Posted on 05/28/2012 7:54:51 PM PDT by Starman417
I come from a family with a proud military history. My father was a Leatherneck in WWII, seeing heavy action in the South Pacific. He was in the invasion of Okinawa and stood awestruck one August morning when he saw that mushroom cloud over Hiroshima. My younger brother also served his country in the First Gulf War in the Navy, ultimately deciding to become a family man rather than take the PST to qualify for the Navy Seals after he was approached by his CO.
Memorial Day and Veteran's Day mean a lot to me, personally and of course as an American. This is why what I heard on MSNBC really floored me. On a show called Up with Chris Hayes they had a panel discussion about why it isn't proper to use the term 'Heroes' when talking about our fallen military personnel.
I feel uncomfortable about the word ‘hero’ because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war. Um, and, I don’t want to obviously desecrate or disrespect memory of anyone that’s fallen, and obviously there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism, you know, hail of gunfire, rescuing fellow soldiers, and things like that. But it seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic. But maybe I’m wrong about that…
[VIDEO AT SITE] or HERE
*sigh*
The left never will get it, I'm afraid.
It isn't HOW these folks died, it is WHY they wear the uniform in the first place.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
He’s the first American I ever heard of that stood on that Japanese soil and watched the Hiroshima detonation. Bravo.
A Hero is someone who puts on a uniform and goes to the aide of people he doesn’t know, but he is willing to give his life for their freedom.
He is willing to carry the trouble of the world on his shoulders.
He loves his country and all the people in it, even though many curse and belittle him, he still gives his all.
He is young and untried but follows orders even unto death.
There is no pedestal high enough nor words enough to speak my deepest respect, love and admiration for all who have fought and are fighting on behalf of all who live in the freedom they provide. My sincerest thank you to the bravest and most glorious military in the world.....that of the USA.
God bless you all
I find this somewhat interesting at a personal and superficial level, in that I’ve never before heard it said that the Hiroshima mushroom cloud could be seen by people in Okinawa.
(I arrived in Okinawa in late October, 1945, and Japan a few weeks later; spent winter docked at several port cities, Yokosuka, Kobe, Nagoya, and quaint village of Wakayama).
A few years back he wrote about one of his heroes, a man named Richard Rorty. At the outset of that piece, he affirms that many die and go unnoticed. There's truth in that, but it seems he's saying that "he" doesn't pay much attention to those who pass on. His words about our troops underscore that. They weren't worthy of his notice.
However, the passing of Rorty anguished him. Who was Rorty? A liberal atheist philosopher who Hayes remembers trying to find a way out of the situation morality atheists find themselves tied unalterably tied to.
It is rare that the death of a stranger brings a stab of mourning, but I felt one when I heard on Saturday night that the American philosopher Richard Rorty had succumbed to cancer at the age of 75. At the time of his passing Rorty was the single most important living American philosopher and one of the most influential and widely read thinkers in the English-speaking world. He was also the model of a truly engaged public intellectual, writing with verve, humor and insight for a general audience in magazines like the Nation and Dissent. The world in general and the global community of those fighting for a more just, humane and social democratic world are poorer for his loss.
Hayes is certainly permitted to have his own heroes. Who can fault him in that?
However, he should consider enough grace to recognize that others do find sacrifice for our freedom to be a heroic endeavor.
To all our troops on Memorial Day: Thank you for your service. God bless America.
Didn’t happen - unless they put Marines on B 29s.
Yep. The cloud only rose to about 45,000 feet. Unless the Marine was a POW On one of the islands of Honshu, Kyushu, or Shikoku, he could not have seen it.
First, let me say that I detest MSNBC because it is flat out a propaganda machine for the Democrat party. Therefore, ANY person hired by MSNBC is highly questionable in my mind.
Second, I didn’t see the show or review it to see what the context was, so my comments aren’t really on the show or the host, per say. My comments are about the over use of the word “hero”.
I am a Navy veteran. I served for 6 years in the 1980’s. Four of those years were on board a Fast Attack Submarine. I joined the Navy for various reasons....patriotism, a desire to get out of town, a desire to learn a trade and a desire to get a job. I did my job. I wasn’t a super sailor and I never saved anyones life. I honestly don’t see that I went above and beyond the call of duty or even really risked my life to save others, therefore I don’t accept the title of “hero”.
