Free Republic

The Army deployed 65 infantry divisions for the Second World War. Each was a small town with its own equivalents for community services within eight categories of combat arms. Units such as artillery, engineering, and heavy weapons engaged the enemy directly. Yet of all categories, the foot soldier faced the greatest hazard with the least chance of reward. These civilians become warriors confronted the most dismal fate of all whose duty was uninterrupted by missions completed or a fixed deployment time. The infantryman was enveloped within a most deranged, barbaric, and brittle existence against a resolute enemy where victory often...

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson joined almost one million bikers on Sunday as a rider in a massive caravan of motorcycles that rode from the Pentagon to the National Mall and the Vietnam Memorial on Sunday. A video posted on YouTube shows Tillerson posing for pictures with other bikers and preparing to mount his own bike for the trip, an annual tradition that began in the late 1980s as a way to honor the U.S. military and to support the continuing search for U.S. soldiers who remained prisoners of war or were missing in action following the Vietnam War. “O.K.,...

After placing a wreath at the Tomb of The Unknown, and delivering a Memorial Day speech, President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence walked to place flowers on the headstone of First Lieutenant Robert Kelly -son of DHS Secretary General John Kelly- who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. Along the route through section #60 (reserved for Iraq and Afghanistan conflict) the President and Vice-President met with families of the fallen, our nation’s finest. Obviously, many were overwhelmed and emotional as President Trump and VP Pence listened to them talk about their sons, daughters, spouses, moms and dads.

…They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning – We will remember them…

I am a proud, 10-year United States Air Force veteran, a humble servant and defender in a long, noble and inspiring tradition of military service. For generations, from Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill in Massachusetts to Yorktown, Va., to the halls of Montezuma, to the wheat fields of Gettysburg, to the shores of Tripoli, to the trenches of Germany, to now serene Pearl Harbor, to the beachheads of Normandy, to the rocky heights of Iwo Jima, to the rugged coasts of Korea, to the jungles of Vietnam, to the mean streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, to the hills and dunes...

Left-wing news outlet Vox attacked Marines on Memorial Day, claiming in an article that the Marine Corps has a “toxic masculinity problem.” The article, which was simply titled “The Marine Corps has a ‘toxic masculinity’ problem,” continued to claim that the Marine Corps often “marginalizes or mistreats female troops.” Citing the Marines United nude photo sharing scandal, Vox staff writer and defense correspondent Alex Ward attempted to link the Marines with systemic sexism and listed ways how the Corps could get rid of their “toxic masculinity.” “And to be fair, it’s not just the Marines. Sexual assault has increased in...

Main Menu Memorial Day in a Divided Nation An important lesson for the left. May 29, 2017 Daniel Greenfield Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism. It has been over 150 years since our nation’s last civil war. Time enough has passed that we have come to associate the holiday once known as Decoration Day with the graves of soldiers fallen on other continents far from home. It is important to honor our wartime dead. But Memorial Day has a powerful meaning that we...

Southern women scattered spring flowers on graves of both northern Union and southern Confederate soldiers of the Civil War in which over a half-million died. Many places claimed to have held the original Memorial Day, such as: -Warrenton, Virginia; -Columbus, Georgia; -Savannah, Georgia; -Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; -Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; -Waterloo, New York. One such place was Charleston, South Carolina, where a mass grave was uncovered of 257 Union soldiers who had died in a prison camp. On May 1, 1865, former slaves organized a parade, led by 2,800 singing Black children, and reburied the soldiers with honor as an act of reparation...

In the next edition of Donald Trump can do nothing right ever, we give you the National Anthem. Shortly before delivering Memorial Day remarks Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, President Trump joined with the audience in the traditional signing of America’s national song. Unlike a lot in Trumpland, it all went off smoothly — but that still didn’t stop a certain class of Twitter liberal from taking exception. The crime this time was Trump’s personal rendition of the anthem, which trolls online apparently deemed insufficiently respectful — or something. Here’s a snapshot of the miasma of faux outrage. (TWEETS-AT-LINK) …...

Poetry of my father, Major Bradley Van Deusen, 1905-1955, buried in Ft. Sam Houston Military Cemetery, San Antonio TX, among an almost endless field of monuments. Appropriate to Memorial Day.

OK, there were a lot of requests for a picture of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson riding his motorcycle in the Rolling Thunder Memorial Day tribute. Yesterday we shared the video from the rally location just prior to the Noon start of the kickoff ride. However, T-Rex didn’t want to create a stir or draw attention away from the purpose of the event – so he was his customary self, low key. That said, after pouring through video footage I FOUND HIM.

Trump administration has enormous work to day to restore Memorial Day as a day set aside for honoring those who fought for the liberties and freedoms which that nation embraced, until now. Notwithstanding the fact that contemporary celebrations of Memorial Day have more to do with three-day weekends, back yard barbecues, reckless episodes of alcohol abuse, and other frivolities, the original purpose was to set aside a national spiritual holiday to remember and honor the brave American men and women who sacrificed their very lives in the service of this blessed nation. Indeed, in the beginning, it was conceived as...

Lest We Forget! Don’t let the memory of our Southern men and women of the Old Confederacy ever die! The birthday of Jefferson Davis is June 3rd. Davis served as President of the Confederate States of America, United States Senator and Secretary of War under United States President Franklin Pierce. If you listen closely, and the wind is blowing in the right direction, you might hear a train whistle in the distance.

May the Memory Be Eternal for all the selfless men and women, our true Heroes, who gave their lives for our freedom and comfort! “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” – John 15:13 As soon as we exited the metro station, we heard the roar of thousands of motorcycles revving up their engines or simply lining up in the South and North Parking lots of the non-descript Pentagon building. It was a pleasant low seventies day but the sky was grey with heavy cloudy. We had checked the weather forecast...

Just a reminder that this would be a great day to fly your flag.

Items not excerpted are in the public domain. In Flanders Fields By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918), Canadian Army 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...

The Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC, is inscribed with 58,307 names, including 8 women. 41 were men from my base who died in 1970, 2 in rocket attacks and 39 in air crashes. When I remember them, I remember what else we did in Vietnam, besides fighting, that never got a lot of publicity.

As the days and years pass on, so too shall our freedom because of them. They shall not grow old, but we will because of them Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn them. They may be gone, but never the memory of them ..... Here some quotes about memory and sacrifice, designed to put you a frame of mind to remember the spirit of Memorial Day.... "A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." --Joseph Campbell... "This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as...

I have received three emails this morning that started with "Happy Memorial Day."

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." —Winston ChurchillAs we do on this day each year, we pause to remember the men and women who died fighting for our freedom. We stand by humbly, gratefully, silently, to honor their sacrifice.We remember…We mourn for those lost…And we mourn for those they’ve left behind…As we reflect again on the the steep price of freedom.By all means, enjoy your picnics, parades and celebrations today – it is a holiday after all. But do pause to remember and honor all the brave Americans across...