Jimi,

VERY well said!

As a retired Vietnam era Army helicopter pilot, I sincerely appreciate your sentiment, and I wish the same to all of my service brethren.  May God richly bless all and their families on this Memorial Day. 

Cheers,


Bob Hendry

Southern Maryland 

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. 
Do good anyway.


Bob Hendry

Southern Maryland 

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. 
Do good anyway.


On 5/26/2014 2:22 PM, Jimi wrote:
For those who have had the honor of experiencing the presence of a warrior
from our previous wars and conflicts, and of special praise to the family of
those who have one as a relative, I salute you. For today is a day to honor
those that came before us, and have paid a price none of us could, or have,
experienced. It is our duty to remember them in a solemn and sincere way,
with utmost respect. One of  the finest ways I can think of is to visit the
family of those who have fallen,
Absolutely do not "thank" them for their loss, Rather offer your
condolences, even if it is a wife of a fallen WWII soldier. Even though it
has been over 70 years, they still feel and know the loss, as do their
children and grandchildren. All deserve honor and respect. Show it.

For those who have served since 9/11 never forget that most have left
someone behind to continue serving in their steed. Don't ask them what
happened, just acknowledge the fact that they carry hidden tears for someone
who watched their back when it counted. Please, don't forget them.

Myself, I will spend the day with my Dad, yes, he crossed over in 1977, but
he is always with me. He proudly served during WWII, and quietly went after
insisting that I not cancel and appointment for my flying instruction. He
loved to fly, he was 12th Air Force. He lost many friends, one of which
saved his life, even though he was dead at the time, a story for another
time. I will be praying for the decedents of those he lost, and pray they
carried their legacy with pride and honor.

I will not have a party, and I will not BBQ and have a few beers on this
day. I will respect this day as it was meant. Reflection and thanks, not
thanks for those who crossed over to provide this day, thanks that I can
have this day because of their sacrifice, and the sacrifice of those that
suffered the loss, so I am here.

In respect and honor,
Reflect on the information below.

Jimi
EM3, USCG, ITWPATWT


MEMORIAL DAY

"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to
maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States." --John
Adams

Memorial Day provides a stark contrast between the best of our nation's
Patriot sons and daughters versus the worst of our nation's civilian culture
of consumption.

Amid the sparse, reverent observances of the sacrifices made by millions of
American Patriots who paid the full price for Liberty, in keeping with their
sacred oaths, we are inundated at every turn with the commercialization of
Memorial Day by vendors who are too ignorant and/or selfish to honor this
day in accordance with its purpose.

Indeed, Memorial Day has been sold out, along with Washington's Birthday,
Independence Day, Veterans, Thanksgiving and Christmas Days. And it's no
wonder, as government schools no longer teach civics or any meaningful
history, and courts have excluded God (officially) from the public square.

In his essay "The Contest In America," 19th-century libertarian philosopher
John Stuart Mill wrote, "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of
things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which
thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares
more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature
who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of
better men than himself."

It is that "decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling" which
accounts for why so many "miserable creatures" have downgraded Memorial Day
to nothing more than a date to exploit for commercial greed and avarice.
While units large and small of America's Armed Forces stand in harm's way
around the globe, many Americans are too preoccupied with beer, barbecue and
baseball to pause and recognize the priceless burden borne by generations of
our uniformed Patriots. Likewise, many politicos will use Memorial Day as a
soapbox to feign Patriotism, while in reality they are in constant violation
of their oaths to our Constitution.

That notwithstanding, there are still tens of millions of genuine American
Patriots who will set aside the last Monday in May to honor all those fallen
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coastguardsmen who have refreshed the
Tree of Liberty with their blood, indeed with their lives, so that we might
remain the proud and free. My family, which humbly descends from generations
of American Patriots from the American Revolution forward, will honor the
service and sacrifice of our nation's fallen warriors by offering prayer in
thanksgiving for the legacy of Liberty they have bequeathed to us, and by
participating in respectful commemorations.

Since the opening salvos of the American Revolution, nearly 1.2 million
American Patriots have died in defense of Liberty. Additionally, 1.4 million
have been wounded in combat, and tens of millions more have served
honorably, surviving without physical wounds. These numbers, of course,
offer no reckoning of the inestimable value of their service or the
sacrifices borne by their families, but we do know that the value of Liberty
extended to their posterity -- to us -- is priceless.

Who were these brave souls?

On 12 May 1962, Gen. Douglas MacArthur addressed the cadets at the U.S.
Military Academy, delivering his farewell speech, "Duty, Honor and Country."
He described the legions of uniformed American Patriots as follows: "Their
story is known to all of you. It is the story of the American man at arms.
My estimate of him was formed on the battlefields many, many years ago and
has never changed. I regarded him then, as I regard him now, as one of the
world's noblest figures -- not only as one of the finest military
characters, but also as one of the most stainless."

Gen. MacArthur continued:

His name and fame are the birthright of every American citizen. In his youth
and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give. He
needs no eulogy from me, or from any other man. He has written his own
history and written it in red on his enemy's breast.

But when I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire,
and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I
cannot put into words. He belongs to history as furnishing one of the
greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to posterity as the
instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom.
He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements.