I think the title of “hero” belongs to those who knowingly risk their life for others even when it means that they go beyond the call of duty or the requirements of their job. For me, that would involve all soldiers, marines, sailors or airmen who volunteered to go to a combat zone where an enemy could kill them by direct or indirect fire.
I saw a recruitment sign a while back that said something like “join the .....and not only earn a skill but become a hero.” I didn’t like that. While I have a higher respect for all that join the military, I don’t call everyone that joined the military a hero. If everyone that joins the military is a “hero” then how do we differentiate between those who do just their job and those who go beyond the call? To over use this word, in my opinion, cheapens it.
I know I’ll probably be flamed for this view, but it’s truely how I feel about the use of the word “hero”.
I totally agree with that sentiment. However, I do think more of your contribution on that Fast Attack than a simple walk in the park. Them’s some isolated conditions and back in those days it was pssible that the Soviets ould see to it that you never saw the sun again.
Nonetheless, I have to admit, when holidays, such as Memorial or Veterans Day comes around, I feel a tinge of guilt. People who know where Ive been and what I’ve done go out of thier way to wish me a happy “this or that day”. I don’t deserve it. I’m still here and still healthy. I had my few minor combat exchanges while I was in, and I embelished the sh)t out of them when I was telling stories as a younger man. All the while, I felt like a chickensh*t. When I tell the unvarnished truth, I was simply terrified, not at all brave. It took me a few years to say this, but I feel better for it today. What many of our Soldiers, Marines, Seabees, Sailors and even Airmen have dealt with over the past 10 is far more in depth, and war like. In particular, for the Marines that took Fallujah, I’m not good enough to shine their shoes. Let heros be heros. To me, a hero puts his or her life on the line for others, for his or her buddies in the field, at that critcal moment. That kind of desperation never happened to me. I never had to make that last second choice and I have no idea if I could’ve. There are hundreds of thousand just like me who served, but also know that the hero title is wildly overplayed.
That said, I too detest MSNBC. They know nothing of the subject, beyond their pissant anti-war BS. This reporter isn’t fit to wpie the a** of a buck private.
The Marines on Okinawa were truly supermen, but... it’s a bit of a stretch to believe anyone could have seen the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima from that far south.
Or, for that matter, even the mushroom cloud over Nagasaki.
Chris Hayes should be given a rifle, a helmet, a canteen and a pack of rations and then sent to the forwardmost position in Afghanistan for a week. Maybe they he would appreciate those he WON’T call heros.
At least a few Americans witnessed that detonation from Hiroshima itself, although many (obviously) died in or shortly after the blast. Note: King's father would not have seen the mushroom cloud from Okinawa as some people are reading this claim, both because of the distance and because that battle ended in June 1945 and most Marines moved on to fight elsewhere. Eleven to twenty-three American POWs are reported to have been held in Hiroshima. Many died in the blast, and some may have been killed in retaliation by Japanese soldiers and civilians (eyewitness accounts are contradictory on that point). Some survived and returned home.
Among the American POWs:
Thomas C. Cartwright, pilot of B-24J "Lonesome Lady" 44-40680 shot down near Hiroshima and survived the war;
Lt. Raymond Porter, pilot SBC2 Helldiver 21079 (died);
Hugh H. Atkinson, radio B-24J "Lonesome Lady" 44-40680 (died);
John A. Long, Jr. gunner B-24J "Lonesome Lady" 44-40680 (died);
Buford J. Ellison, engineer B-24J "Lonesome Lady" 44-40680 (died);
Durden W. Looper co-pilot, B-24J "Lonesome Lady" 44-40680 (died);
Ralph J. Neal, gunner B-24J "Lonesome Lady" 44-40680 (died);
James M. Ryan, bombardier B-24J "Lonesome Lady" 44-40680 (died);
Charles O. Baumgartner, gunner B-24J "Taloa" 44-40716 (died);
Julius Molnar, gunner B-24J "Taloa"44-40716;
Ensign John J. Hantschel, 23, of Wisconsin, a fighter pilot assigned to the USS Randolph (died); and
PO3C Norman Brissette, gunner SBC2 Helldiver 21079 (died).
Other Americans reported having seen the mushroom cloud from POW facilities farther away. I was unable to confirm a United States Marine named King on that list, but it's at least possible.
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