Fox News' "Ultimate Sacrifice"

Fox News Channel ^ | March 31, 2003 | Self

[Illbay]

Just a vanity, because I'm hoping others share my feelings on this score.

[Illbay]

I almost cannot stand to watch when Fox News Channel broadcasts the little, 15- or 30-second seque', entitled "Ultimate Sacrifice," where they put up the names, ranks, ages, hometowns and photos of our Iraqi war dead.

But I can't not watch. It always takes me several minutes to regain my composure afterward. I want to weep, and I can't.

And then I realize that gallons of tears are being wept by mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, wives, children, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, teachers, pastors, scout leaders, brothers-in-arms, commanding officers, and many others, for each one of these men (and women).

I haven't sufficient words to tell my emotions. In fact, I feel a touch of that sense of guilt that they say the survivor of an accident that takes the life of another always feels, the overwhelming sense that "it should have been me, not him, not her."

I don't believe that my own, personal debt to this valiant dead can EVER be expunged.

All I can try to do is live my life like these Ultimate Sacrifices were worth it.

[BonnieJ]

What hurts the most is how young they all are. And that is the case in every war, those who have barely begun to live their lives have sacrificed all for our freedom. My husband was badly injured in Vietnam at age 19, but at least went on to live his life. 58,000 did not from those many years there. And how many in World War II, Korea, etc? We owe them everything, and it truly is devastating to see them and consider the loss, but I am so glad Fox is honoring them.

[Illbay]

Yes, how young.

Here I am, fat and happy at 45. These kids will never have the opportunity to see middle age. They have gone the way of all the Earth.

I have great faith in God's plan for the happiness of man, so I believe they are in a wonderful place.

Still, it hurts so much to see those faces. And to think of the pain their loved ones are feeling right now. Their lives are altered forever.

[najida]

I think it is a wonderful thing to see who they are and realize what they have done. I have to 'make' myself watch it because I am a basket case afterwards. But it makes it more 'real' and adds a dimension that is needed. I can't express my gratitude and my prayers for those who they left behind.

[OldFriend]

Perhaps it's because my son is only recently out of the military, but I cannot watch either. It is unbearable. I see them and to me they are all our children.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

I don't believe that my own, personal debt to this valiant dead can EVER be expunged. All I can try to do is live my life like these Ultimate Sacrifices were worth it.

Amen.

[Illbay]

Thanks for your replies to this thread. It is comforting to know I"m not the only one.

I don't cry easily, but the tears have managed to come several times when I have seen these faces.

[Illbay]

In Flanders Fields

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.

-- John McCrae (1872-1918)

[Neets]

No, you are not the only one!

I am conflicted between a deep sense of pride for these men and women who serve our country so selflessly, and give their lives in that service, and my utter sadness that they will not live to see their childen grow and have children of their own..and that will not live to see the good their selfless actions have done in the name of freedom.

[Illbay]

That is why the term "The Ultimate Sacrifice" is so profoundly appropriate.

Remember that they are not the only ones who have sacrificed. Those parents, siblings, friends and relatives, and especially the wives and children...their sacrifice is real as well.

[Illbay]

"Where do we get such men? They leave this ship and they
do their job. Then they must find this speck lost
somewhere on the sea. When they find it, they have to land
on its pitching deck. Where do we get such men?"

- Rear Admiral George Tarrant in James Michener's The Bridges at Toko-Ri

[SouthernFreebird]

....and yet you have an intense hatred for our Confederate soldiers. Go figure

[Illbay]

Forgive me if I am an American, a patriot devoted the United States of America, and not to those who fight against her.

[SouthernFreebird]

Wonder how many of those soldiers in Iraq are descendents of those you scorn.

[Illbay]

Wonder how many of those want to rebel against the United States and form a separate "nation"?

[hnorris]

[Illbay]

*Gulp*

What can I say?

God Bless America.

[NewJerseyJoe]

Some appropriate words from our history -- bold emphasis added by me....

=======================

November 21, 1864
Mrs. Bixby-

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

- A. Lincoln -

[Illbay]

Thank you for that contribution.

This thread has been short, but exceedingly bitter-sweet.

[hnorris]

"God Bless America"

Amen... Making that graphic was really good therapy...