Remember the veterans -- and remember, always, why this day is this day. Take two minutes at 11:00 to think of the fallen and those they left behind.
I'd write more, but I don't think I could better my earlier fictional effort about one veteran. Remember, it's often a very long trip back to a place that's never quite the same.
(Another angle: Wilfred Owen poem, from WW I)
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
6 comments:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
I went to Tennyson and Kipling and the Light Brigade. Seems we never learn from History nor good stories as the British Empire fled so must Superpower America, we were so much better once. Thank you for your service, of the meaningful remembrance - it is Remembrance Day in Canada. Pretty ceremonies and bagpipes in the cold.
WE SHOULD REMEMBER ALL OF OUR VETERANS
FOR 70 YEARS THE USA HAS VIRTUALLY IGNORED THE VALOR SERVICE AND SACRIFICE OF 240,000 ITS SONS(AND SOME DAUGHTERS)I REFER TO TO THE FORGOTTEN HEROES OF WWII THE US MERCHANT MARINER
THEY SUFFERED THE HIGHEST CASUALTIES OF ANY SERVICE GROUP 1 IN 18 KIA AS COMPARED TO 1 IN 43 FOR ALL OTHER FORCES
142 CADET-MIDSHIPMEN FROM THE USMM ACADEMY WERE KIA NO OTHER SERVICE ACADEMY SENT ITS UNDERGRADUATES TO DIE IN WAR
FOR THE MOST PART THEIR STORY REMAINS UNKNOWN TO MOST OF THE PUBLIC EXCEPT FOR A FEW FOOT NOTES HISTORY CLASS
RARELY REMEMBERS THEM
THEY SERVED IN EVERY THEATER OF OPERATIONS DELIVERING THE IMPLEMENTS OF WAR FUEL AND FOOD WHICH SUSTAINED OUR TROOPS OUR ALLIES AND WENT ON TO FEED A HUNGRY WORLD OFTEN WITHOUT ADEQUATE PROTECTION OR ESCORT THE CASUALTIES WERE HORRENDOUS
THEY WERE CONSIDERED COMBATANTS AND WERE TREATED AS SUCH BY OUR ENEMIES AND SUBJECT TO THE ARTICLES OF WAR MERCHANT MARINERS WERE SUBJECT TO THE DRAFT DESPITE MANY WHO SERVED WERE TOO YOUNG OR OLD OR WERE CONSIDERED "4-F" FOR MILITARY SERVICE THEY SERVED
THEY NOT ONLY HAD TO FACE THE WRATH OF THE ENEMY BUT THE WRONGFUL TREATMENT OF GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS AND THE PUBLIC AT LARGE "THERE'S A WAR ON" WAS THE USUAL EXCUSE FOR THIS DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOR
UNTIL A WISE DECISION OF THE FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT OF JANUARY 1988 GAVE PARTIAL RELIEF THEY WERE NOT CONSIDERED VETERANS OF WWII BY OUR GOVERNMENT BUT SOME 5000 WERE LEFT OUT THE SPLENDID SETTLEMENT !
AN HONORABLE DISCHARGE CERTIFICATE
A FLAG FOR THEIR COFFINS AND A GRAVE MARKER CONGRESS CONFERRED MEDALS THEIR VALOR WON MERCHANT MARINERS OR THEIR NEXT OF KIN MUST PAY FOR THEIR HONORABLE DISCHARGE AND ORIGINAL ISSUANCE OF A DECORATION FROM A GRATEFUL NATION
THE AMERICAN BATTLE MONUMENTS COMMISSION REFUSES TO PLACE NAMES RANKS OR STATE OF ORIGIN ON THE MONUMENTS IT MAINTAINS WORLD WIDE
ON HOLIDAYS AND PATRIOTIC OCCASIONS THE MERCHANT MARINE'S SONG "HEAVE HO MY LADS HEAVE HO!" IS LEFT OUT OF THE "SALUTE TO THE SERVICES MEDLEY" WHEN HONORS ARE RENDERED
YOU WONT FIND GRAVES OF MERCHANT MARINERS AMIDST THE MANICURED LAWNS OF ARLINGTON THEIR BONES LIE SCATTERED
OVER THE OCEANS OF THE WORLD
OUR WAR TIME MERCHANT MARINERS DESERVE
FAR BETTER THAN THEY RECEIVED AT THE HANDS OF A GRATEFUL NATION WW I ARE FORGOTTEN THERE ARE A FEW WWII LEFT
THE GOVERNMENT PURPOSELY UNDERCOUNTED WARTIME CASUALTIES "LOST" THE CASUALTIES FIGURES FROM KOREA AND HAVE IGNORED THE VIETNAM KIAS
IF YOU KNOW THE HISTORY THE TREATMENT OF MERCHANT MARINERS CAUSES CONSIDERABLE PAUSE AT THE HYPOCRISY
OF MANY
Roberta,
That short story is amazing. Thanks for pointing it out, I don't know how I missed it the first time. You couldn't be more right, you don't ever really get to go home again.
JOS
Thank you, JOS. I am humbled by the response to that story from guys who have "seen the elephant."
And a whole bunch of troops died on the 11th just before 11am because ol Gen BlackJack wanted to prove a point by sending his army across no mans land knowing that the war was ending at 11am.
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