In twenty campaigns, on a hundred battlefields, around a thousand campfires,
I have witnessed that enduring fortitude, that patriotic self-abnegation,
and that invincible determination which have carved his statue in the hearts
of his people.

>From one end of the world to the other, he has drained deep the chalice of
courage. As I listened to those songs of the glee club, in memory's eye I
could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under
soggy packs on many a weary march, from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn,
slogging ankle deep through mire of shell-pocked roads; to form grimly for
the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind
and rain, driving home to their objective, and for many, to the judgment
seat of God.

I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their
death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts,
and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory. Always for them:
Duty, Honor, Country. Always their blood, and sweat, and tears, as they saw
the way and the light.

Duty. Honor. Country -- these are not for bargain sale or discount.

On Memorial Day of 1982, President Ronald Reagan offered these words in
honor of Patriots interred at Arlington National Cemetery: "I have no
illusions about what little I can add now to the silent testimony of those
who gave their lives willingly for their country. Words are even more feeble
on this Memorial Day, for the sight before us is that of a strong and good
nation that stands in silence and remembers those who were loved and who, in
return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them. Yet, we must try to
honor them not for their sakes alone, but for our own. And if words cannot
repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to
keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to
final sacrifice."

President Reagan continued:

Our first obligation to them and ourselves is plain enough: The United
States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died,
must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought
cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we
commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we -- in a less final,
less heroic way -- be willing to give of ourselves.

It is this, beyond the controversy and the congressional debate, beyond the
blizzard of budget numbers and the complexity of modern weapons systems,
that motivates us in our search for security and peace. ... The willingness
of some to give their lives so that others might live never fails to evoke
in us a sense of wonder and mystery.

One gets that feeling here on this hallowed ground, and I have known that
same poignant feeling as I looked out across the rows of white crosses and
Stars of David in Europe, in the Philippines, and the military cemeteries
here in our own land. Each one marks the resting place of an American hero
and, in my lifetime, the heroes of World War I, the Doughboys, the GIs of
World War II or Korea or Vietnam. They span several generations of young
Americans, all different and yet all alike, like the markers above their
resting places, all alike in a truly meaningful way.

As we honor their memory today, let us pledge that their lives, their
sacrifices, their valor shall be justified and remembered for as long as God
gives life to this nation. ... I can't claim to know the words of all the
national anthems in the world, but I don't know of any other that ends with
a question and a challenge as ours does: "O! say does that Star-Spangled
Banner yet wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" That
is what we must all ask.

For the Fallen, we are certain of that which is noted on all Marine Corps
Honorable Discharge orders: "Fideli Certa Merces" -- to the faithful there
is certain reward.

Thomas Jefferson offered this enduring advice to all generations of
Patriots: "Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that
freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent
posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and
guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which
inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them."

We owe a great debt of gratitude to all those generations who have passed
the Torch of Liberty to succeeding generations. In accordance, I humbly ask
that each of you call upon all those around you to observe Memorial Day with
reverence.

To prepare hearts and minds for Memorial Day, take a moment and read about
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Join with other Patriots across the nation
who will be placing flags at headstones in your local military cemetery
(generally the Saturday prior to Memorial Day).

"What do you think of when you see a little American flags in front of a
grave marker? Let me tell you a story about one little flag. As a fighter
pilot on my 93rd mission over North Vietnam, my F-105 was hit by an
air-to-air missile and my Electronic Warfare Officer Harold Johnson and I,
were forced to eject. After unsuccessful rescue attempts, we were captured
by enemy forces and imprisoned in the infamous 'Hanoi Hilton' for the next
six years. One day in our sixth year of imprisonment, a young Navy pilot
named Mike Campbell found a piece of cloth in a gutter. After we collected
some other small rags, he worked secretly at night to piece them together
into a flag. He made red from ground-up roof tiles and blue from tiny
amounts of ink, then used rice glue to paste the colors onto the rags. Using
thread from his blanket and a homemade bamboo needle, he sewed the pieces
together, adding white fragments for stars. One morning he whispered from
the back of our cell, 'Hey gang, look here,' and proudly held up that
tattered American flag, waving it as if in a breeze. We all snapped to
attention and saluted - with tears in our eyes. A week later, the guards
were searching our cells and found Mike's flag. That night they pulled him
out of the cell and, for his simple gesture of patriotism, they tortured
him. At daylight they pushed what was left of Mike back through the cell
door. Today, whenever I see our flag, I think of Mike and the morning he
first waved that tattered emblem of our great nation. It was then, thousands
of miles from home, imprisoned by a brutal enemy, that he courageously
demonstrated the liberty it represents, and that is what I see in every
American flag today."

Col. Leo K. Thorsness (USAF Ret.), Medal of Honor for actions over Vietnam,
April 19, 1967 POW, Vietnam (1967-1973)

In honor of American Patriots who have died in defense of our great nation,
lower your flag to half-staff from sunrise to 1200 on Monday. (Read about
proper flag etiquette and protocol.) Join us by observing a time of silence
at 1500 (your local time), for remembrance and prayer. Offer a personal word
of gratitude and comfort to any surviving family members you know who are
grieving for a beloved warrior fallen in battle.

On this and every day, please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces now standing
in harm's way around the world in defense of our liberty, and for the
families awaiting their safe return.

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's
friends." --John 15:12-14

http://patriotpost.us/pages/310


  

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