Memorial day

[Bindlestiff]

There are not many of these guys left these days, I wish there were, we need them now as much as in the 40's. All the men in the generation preceding me in my family went to War in the 1940's and all saw combat. One didn't come home alive and one came home never to walk again. They are all gone now, and so are all the many WWII vets that I knew personally in my lifetime. Their ranks are getting very thin.

The actor, Gary Sinise, is one of the few "Hollywood" types around today that genuinely respects all veterans. He stands almost alone working for vets today in the manor that so many "Hollywood" greats did 50 years ago. He is a real patriot. I wish more people with "The Bully Pulpit" would follow his lead; maybe then America could get its pride back again.

Check out what Gary is doing....

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

My uncle " Bud" will be 93 next week, and served as a gunner on a B-17 over Germany. We rarely speak about what he experienced in WW2, but sometimes when we look over the old family album, and come upon photos of him and my dad in uniform, the conversation fades, and you can watch his eyes well up, as I'm sure he is recalling things that he would like to have forgotten. We have the album set up so that after we pass his period of service, we come upon pictures of his father who was a "Doughboy" in WW1. Bud was as proud of his dad, as I am of my dad and my uncle "Bud".
I never made it into combat, since I have always wanted to be a Submariner. So after Boot camp, I went to Sub school and after graduation was assigned to the USS SHARK SS(N)-591. This was in the mid 1960's during the height of the Cold War. I have since had three children. My oldest son served in the Air Force. My youngest son served aboard the Carrier USS Enterprise, and my daughter served in the Air Force as an Air Police Officer while stationed in Bosnia during the conflict over there.
As you can see, we are a military family, and proud as hell to be one.

[OH Osthaus]

As a little boy, I followed Dad to the local cemeteries, on the evenings leading up to Memorial Day

A couple church yards - one good sized town cemetery and several little family and cross road burying plots, and learned a lot while he placed small flags a dozens of stones- from the Rev War one just a quarter mile up the road from our house ( I used to stop at that one often when on the way to the one old lady's sun porch that served as a library and bookmobile stop to get another history book) to Korean War casualties.

I heard a lot about what we were doing and why. Then on Memorial day I would get up early with Dad and Grandpa, them in their American Legion uniforms along with other men from town and stand at attention, listen to a prayer and three rounds each from the Springfields they carried. Then back in the cars and on to the next - it took much of the day - but it was what the day was for- we weren't going to a picnic

it was a somber day - even to a child. I understood there were war dead there and that the day was for, but we honored as well those veterans whose time had finally come to join their former comrades after a long life the other did not get to enjoy.

hopefully - on this, Dad's first Memorial Day on the receiving end of one of those little flags - hopefully there is some other little boy and or girl standing behind their Dad and learning what debt this country owes and can never repay.

[charlie cleveland]

i will go put flags on my friends graves that fell and died in vietnam...i had just finished reading our small town paper in it were three of my friends pictures that fell..my dad served in world war 2 in the merchant marines i served in the army during vietnam 66-72...my dads favorite cousin HERSHAL SWINDLE had 11 brothers all served in world war 2 in combat and all 12 returned...to the guys who lost there lives and gave all and to their familys i salute ya ll....charlie

[Bindlestiff]

Respect is alive and well, watch these Marine Corps kids on a playground react when the trumpet sounds (hard to hear with the wind blowing). No adults directing, these kids know how its done! I'm impressed!

[Dean Romig]

Kathy's father, Frank Nerden, a veteran of the South Pacific Theater in WW-II, and who today, at 94 years of age, is still very active supporting the active duty troops in harm's way. The older Frank gets the easier it is for him to talk about his experiences in the war. He's no hero - he'll be the first to tell you so... but he was there and he saw it and lived it for two years, right in the thick of it.
Col. Richard Moody USAF-ret. (with the American Flag neck-tie) started Operation Troop Support during the first Gulf War and continues it today, with dozens of volunteers of all ages helping to send packages overseas full of every possible need or want for the troops to know we care and support them. (To give you an idea of how much is sent over there, annual postage for these packages is well over $80k)

Frank was recently honored for his service to Operation Troop Support and awarded a plaque named after Gen. George Patton's granddaughter-in-law, Joanne Holbrook Patton (who, herself, is very active in OTS) and awarded by her at a huge testimonial dinner and celebration. They truly were The Greatest Generation - but the men and women who have served since have all marched in those same bootprints.



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[Dean Hanson]

I remember my uncle who fought the Battle of the Bulge. I never might him and yet I miss him dearly. I thank my two of my brothers and one sister who together protected us for 36 years.

[Big D]

Like Murphy, before being sent overseas, I was the OIC of an honor guard at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. I handed a lot of folded flags to mothers, dads, wives and girlfriends who didn't understand why their son/husband died in a place they couldn't find on a map.

[Richard Flanders]

Two of my uncles and my father served in WWII. My father joined marines at 17(the lied about his age)and served in the Pacific theater. An uncle was a B-24 pilot in Europe. All three returned. My brother served in Viet Nam in Intelligence; he returned but as a total wreck and eventually committed suicide in 1986. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you ever get over that.

I met a security guard some years back late at night as I was in our local aviation museum checking on something. He had two sons who had served in the military and he had been in special forces of some kind. One of his sons was sitting a guard post outside the US embassy gate when the Tet offensive started. They found him at his post when it was over; there was 200+ bodies in an arc out in front of him. Unfortunately, he had run out of ammo and was KIA. His other son flies helicopters here in Alaska. This fellow was short and pretty overweight and 62yrs old when I met him. His gunny had called him from the middle east when he was 60 and said, "my best gunner got killed; I need you over here now". He was on a plane the next day and spent a year riding around in the back of a truck taking buildings apart with a .50 cal Browning...at 60yrs old. I could hardly speak after hearing this. I felt that I didn't deserve to be standing in the same place and breathing the same air as this guy. If you met him you'd think he was almost incapable of climbing a set of stairs. Not so. And here he was a night security guard at a park complex in Fairbanks. There's plenty like him amongst us, I think. I make a point to thank every guy I see with a hat on that shows what branch he served in. It's the least we can do and they always appreciate it, especially the V Nam guys. Hats off to them, I say.

[todd allen]

God bless our brave men and women who have paid the price for the freedom we all take for granted.