Memorial Day, 2020…

Pelosi and Schumer sent a letter to the White House requesting that President Donald Trump order flags be flown at half staff on public buildings once the United States death toll for COVID-19 reaches 100,000 people.  In response,  Trump sent out two  tweets that  outfoxed both Democrats.  They can’t object because that would reveal their hypocrisy and true motives.   it is unfortunate that most Americans do not know  the meaning  of Memorial Day.  Van Hipp  certainly does.  The former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army has penned an  excellent piece  pointing out that the celebrations will be markedly different this year,  but we are still subject to the same threats,  some increased.  We owe a debt to those who have fought and died to protect us and our country.   And if you risk confusion between memorial Day and Veterans Day,  read this.

In some small towns,  traditions continue  with some protective gear.   Such places give us the men who think we are worthy of their sacrifices.   I am not so certain we deserve that any more.  I  miss the  parades,  but I appreciate the virtual  celebrations.     I suppose the  definition  of “parade’ has changed.   As it does every year, Turner Classic Movies hosted a three day marathon featuring 31 movies.  Hollywood used to pay fitting tribute to our heroes;  now only TCM does.   Others  also stepped  up to observe the day.

Here’s  a link  to podcasts of the classical historian Victor Davis Hanson — do listen to all of them but please  start with “Special Episode-Warfare”.   Navy veteran and former deputy assistant secretary for the V.A.  ponders whether  we should celebrate or mourn the occasion   He asks some interesting questions,  but I have always celebrated the occasion for freedoms preserved,  and mourning the loss of so many lives.  Remind yourselves of  who you  think of and why.   I venture that neither man would agree with the New York Times piece that the U.S. military celebrates white supremacy.   You can read the  FOX view  of it here  ,  as I  doubt if your stomach can withstand the original.  You might think the old Grey lady would remember that the city’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial in lower Manhattan would not exist were it not for the  million-dollar  gift  of Donald Trump in 1984,  which was nearly half of the total raised for the project.

Remember the  dual sacrifices of African-American soldiers.   And hoist a glass in memory of the entertainers,  such as Marlene  Dietrich and Bob Hope,  who toured in some dangerous zones to lift the spirits of our troops.  For those who have difficulty with the concept of pride in past valor,  these lines  from Shakespeare’s “Henry V” offers a cogent explanation.   You should know that Memorial Day  was called  Decoration Day until 1971.  The  reasons  for the change are interesting.  And don’t think that because the observances are changed  they mean  less.  Thousands of musicians participated in “Taps” at 3 PM on the day to honor the fallen.   Matt Patricia,  the coach  of the Detroit Lions,  played Taps on his trumpet in high school.   Both his grandfathers served and he had plans to follow in their footsteps until a shoulder injury killed his dreams of becoming a pilot.   Rep. Michael Waltz,  a former Green Beret,  explains why every day if a Memorial Day for Gold Star families,  and reminds us to be worthy of their sacrifices.

A Chicago singer rented a cherry picker  to serenade  seniors.  You may remember U.S. Marine Staff Sergeant Tim Chambers from his hours-long continuous salute to rolling thunder on previous Memorial Days.    This year he stood on a busy Washington D.C. street corner in his dress blues for 24 hours over the weekend in order to raise awareness of veteran suicide.  At the beginning of the first hour, Chambers held a salute for 22 minutes to symbolize the 22 U.S. veterans who commit suicide every day,  on average. The salute dropped by one minute each hour,  working its way down to zero.   Try holding one of your arms up for 10 minutes and get an idea of how difficult and how painful it is — Chambers is himself a hero and a tough guy.

MSM will scarcely mention the Trumps’ traditional  wreath-laying  at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier  in Arlington Arlington National Cemetery, except for a few snide comments on the First lady’s stunning  white Gucci  coat.   She is a beautiful and gracious First Lady who has thankfully returned class and elegance to the White House.   For his part, President.  Trump gave a rousing speech at Fort McHenry in Baltimore,  Maryland,  ignoring the Mayor’s telling him  not to come.   Those who have the “rousing spirit”  he spoke of will have found it inspiring.

