Memorial Day 2002: The Blood of Patriots

CNSNews.com ^ | May 24, 2002 | Alan Caruba

[Stand Watch Listen]

On Monday, May 27th, the United States will celebrate Memorial Day. For most people it's just a three-day weekend. For some it's a day full of sales at the mall. For the more than 200,000 buried at Arlington National Cemetery, it will be a day when others will visit their graves. The living will do so because these fallen and countless thousands more gave their lives in the defense of freedom and liberty.

America has a remarkable history in this respect. There were more than 4,400 deaths during the long war of the Revolution to achieve Independence. That was followed by the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, 1846-48. The Civil War, 1861-65, was a charnel house in which more than 214,415 lost their lives on both sides, the North suffering 140,415 to preserve the Union. The Spanish-American War in 1898 had barely 385 casualties, but it was the modern wars, fought in the last century that achieve new levels of carnage.

The United States resisted getting involved in World War I. When we did in 1917, we would lose more than 53,530 men until Armistice Day was proclaimed in 1918. World War I involved more than 4,700,800 men. The "war to end all wars" did not end war. Between December 7, 1941 and December 31, 1946, America would commit 16,353,659 men and women to World War II, fighting in the Pacific and in Africa and Europe to defeat the Empire of Japanese, the Nazi regime of Germany and Italy's fascism. The death toll in American lives would be 292,131.

Men and nations may yearn for peace, but other men and nations yearn equally for war. On June 25, 1950, the North Koreans attacked the South and our forces were once again at work to protect freedom. More than 5,760,000 Americans fought in Korea and 33,667 gave their lives there. The saddest chapter of American warfare was Vietnam. Literally lied into that conflict, it split this nation and its memory reverberates yet. A great wall in Washington, DC, has the names of more than 47,300 men and women who died there between the excruciating years of August 4, 1964 and January 27, 1973.

Our most recent conflict, the Persian Gulf War in 1991, marked an entirely new way of waging war. It was a stunning victory of modern technology and new ways of deploying our forces and arms. Only 148 Americans died in that short war. We have suffered few casualties in Afghanistan, a stunning defeat for those who attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001. Our troops are still there and, as this is written, we are getting ready to wage war against a despot, Saddam Hussein, a man whose evil equals that of the last century's Hitler, Tojo, Mussolini or Stalin.

Throughout our history men and women have put their lives on the line, not for the conquest of land or people, but for an idea. Thomas Jefferson expressed it in 1776 when he drew up the bill of particulars against King George III that is our Declaration of Independence. He said then, "A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." In 1787, Jefferson would write a friend and say, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." This is no less true today than then.

Americans will continue to take up arms against despots and tyrannies of every description because that is our destiny, our greatest calling from the future that will judge us on how well we met the demands of freedom. We will suffer casualties in that cause and we will celebrate them every Memorial Day.

Alan Caruba is the founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about scare campaigns.
Alan Caruba

[Stand Watch Listen]

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American Heroes...historical bump

MEMORIAL DAY: Four Brave Chaplains
Source: Catholic Order of Foresters magazine;
Published: June 2002; Author: Victor M. Parachin

[PsyOp]

Memorial day Bump. Check out the following thread for more on the subject.

Soldiers, Sailors & Airmen.

[kellynla]

and MARINES! Semper Fi

[PsyOp]

Well of course Marines. Soldiers is catch-all for ground forces. The terms are Generic, so don't feel slighted.

[kellynla]

We Marines never "feel" slighted. Just wanted to remind all that the Marine Corps has a lustrous history and should not be omitted. Oh and by the way. Soldiers are not Marines. And Marines are not soldiers. Hope you don't feel slighted. Semper Fi

[mommadooo3]

Where Valor Proudly Sleeps

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo;
No more on Life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.
On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents to spread,
And glory guards, with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead..........

(snip)

Rest on embalmed and sainted dead!
Dear as the blood ye gave;
No impious footstep here shall tread
The herbage of your grave;
Nor shall your glory be forgot
While Fame her record keeps,
For honor points the hallowed spot
Where valor proudly sleeps.

(from the poem
Bivouac Of The Dead
By Theodore O'Hara
(Written in memory of the Kentucky troops killed in the Mexican War - 1847)

[PsyOp]

Hope you don't feel slighted.

Not at all. I should have known better than to apply a generic term in a forum full of Marines. Semper Fi from an Army Puke! ;-]

[captain_dave]

To me, they all "soldiers". "marines" are "soldiers of the sea". "Soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines" is just too much of a mouthful to say with any seriousness, and the phrase always leaves out the other 3 uniformed services: coast guard, US public health service and NOAA (weather and charts). These last can get called into service during war.

[PsyOp]

"marines" are "soldiers of the sea".

I Agree. But try telling that to Marine. My brother is one. As far as they're concerned, they're the ONLY service. So I just chuckle and agree with them... ;-]