Memorial Day~My 2 cents

Steve2010

Ask a random sampling "What are you doing this weekend?" Bet not one person says "Remembering our fallen".


My thanks for those that served before me, with me, and after me. You will never be forgotten.
(Picture borrowed from a friend)

marineatbn03

Amen brother. Hope you can enjoy the most of it where you are. And thank you for what you do.

0patience

marineatbn03:

Amen brother. Hope you can enjoy the most of it where you are. And thank you for what you do.

+1000

skweekz

Absolutely, and sadly, true. For me personally, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day and the Fourth of July are more important than my birthday. Without the efforts and sacrifices of those brothers and sisters before us, none of anything we live/believe would be possible. I'm proud to be an American veteran.

marineatbn03

Thank you to all the vets! Present and past.

aeon_spiral@yahoo.com

coming from an Army brat i gotta say Thank you for all of you and your sacrifices so that i can have my family and enjoy the little things in life. Family friends beer and cigars. Thank you.

aeon_spiral@yahoo.com

"freedom isnt free, no there's a hefty fuckin fee" as funny as where i got this quote from many truly dont pay any attention to the truth in that statement.

jj20030

GOB BLESS OUR TROOPS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE ! motley crue " if i die tomorrow "video CLICKHERE

Rhamlin

Went and cleaned graves today and put down fresh flowers for my wife's brother and father both marines then sat down with my dads ashes and told him how much he was missed and loved.

Poker Slob

My father was a WWII vet. I think about him every day, as well as my mother and others I have known who are no longer among us. I currently live 4 blocks from Fort Logan National Cemetery, and see the flag at half staff daily due the ceremonies for the vets that have passed away. I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday, but please...never forget.

james40

Thanks for putting things into perspective Steve. Thank You to all of the past, present, and future members of the armed forces. You are appreciated.

marineatbn03

Happy Memorial Day. To all those that have paid the ultimate sacrific for freedom, you will not be forgotten. And to you I say Semper Fi and Blue Sky's my friends. To all of you that still find yourself in harms way and those that have worn the uniform, I say thank you for doing what you do and being who you are. And to all of those that I have known and lost, I say rest in peace warriors, and may you secure those golden gates until I meet up with you.

xmacro

There was a tradition back in the 1920's, where people would give out red creche flowers, made to look like poppy flowers. The reason was for WWI soldiers on memorial day, and it was a reference to a poem, In Flanders' Field. Here's the background:

McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem:

Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.

As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.

It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:

"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."

One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.

The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.

In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.

A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."

When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:

"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."

In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.

Here's the poem:

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.

Here's a poppy for those who serve; words aren't enough to convey the debt of gratitude for all the sacrifices of those who served and those who serve now, but Thank You

YankeeMan

As the Dad of a soldier in Special Forces training right now, I hope we never forget what today means. To those serving, thank you for what you do and you will be forever in my prayers!

jlmarta

xmacro:

There was a tradition back in the 1920's, where people would give out poppy flowers. The reason was for WWI soldiers on memorial day, and it was a reference to a poem, In Flanders' Field. Here's the background:

McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem:

Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.

As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.

It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:

"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."

One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.

The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.

In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.

A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."

When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:

"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."

In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.

Here's the poem:

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.

Here's a poppy for those who serve; words aren't enough to convey the debt of gratitude for all the sacrifices of those who served and those who serve now, but Thank You

Thank you, XMacro, for posting this. It brings back memories of when I was just a kid. I remember the selling - or actually, I guess, the collecting of donations for which you would receive a small paper poppy on a wire stem much as we do today on White Cane Day to raise funds for the blind. We kids would donate a Nickel or a dime from our school lunch money to 'buy' a poppy which we wore proudly in support of the memory of the war dead. I don't know when the last time was that I remember Poppy Day being observed... seems like a long time ago, though.

When I was a kid, a nickel or dime was a fair chunk of money... I recall being able to buy a Pepsi in a glass bottle for a nickel. Or an ice cream cone. And the tradition continued for some time afterwards but my memory fails me as to when I last recall Poppy Day.

Thanks again, my friend,

CvilleE

Just read the poem to my kids, and let my son (11) read it all, I remember it in school, and told them the story...Thank You all who sacraficed everything so I can do this and play with them...you will not be forgotten...Just raised an LFD....not much but Thank You.....I will never forget.....

jj20030

ANGEL FLIGHT >video CLICKHERE ,,, The American flag does not fly because the wind moves past it... The American flag flies from the last breath of each ,military member who has died protecting it. Americans don't fight because they hate what's in front of them... They fight because they love what's behind them. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SERVICE!!~~~ MY FAMILY & I APPRECIATE YOU!

*Petey*

This is a wonderful thread. Thanks for starting it Steve.

And I'm not sure if it helps or not, but trust me, there are more who have perspective than those who do not. I know we've been touched with loss over this past year but even for those who haven't, there we're flags flying all weekend and every radio station seemed to make a mention of the real reason for the 3 day weekend from friday all the way through Monday.

Stay Safe, Steve, and all the BOTLs who are overseas.



and one more thing . . . . I miss you big brother. Even though we weren't brothers by blood, you we're everything a big brother should be to me for the 15 years we knew each other. I'm a better man for having the priveledge of calling you my brother, and I promise I'll get done what I told you I would. And when the going gets tough, I take strength in knowing you'll be looking out for me everystep of the way like you always did. I miss you big brother.

fla-gypsy

"O beautiful for heroes prov'd In liberating strife, Who more than self their country lov'd, And mercy more than life."