Let’s have some more inspiration  here  and   here,  shall we?   And finally,  I offer my apologies for this being a day late,  but not,  Ii hope,  a dollar short.  The pandemic reduced the customary activities and so changed them that the usual array of fun pictures were not available.  I went to the lake for a family gathering  which we all enjoyed tremendously.  We are a pretty close-knit bunch and long accustomed to seeing each other often,  which has been verboten for months,  so we were destined to be happy.  It didn’t hurt that there was plenty to eat and drink.  I hope you celebrated under circumstances which were at least relative agreeable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memorial Day 2019, part II

There was so much going on Monday that I missed a few items.   Rolling Thunder is apparently getting a  rather hefty  donation —  well-deserved I should add,  and the  saluting sergeant  was back again.

Sully,  the service dog of the late Pres. George H. W. Bush,  used his Instagram account  to comment  on the occasion.   Too many of us don’t even understand  the occasion.   Some who live elsewhere understand perfectly  and honor  our fallen.

Vice President Mike Pence  laid a wreath  at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.   President Trump was on  a ship deployed in the Pacific.   Some of the Marine aviators who  were wearing pro-Trump badges on the USS Wasp will earn a slap on the wrist for their antics.   It has always been  the soldier, not the politicians who steps forward for all of us,  and too many of them have died doing so.   The freedoms we  enjoy as Americans have often been purchased with their blood.   You owe them all your best efforts to retain those freedoms,  especially in  the face  of Hollywood ignorance.

We’ve always had  heroes fighting  for us.    We remain in peril,  so we  still need  them.   We always need women such as the  Twelve Anchors.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw makes it personal with  his remembrances  of his brother SEALs.   Complete strangers attended a Korean War veteran’s funeral because it was the right thing to do for  an old man  whose only family member could not be there due to ill health.   The Missing In America Project did right  by burying  42 unclaimed veterans.   A Catholic high school in Massachusetts  holds funerals  for homeless vets.

What amazes me is that this nation,  despite its trials and tribulations,  still manages to produce such heroes,  willing to give all for their countrymen.  Patriotism has become unfashionable,  but it is all the more necessary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memorial Day 2019

Charlie  Daniels is right  — the only two things protecting America are God and the U.S. military.    The standing not-quite-a-joke in my family is that my mother’s side signed the Declaration  of Independence and every generation of my father’s side has served in the military to protect it.   This post from Chuck Norris includes a  chart showing  the deaths in our nation’s wars.

Many people confuse Veterans Day,  which honors all who have served,  with Memorial Day,  which pays tribute  to the fallen.   It was originally called Decoration Day,  but it seems as if few people remember it by any name these days.   We are in more danger than you realize from the siren call of the something-for-nothing siren song of socialism because we have forgotten,  and too many of us do not wish to remember.   We are told that pride in one’s country is unpatriotic and old-fashioned and unmodern.   But none of that is particularly dangerous.   Forgetting is.

People join for many different reasons,  and they fight for a variety of reasons.   That  they do so  at all is astonishing.   Most veterans will simply say they wanted to serve.   They did,  but it was generally more complicated than that.   A dear friend once told me that bravery was remarkable because it was so rare.

A  boot display  for the fallen is one way of not forgetting.   I have attended several,  and always found them poignant,  even if I knew none of the honorees.   The empty boots are oddly full of life,  representing lives cut short,  but also courage displayed and promises kept.   If you can witness this and remain unmoved,  you have a heart of stone and no appreciation of history.

Likewise,  if you can watch  Rolling Thunder  on TV  and not be affected,  you haven’t paid attention in a long time.  I have missed my chance to attend in person this protest/rally/memorial service,  because this 32nd one will be the group’s last.     Taking its name from the Vietnam bombing campaign,  the advocacy group began in 1988,  seeking to bring full accountability for POWs and MIAs of all U.S. wars.   In case you don’t know,  the U.S. government did not wish to be accountable.   The four founders didn’t know at the time that Senators John McCain and John Kerry would be such effective opponents.   I salute them and hope the local and overseas chapters  continue to  hold rides.   I will miss seeing the indefatigable  U.S. Marine Tim Chambers salute the riders as they pass.  Perhaps Pres. Trump will  be able  to help.

