God bless them.
Stella's Place 
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Sonevyears ago, before 911, a Navy vet and I were tasked to come up with a theme for Memorial Day at our USDA facility. It was a sort of pro forma thing, best not have someone report to USDA Hqs that our facility didn’t play the ‘honor the vets’ game. The theme we shopped was almost EXACTLY this poster, a lengthwise B&W picture of D-Day with the soldiers’ bodies bobbing in the waves with the ‘Memorial Day, the summer’s first day at the beach’ tag.
Needless to say it was turned down, too gruesome and unnecessarily realistic, they wanted some unoffensive flag-with-saluting-military theme. USDA wasn’t much for vets, they hired a disabled vet they could usevto mert the numbers and fought with Reservists/Guard like cats and dogs about drills and summer camps that interfered with the agency’s work schedule, even broadly hinted it would bebetter for careers if Reserve/Guard members quit and dedicated their time to the USDA. When 911 came around it got even worse.
Who’d have ever thought the Federal government would be talking out of both sides of its mouth?
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Reblogged this on hocuspocus13 and commented:
jinxx🇺🇸xoxo
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Very nice thread, Stella. 🙂 We lost my uncle, my father’s younger brother. His plane went down in Italy, I think it was.
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Cousin, shot down over Cambodia.
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A Hero
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/lingering-bullet-wound-kills-st-louis-area-army-vet-years/article_74543d37-6f1f-591c-a184-3fda10b47e65.html
Take Care and God Bless them all
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JUST A COMMON SOLDIER
(A Soldier Died Today)
by A. Lawrence Vaincourt
He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.
And tho’ sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we’ll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world’s a little poorer, for a soldier died today.
He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won’t note his passing, though a soldier died today.
When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.
Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?
A politician’s stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.
It’s so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.
Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?
He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier’s part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor while he’s here to hear the praise,
Then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,
Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.
In memory of my Dad – Navy WWII – wounded on Okinawa
My Father in Law Ray – Marines WWII – wounded on Okinawa
Uncle Fred – Army WWII
Uncle Elmer – Army Air Corp WWII – wounded over Europe
And to all those who served Our Country and are no longer with us.
God Bless them all
Take Care
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Tell me about it…
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Old enough to remember Armistice Day? How about Confederate Memorial Day in the South? Confederate Memorial Day has passed in most of the South, the day varies by state, but Kentucky, Louisiana and Tennessee will celebrate on June 3rd.
Due to the date of MLK Day floating around, Texas celebrated MLK Day and Confederate Memorial Day on the same day in 2015. As an aside, in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi MLK Day is celebrated in conjunction with Rober E. Lee’s birthday. Until 2000 Virginia combined MLK Day with Lee-Jackson Day calling the day Lee-Jackson-King Day but revisionist forces prevailed and…
Confederate dead soldiers are no less deserving of recognition than those of any other war.
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Exactly. I’m off to the cemetery in a bit, myself. There’s a really old, old cemetery that I’d give money to wander through (here in town) and spend time….. the old stones are AMAZING…. but it’s in a part of town where I’d be the fly in the buttermilk, so to speak – so I haven’t, yet. I’m SURE there’s some Confederate graves in that one.
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Ya gotta phrasevthat better than: ” I’m off to the cemetery in a bit, myself.”
We have interesting cemetaries in New Orleans, the ones you usually see, but we have others, especially the old Jewish ones, that are equally interesting. Also have tha fly/buttermilk problem but you can go armed. Park Service has ‘safety in numbers’ mass tourist tours of some of the old downtown cemetaries closer to indian territory (is that still PC?).
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Of course, not, it should be Indigenous People’s territory. No, wait, that doesn’t work either, because before they came, they weren’t there either. 😯
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Or ‘Lands of the Native/First Americans Stolen Through the Perfidious Actions of White Europeans’.
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Yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket.
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Lovitz firstvsight…
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LOL!!!! Yes, I’ve taken a tour through the Lafayettes…. how many – 3?? Anyhoo, I love old cemeteries.
I, myself, shall not join one. I’m doin’ the “scattered to the winds” thing anywhere my child goes on vacation. Beaches!!! 😀
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Bingo, rather be toasted and scattered on my farm. A fewcyears back a news crew caught pix of the City pulling coffins from the public mausoleums and putting them into dumpsters to be transported to the dumps. Seems you only get a few years in the city’s coffers before they toss you and rerent the space. I’d rather be out with the trees than eventually end up with the banana peels and old phone books.
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😯
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I love the cemeteries, especially old ones. Especially in November, the month when we Catholics pray especially for the dead, I often walk in the cemeteries and say a rosary. As strange as that is, it’s my favorite place to pray.
And I’m very close to Chickamauga Battlefield where many, so many, died. Just a couple of miles away from us is the old church that has just always been known as the Old Stone Church. It was a field hospital. After the battle wounded soldiers began making their way to Chattanooga and for days, maybe weeks, there were lines of wounded soldiers helping and carrying more wounded soldiers strung out for many miles, and the dying lay in fields and along the roads and in houses if people could take them in and help.
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OMG. Get the smelling salts! I couldn’t have just heard this. 😯 He must have needed a wheelbarrow to wheel his Pinnochio nose off the stage. SMH
Ash Carter: “THEY KNOW THAT NOT ONE OF THEM, NOT ONE, EVER WILL BE LEFT BEHIND, that every effort will be made to bring them home, no matter how long it takes………………………. We can be certain of our strength, of our success, and of our hope, because our troops today make up the finest fighting force the world has ever known. A force of this caliber demands great leaders, and there is no doubt that they have one in the Commander in Chief. I see firsthand how clearly he understands the challenges we face and the obligations we must meet to keep our nation safe and make a better world. And, above all, I witness the unending concern he has for our men in uniform, their families, their safety, their dignity, their welfare. And, the boundless care with which he makes decisions that put them in harm’s way.”
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Was McCain sitting in the first row with a big smile on his face?
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They only showed the despicable Faus-POTUS, etc., behind the microphone.
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Yeah, probably didn’t want you to see the ‘Liars Club Roasts Obama’ banners.
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LOL Yeah, probably.
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It is a shame that his tongue didn’t burst into flames.
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Memorial Day? Oh wait, let’s hear from the trash at CAIR about how they feel about Memorial Day. Since they’re so set on demeaning US soldiers why don’t they pack up their little rugs, their burkas and cloven-hoofed pals and shuffle off back to their little dirt-filled desert hovels and take up arms instead of insults. Be a mensch and stand up instead of hiding behind the US laws and the soldiers thry hate so much. What next, POtuS, will you have the CDC declare the various flu strains ‘federally protected infections’ too?
https://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/cair-official-stands-memorial-day-criticism-us-troops
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CAIR can go to hell.
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Fine by me, let’s start a collection.
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For my Dad, Uncle, and Mr.Jim, and Bill. All served in WW2 brought the scars home and continued too serve our Country. “Ask not what your Country can do for you, ask what you can do
for Country “.
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