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Memorial Day

First_WarriorFirst_Warrior Posts: 3,140 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have a dfferent out look on Memorial Day than most. We all are a sum of our parts.
Here a photo I took in Sep 1966 on a little hilltop in Vietnam. I always look at it on Memorial Day to remember. All of these Marines were KIA. Two were killed within days of the photo when we were overrun. I rolled the  the other two into their bloody ponchos seven months later. All from my squad. They died fighting.
The poem is something I wrote a few years ago. I believe it's them speaking from the past into the present. Have a steak, a beer or two,and a cigar this Memorial Day but remember them just for a minute and maybe say a prayer.Remember Me

Remember me is the fire that I light,

Remember me hold me close against the night.

Remember me the flame of memory,

when I am gone remember me.

 

Remember me the fallen say

Remember me night and day.

Remember me in your memory,

On the Hump remember me.

 

Remember me as not died in vain.

Remember me to ease the pain.

Remember me keep your memory

Strong and true remember me.

 

Remember me as you grow old.

Remember me in story told.

Remember me deep in memory,

Forever young remember me.

 

Remember me you know I cannot stay,

you light the fire I move away.

Remember me, search your memory.

Warmth and love remember me.

 

Remember me as a bridge between two worlds,

Remember me when our flags are furled.

Remember me, the light of memory,

burn bright into the night, remember me.

Semper Fi

Comments

  • peter4jcpeter4jc Posts: 15,315 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thanks, Rodger.  I don't have your connection to the true meaning of this day, but try to remember the fallen and what it cost them to give us the freedom that we have.  I need to find a way to make Memorial Day a personal day of remembrance on a more frequent basis.
    "I could've had a Mi Querida!"   Nick Bardis
  • jd50aejd50ae Posts: 7,900 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I don't have your connection either.
    I enlisted during that era but did not go to Vietnam.

    Memorial Day is the only one I care about. Birthdays, Christmas (except for kids), Easter and all the rest don't mean anything to me.

    I will do the same as I always do. At dusk I will grab the best bottle I have. Then I will sit for a few hours remembering the folks I know who went and did not come back. Then I will remember the ones who did. It's no big deal, but if we can't take the time, like you do, what does that say about us?
  • silvermousesilvermouse Posts: 19,044 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • YaksterYakster Posts: 25,527 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Settling in for the long smoke (St. Louis Style ribs) with an Ave Maria Holy Grail Salomon 7.1" x 58 from @ForMud, thanks Julian.  


    I'll gladly bomb you Tuesday for an Opus today. 

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  • YaksterYakster Posts: 25,527 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    Yesterday, the Wfie, the youngest kid, and I set off for Carmel to visit Refuge, a sort of day spa with hot pools, quench tanks, saunas, steam baths, fire pits, and lounge chairs for a bit of R&R.  Unfortunately, we weren't the only one's with the bright idea of heading down South so traffic was a nightmare and when we got their they had a waitlist for admission (first time for me).  We ended up eating dinner instead at a Mexican restaurant and heading home.  Quite an outing for dinner.  The only saving grace was that it was 90 degrees F here yesterday and much cooler in Carmel Valley.

    Today it'll only get up to 85 F while I babysit my smoker.  I started early this morning while the Wife and Kid had a quick breakfast and went to go see Deadpool 2.

    ^^ Sorry, wrong thread, thought this was the long weekend thread.

    I'm flying the flag today and thinking about the people and their families who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.
    Post edited by Yakster on
    I'll gladly bomb you Tuesday for an Opus today. 

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  • 0patience0patience Posts: 10,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Went and visited some old friends at the cemetery for a few minutes. 
    The rest of the day will be spent with family. 
    In Fumo Pax
    Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.

    Wylaff said:
    Atmospheric pressure and crap.
  • NorCalR1NorCalR1 Posts: 4,197 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thanks @First_Warrior for your service as well as all the other Veterans on this forum. As a military brat ( father was 37 years in the Army E9) This day means a lot to me as I was taught the value of this day from him. Today we reflect on all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country you are gone but never forgotten. 

    If you want to bomb me send it to Tony @0patience :D
    If you are a newbie I got Dem nachos....

  • Puff_DougiePuff_Dougie Posts: 4,599 ✭✭✭✭✭
    God bless you Rodger, and all of those who served and have buddies to remember today. 
    "When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭


    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • Puff_DougiePuff_Dougie Posts: 4,599 ✭✭✭✭✭
    webmost said:


    What a powerful image, Davis. 
    "When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    webmost said:


    What a powerful image, Davis. 


    Yeah, there's a lot of pictures that aren't worth their proverbial ten thousand words

    ... but that one is.





    For every hero, there's a heroine.

    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • ForMudForMud Posts: 2,336 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Rodger and all the others who served and sacrificed for this country and it's freedoms are truly what his day is about....So please, take some time today to think and thank them for what they've given us.....I know I will.

  • YaksterYakster Posts: 25,527 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yes, thank you for your service, folks.

    I'll gladly bomb you Tuesday for an Opus today. 

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  • ShawnOLShawnOL Posts: 8,284 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Looks like an m1 carbine and a m1911a1 there. Still in use all those years later.

    For all those who never came home, and those who didn't come home all in one piece, thank you.

    Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.

  • BKDogBKDog Posts: 1,229 ✭✭✭✭✭

    For me, every day is Memorial Day and Independence Day rolled into one. I may be a combat veteran, but those who fought in Vietnam and WWII always receive my most solemn appreciation and earnest respect.

    "Love is a dung heap, Betty and I am but a c.o.c.k. that climbs upon it to crow."
  • ShawnOLShawnOL Posts: 8,284 ✭✭✭✭✭

    What? No love for Korea?

    Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.

  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This story gets better and better... all the way to the end:

    https://youtu.be/JKM0OiQZe4g

    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • d_bladesd_blades Posts: 3,699 ✭✭✭✭✭

    There is no button for a post like that. Did 20+ in the Air Force, one thing that sticks in my mind is a story I was told while on a Grand Canyon float trip around '83. Trip was arranged by MWR so it was a mix of enlisted AF & Officers, plus veterans of any service. On the fifth night, an army vet, told us the story of his squad walking into an ambush while on a night patrol. Just him and one other got out. The thing is I'm pretty sure it was the one of the first times he'd ever told the whole story.

    Don't let the wife know what you spend on guns, ammo or cigars.

  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,405 ✭✭✭✭✭

    There are no words, but believe my feelings, you know them.

    WARNING:  The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme.  Proceed at your own risk.  

    "If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed.  If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." --  Mark Twain
  • CtheHamCtheHam Posts: 205 ✭✭✭✭

    Sorry I am late to this, but I want to say thank you to each of you that served. I was fortunate enough to be deployed twice with a great group of guys. However, my second deployment, we lost 2 of our brothers. I think about them often.
    To those that had friends, family and loved ones that served, thank you too. Your support is much needed during the the time of service, but on days like memorial day, it means so much to us. The weight of war is often too heavy to bear alone, so thank you.
    Til Valhalla

  • IndustMechIndustMech Posts: 4,660 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thank you

    I know, You're a big dog and I'm on the list.
    Let's eat, GrandMa.  /  Let's eat GrandMa.  --  Punctuation saves lives

    It'll be fine once the swelling goes down.

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