I suspect there will always be  a contingent  of Green Berets who visit Arlington National Cemetery every year to pay their respects to their fallen comrades.  By the way,  the Union government thought it was conveying a great insult to the Lee family by burying Union generals in the front yard of the Lee home,  and this after it had  essentially stolen  the property.  But I think Robert E. Lee has the last laugh —  his home is now the final resting place of many heroes.

I will be eating too much,  hoisting a beer or two (it is scorching hot across the South this year) and keeping a watchful eye on the youngsters paddling in the lake while I lounge in the shade and pray for a nice little breeze to stave off heat-stroke.  I hope your Memorial Day is full of fun and family and friends and food,  and that you spare a thought for those who have died to protect the nation.

 

 

 

 

 

Memorial Day 2017, No. 2…

I would have posted this on the day a week ago,  but I was surprised by the paucity of hits on the topic and decided to do some real searching.   It was not terribly encouraging.

Originally  known as  Decoration Day,  and intended to honor the dead of the war Between the States,  Memorial Day has always been based on military personnel whose lives were cut short by their service to their country.

Many Presidents have issued remarks on the occasion,  and most of them have acknowledged the ties between patriotism and Christianity,  as did our nation’s founders.   I included  this piece  because John Witherspoon was one of my ancestors.   Former President George W. Bush used social media to  pay tribute  to those who protect us.   Current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson  joined the  nearly one million motorcycles which made up this year’s Rolling Thunder  ride from the Pentagon to the National Mall and the Vietnam Memorial.   Conservative Treehouse has a very funny comparison of  Tillerson and Obama’s first Secretary of State John Kerry. President Trump had  no problem  negotiating the throngs of riders to reach the tomb of the Unknown Soldier,  a fact which garnered almost no notice from big media.

An Army veteran and current employee of Fort Bragg is using 7,000 combat boots  to memorialize the fallen.   We should remember the fallen  —  all of  them,  from  every era.   They remain  forever young,  but they live on as long as someone remembers them,  says their name,  tells a story about them.   We should not forget what the survivors of the  conflicts  were promised either.   Haven’t we allowed them to be lied to long enough?

Robert Curry has an  interesting piece  about what should be our common purpose,  but he appears to forget that progressives have never believed in the Constitution or Bill of Rights,  or indeed in the very notion of  America itself.   Vox chose this day  to trash  the Marine Corps.   The piece stands out only because everyone else was busy bashing President Trump and conservatives instead.   Apparently they can not break themselves of Obama’s eight-year long habit of blaming President George W. Bush for everything.

President Nixon’s  observations  seem at once prescient and hopelessly optimistic.   For too many Americans,  Memorial Day engenders no remembrance,  but makes a fine excuse to eat and drink.   Use these eleven quotes on  them.   Happily some of us  still make  the effort.

My general observation is that the small towns still honor Memorial Day, but the big cities do not.   If the latter condescend to even mention the occasion,  they turn it into something else and awful.  The wide spots in the road,  where so many of our military personnel come from, still have parades and speeches and fly flags proudly.

There are many ways to remember the fallen.   You can watch some politically  incorrect movies.   You could contribute to one of the groups which help their families,  or that lobby for veterans’ benefits,  but if you have a more personal connection,  here’s a guide to what  the coins  laid atop the tombstones of some graves mean.   Add to them,  for all of us,  won’t you?

 

 

 

 

Memorial Day 2017…

We were due for rain,  but have thus far escaped it,  so we’re busy on the grill and at the coolers and the antique ice cream churn,  which is a grand way to wear the youngsters out while ensuring a great increase in their appreciation for ice cream.   In other words,  I’m having a fine Memorial Day with family and friends.   I’ll update this later,  but have  a couple  of timely cartoons  for now,  plus an overview of  Trump’s speech and how to keep  from confusing  Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

 

Memorial Day 2016…

Vandals have been busy this weekend,  at  Petersburg National  Battlefield,  the  Vietnam War   Memorial in Venice,  a  Purple Heart plant bed,  in Anniston, Alabama,  and  in Henderson  where they have caught the culprit.   The Chicago Tribune ran an ad luring subscribers,   but  featuring the  U.S. flag backwards.

