"Remember...What We Owe.."--MEMORIAL DAY 2005--Thread# 5

5/26/05 | redrock--(..some old geezer in Utah...who is NOT P.C.)

[redrock]

It was a somewhat typical New England spring day. Ripe with the promise of summer....and of a change...a very profound change. The men hugged their wives and children...some for the last time...and, as they had promised..(at a time when honour actually MEANT something), gathered at the village green.

Armed with various weapons....and with various degrees of purpose...they stood in line facing the finest light infantry in the world.

Looking back thru history......you have to ask yourself a question.

What do we (as the inheritors of their resolve..indeed of their dream).....owe them??????

******************************************

Around 75 years later....a battle line of Union soldiers was holding on to a small rocky knoll...barely.

...and charging up the knoll (some call it a hill) were other soldiers...bent on taking control of that rocky area.

BOTH battle lines were composed of Americans....
BOTH battle lines were inheritors of the American Dream........
BOTH battle lines .....struggling for the very soul of that American Dream.

...and the question remains...what do we owe those men ???

**************************************

50 some odd years later...a man named 'Jack' (tall....very tall..and skinny) was in a trench in France....feeling very frightened...and yet.....fighting as hard as he could against a German attack.

Feeling the mustard gas start to take hold of his lungs...and standing his ground...firing his weapon as fast as he could...feeling even the stock get hot.

...and the question must be again asked.....what do we owe those men????

***************************************

Fast forward...to the Battle of the Bulge....in WWII. A man named Leonard is shivering in the snow and cold...afraid.

He has fought for days with no warm food (actually very little food at all)...and has been cold the entire time.

He has been in Bastogne for a week...has seen it filled with troops running for their lives....has seen tanks grind men..friends...beneath their treads. He has witnessed the artillery pounding the buildings around him to dust.......

...and still he stays...and fights.

He has made a decision ...

**************************************

A few years later...a man named Robert..who dreamed as a child in Oklahoma of being a Marine.....wonders if he will ever get warm again...wonders if he will ever return home alive.

...and knows that at Chosen .....everyone wondered the same thing.

...and still he stayed and fought...cold....hungry.

Watching his friends dead frozen bodies be stacked like cordwood.

**************************************

You need to get up from your chair...and walk outside in the open air.

Kneel down and feel the earth....pick up a handfull...and roll it around.

Savour it.....and know that every bit has been paid for.

Paid for with the blood of those made a decision.

Paid for with the blood of those who decided that this Nation...with a beginning so dedicated to the idea that each and every one of us is endowed from our Creator with the Right to live our lives the way we deem...and that each and every one of us is also endowed by that same Creator with the Responsibility for that life.....was worth fighting for.

Paid for by the blood of American son's....fathers.

***************************************

...and so the question remains.....

What do we owe them????

We owe them everything......and nothing.

We owe them no rewards...no statues....no long winded speeches by self-serving politicians. (even Lincoln understood.........the very act of standing up and fighting for your beliefs negates all words)

But we do owe them what we promised. A day set aside to remember what they did....and to say "Thank You".

MEMORIAL DAY.

[Smartass]

Near the border! You are a brave soul. Be careful!

[potlatch]

Not NEAR the border, PAST the border, LOL. Progresso is a tourist town with no trouble that I've heard of. Some others not too far away have had incidents but it is usually drug related.

[Smartass]

I spent a lot of time South of the border, and in Central and South America. Don't really want to go back.

[potlatch]

We love it in Progresso!! So many beautiful things to buy and the resturants are wonderful. The Snow Birds take it over in the winter.

[Smartass]

The border towns and Cities maybe different now. I haven't been in them in a long time. Even living close to El Paso, I didn't visit Juarez. I came into contact with to many poor people and just to much poverty where I was at.

[potlatch]

They are all totally different. Progresso has everything on one main street as you go in. Really nice stores and all now.

Reynosa and Brownsville are also not that far away but you have to drive in to get to their marketplaces and they are like a maize. More junk stuff and you have to be more careful of being cheated.

Heading for bed, have a good weekend.

[redrock]

Bump...

redrock

[international american]

So much for any dry eyes on this thread.

[international american]

Thank you.

[international american]

BTTT

[M Kehoe]

Good morning. I trust all is well with you.

Thread #5? I must have missed them (too many pings I guess). I'll go and look for them.

Thanks for doing this each Memorial day.

5.56mm

[MoJo2001]

DJ SUNSHINE!



Everyone sing a long!
(Click the flag as well)

 

The Statler Brothers - More Than A Name On The Wall

I saw her from a distance, as she walked up to the wall
In her hand she held some flowers, as her tears began to fall
She took out pen and paper as to trace her mem'ries
She looked up to heaven, and the words she said were these.

She said, ''Lord my boy was special, and he meant so much to me
And Oh, I'd love to see him just one more time you see
All I have are the mem'ries and the moments to recall
So Lord could you tell him he's more than a name on the wall.''

She said, ''He really missed the family, being home on Christmas day
And he died for God and country in a place so far away
I remember just a little boy, playing war since he was three
And Lord this time I know, he's not coming home to me.''

She said, ''Lord my boy was special, and he meant so much to me
And Oh, I'd love to see him but I know it just can't be
So I thank you for my mem'ries and the moments to recall
But Lord could you tell him he's more than a name on the wall.''

''Lord could you tell him he's more than a name on the wall..."

 

Sidenote: Enjoy the music!!
Kleenex Alert!!
 

[MoJo2001]

DJ SUNSHINE!



Everyone sing a long!
(Click the flag as well)

 

Milo Tremley - Kick A** USA
 

 

Sidenote: Enjoy the music!!
An excellent song that describes how I feel!
If you are easily offended, then please avoid this song!

 

[MoJo2001]

DJ SUNSHINE!



Everyone sing a long!
(Click the flag as well)

Merle Haggard - Fightin' Side Of Me

 I hear people talkin' bad,
About the way we have to live here in this country,
Harpin' on the wars we fight,
An' gripin' 'bout the way things oughta be.
An' I don't mind 'em switchin' sides,
An' standin' up for things they believe in.
When they're runnin' down my country, man,
They're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.

Yeah, walkin' on the fightin' side of me.
Runnin' down the way of life,
Our fightin' men have fought and died to keep.
If you don't love it, leave it:
Let this song I'm singin' be a warnin'.
If you're runnin' down my country, man,
You're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.

I read about some squirrely guy,
Who claims, he just don't believe in fightin'.
An' I wonder just how long,
The rest of us can count on bein' free.
They love our milk an' honey,
But they preach about some other way of livin'.
When they're runnin' down my country, hoss,
They're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.

Yeah, walkin' on the fightin' side of me.
Runnin' down the way of life,
Our fightin' men have fought and died to keep.
If you don't love it, leave it:
Let this song I'm singin' be a warnin'.
If you're runnin' down my country, man,
You're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.

Yeah, walkin' on the fightin' side of me.
Runnin' down the way of life,
Our fightin' men have fought and died to keep.
If you don't love it, leave it:
Let this song I'm singin' be a warnin'.
If you're runnin' down my country, man,
You're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.

 

Sidenote: Enjoy the music!!
 

[MEG33]

http://www.rhumc.net/In_Memoriam.html

Tears rolling ...We owe so much to so many..

AMERICA HOME OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE

[redrock]

A "Thank YOU" Bump.

For all that you do..

redrock

[MEG33]

Thank you, MoJo.

[redrock]

Remember....

redrock

[righttackle44]

No matter how many times someone reminds us, I'm always grateful to be reminded again. Thanks.

[redrock]

MEMORIAL DAY.....Remember....

redrock