What the Day Means to Me

Today being Memorial Day, I remember those with whom I served who didn't come home for whatever reason. I was in the Navy during a "peactime" period, so we only had 3 ships damaged and 100 or so sailors lost in "non-battles." Many others due to training accidents and just plain bad luck. My heart goes out to their families, and I hope they know that no one who served, no matter when or under what conditions, was lost in vain.

God speed to you!!

And this thread can serve for whatever day is special to you, too.

 

Well said. No matter the reason, the sacrifice of the fallen is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your service and the sacrifice of your time and effort for our country. I'm glad you made it through!

 

A big thanks to past and present veterans! We enjoyed riding the trails today and so many other freedoms because of their sacrifices as well as their families! THANK YOU!!!

 

Good post!

Salute and deepest respect to all vets.

I'll take it farther. Salute to everyone who has made a sacrifice for our freedoms. That includes contractors and our partners in countries around the globe. The network is deep; they all play a key role.

 

I have experienced many of the movies hollyweird has made about significant times of war. Battles and all. I don't want to ever forget what people in history did to serve this country. The sacrifices made. The lives lost. I think it's a privilege to live in this country based on the sacrifices men and women, young and old, today and yester-year made... they stand alone as valid reasons to call it a privilege and not a right.

Thank you mighty men and women of valor. Thank you.

 

@Runs with Scissors , thank you for your service. My Dad was a career Navy Seabee who did two tours in Vietnam so I've been around military families my entire life. Some of the best and most humble people I would ever have the pleasure of knowing. To all on this board that have served, I appreciate your dedication to the freedoms that we enjoy as Americans.

 

Thanks to those who give everything they had to maintain our freedom.

 

I have some regrets for not joining the military but I'll leave it at that.

Thank You to all soldiers past and present as well as their families and businesses that have carried US through a lot over the years.

Earlier today I stopped by to say hi to my grandfather and he was watching some D-Day documentaries, I was intrigued by a bike I saw coming off of a boat to the beach in one clip and had to look it up and saw:

http://worldwartwopix.com/2016/04/bicycles-normandy/

 

Thank you.

 

I have lived a pampered life, courtesy of the men and women who served this country that we may do so. I cannot comprehend the hardships, emotions and courage it takes to put yourself in deadly danger every day. Words fail me. Thank you is not enough.

 

Cheers, Mikie


George A. was at the movies in December '41
They announced it in the lobby what had just gone on
He drove up from Birmingham back to the family's farm
Thought he'd get him a deferment there's was much work to be done
He was a family man, even in those days
But Uncle Sam decided he was needed anyway
In the South Pacific over half a world away
He believed in God and Country, things was just that way
Just that way
When I was just a kid I spent every weekend
On the farm that he grew up on so I guess so did I
And we'd stay up watching movies on the black and white TV
We watched "The Sands of Iwo Jima" starring John Wayne
Every year in June George A. goes to a reunion
Of the men that he served with and their wives and kids and grand kids
My Great Uncle used to take me and I'd watch them recollect
about some things I couldn't comprehend
And I thought about that movie, asked if it was that way
He just shook his head and smiled at me in such a loving way
As he thought about some friends he will never see again
He said "I never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima"
Most of those men are gone now but he goes still every year
And George A's still doing fine, especially for his years
He's still living on that homestead in the house that he was born in
And I sure wish I could go see him today
He never drove a new car though he could easily afford it
He'd just buy one for the family and take whatever no one wanted
He said a shiny car didn't mean much after all the things he'd seen
George A. never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima

 

Absolutely...
The people in those movies are just actors making a buck portraying something they never were. But some of the visual effects, and the stories they attempt to reenact make me just appreciate the amazing things our hero's did to survive and often carry home with them. For "that" I am forever grateful, forever in respect of, forever indebted to with a grateful heart...