On the other side,  we have U.S. Army Rangers in Afghanistan  singing for us,  Steve  McCann giving  thanks, and officers aboard the U.S.S. Bataan saluting the  new greatest generation.   These  four veterans  serve in Congress,  and we are lucky to have them.   When they talk about war,  everyone should listen attentively.   Some families have made stupendous sacrifices for  their country through the years.

Valerie Strauss educates us on  the difference  between Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day.   Walt Whitman wrote about  the reasons  for this day many years ago.   Considering how poorly  people did  on Jesse Watter’s quiz,  many of us could use the information,  since schools apparently don’t teach such politically incorrect nonsense any more.

A tiny community in Illinois has given Civil War soldiers their identities back by  obtaining new  headstones for their graves.   My ancestors were mostly on the opposite side,  but all who served deserve honor and remembrance.

James Roberts sees this Memorial Day  as different  from others.   The rather poisonous atmosphere may be different,   but the occasion is the same for me.   How did you celebrate?   Are you at the lake or beach in party mode,  or have you  spared a thought  for the meaning of the day during the festivities?   Did you buy  your flags  yet,  or are you waiting for Flag Day or July 4th?

James Pinkerton offers a  lovely tribute  to Arlington,  calling it his church.   End with Pres. Ronald Reagan’s  inspiring words,  rendered by the Hillsdale College choir.

 

 

 

 

 

The saluting Marine…

With Memorial Day coming up,  I thought you’d like to know more about the Marine  veteran who spends hours in full dress uniform saluting the riders of Rolling Thunder.

Marine Staff Sergeant Tim Chambers has been doing this since 2002,  and he’ll be back again this year.   Oorah!

 

 

Memorial Day 2013…Part I

If His Oneness actually believed any of the things  he said in  his speech,  I would be happy.   Since I know he does not,  the fine words are wasted on me.   Unfortunately,  too many people  share his  lack of respect for the day and those who have fallen,  be they thieves or those looking to  make a buck  off those who do care,  or the  merely disinterested.   How different all that is when compared to a former Commander-in-Chief who  actually respects  the men and women of the military.

The national cemeteries in Houston  were covered  because of volunteers.   So were  many others.   Memorial Day is a somber one,  but it  need not be  a sad one only.   It is primarily a day of gratitude for me  —  gratitude that so many of my family has served in the military and that so many of them have come home,  from the Revolutionary War through the present day.   I am grateful for those who thought their country worth their time and sacrifice,  and I marvel anew that in a nation run by the greedy,  corrupt,  and incompetent,  starting with the Oval Office,  we still produce young men and women willing to put themselves in harm’s way.

Memorial 2011…

Rich Terrell  has posted  Lee Teter’s poignant painting of the Vietnam wall for May 30th.      Most of us have friends whose names are chiseled there and in our hearts.

The New York Post offers a look  back to Shakespeare,  and a  modern Gold Star mother’s view.   The New York Times,  unsurprisingly, makes a  political statement  in its remembrance,   as does  the Washington Post.   The Baltimore Sun provides the history of the day  with less political content,  as does The Washington Times,  here.

It’s an American day,  not just for big sales and shopping and picnics,  but for those who are  buried far away  from their birthplaces.

Drop by The Corner at National Review Online for some lovely personal remembrances   and some excellent videos.   David Mills writes  of old men  who deserve our gratitude,  and a modern warrior  looks back   from his civilian life to his recent military past.   A civilian reflects on her brother’s call and includes one  of my favorite descriptions of the military   – —   “Our job is to go to work when diplomacy fails.”

And let us not forget the  dogs of war,  many of whom have both saved human lives and given their own lives protecting those who protect us.   The general rule of thumb is that each dog saves 150 human lives.  Thank goodness they are no longer treated as “surplus property” to be left behind or otherwise disposed of.

UPDATE:    John Hayward has  a fine column  up on history being the soldier’s gift.   Mike Finch points us  to a book  on Marine General Victor Krulak,  which I have already added to my summer reading list.

A  Gallup poll  finds that retired and active military don’t view His Oneness as the Greatest.   They should know.

Remember the brave…

Read this  moving tribute to one of the fallen.   Unlike Gary Palmer,   I have known people who have died in action,  and it does make this Memorial Day a bit more special,  even though every generation of my family has seen military service,  including the current crop of 18 and overs.

h/t Quin Hillyer at The American Spectator,  who’s a friend of the author.