The FReeper Foxhole - Remembering Those Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice - May 30th, 2005

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

What I'll Be Doing For Memorial Day



What I'll Be Doing For Memorial Day

By James E. Leiker

Memorial Day is a rough day for me. It's a day of remembering.

Remembering can be curse when you've spent years trying to forget. It's even worse when you get mad at yourself for not being able to remember. It's strange that you forget so many things you want to remember and remember so much that you really want to forget.

I spent 11 months, 28 days in sunny Southeast Asia. I came back physically whole. "No members missing" tag on this Marine. By the Grace of God, good training, and just plain pure dumb luck, I suffered no more than a slight hearing loss, a concussion or two, and 25 years of mixed-blessing memories.

I've been a good husband to my wife, a lousy father to my two daughters, a mediocre son to my mother, and a reasonably successful employee to five employers over the years. With these results, I consider myself as doing better than the average bear when compared to many of my fellow veterans. The Grace of God and luck still abound.

Memorial Day is not a day for self-evaluation or selfish thoughts. So I turn my remembrances to other people, places, and things.

I remember heat. Heat that kept you from getting a full breath for weeks. Heat that sapped your strength so that you were beyond exhaustion after a minor exertion. Heat that made you tired and kept you from sleeping. Heat that made you sweat buckets. Heat that made you freezing cold at 70 degrees.

I remember lush green mountains that always seemed to go up not down. I remember red earth that was sticky enough to glue a deuce and a half in place, slippery enough to make it impossible to stand on, and dusty enough to choke you into a coughing fit like a bad cigar.

I remember rice paddies. They could get you killed or save your life. Dikes stop bullets but can leave you exposed if you're dumb enough to walk on them. The water smelled of feces but was better than not drinking at all.

I remember rain. Rain that broke the intolerable heat then never stopped. Rain that was as gentle as silk or as stinging as a nest of bees. Rain that let you get a good clean shower and rotted your feet 'til they bled.

I remember the sun. The sun that created the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I've ever seen in my life. The sun that you couldn't look at...if you ever wanted to see again. The sun that you could feel without touching it.

I remember a moon that shone so bright you could read a map by it. I remember moonlight dancing on foliage that made you see nothing one minute and imagine a host of slinking VC the next.

I'll never forget the colors of an explosion close at hand. The white center bleeding out to a yellow ring surrounded by black rolling smoke was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

I remember the orange and green tracers dancing lazily through the night, while I prayed that none came to roost on me.

But above all this, I remember people. Faces, personalities, and human events still crowd my days and nights with pleasure and pain. I can remember entire conversations and events in explicit detail. I cannot remember the names of more than a few, and I don't know why. Shouldn't this be the other way around?

I remember the parting face of the Huey jock, who took an RPG in the nose 100 yards after he lifted off from leaving me in a clearing. I remember every detail of the guy who hung himself 2 weeks before he was going back to the world. I remember the guitar songs taught to me by the kid from Boston, who drove a jeep over a 105 shell buried on a dirt road and tripped the trap. I remember the quiet calm of the guy who told me he was sorry and assured me that I would be O.K. after he stepped on a mortar-round booby trap. All this while I held what was left of him in my arms, and we filled him with enough morphine to kill a horse because he was cut in half below the waist; and we knew he wouldn't survive the slick ride back to DaNang.

Of the hundreds I knew, I kick myself for remembering so few. Especially on this Memorial Day when I should be able to remember each and every one. They are the ones who paid for this Memorial Day. This is their day. I will not spoil it by forgetting even one of their number.

God help me, I will remember. From this day forth I will carry their memory and spirit with me as a living memorial to their sacrifice and dedication to God, country, duty, and honor. They shall not pass gently into the night as long as I have breath in my body to shout to the world...

REMEMBER, REMEMBER...For God's sake Remember.

Copyright © 1996 By James E. Leiker, All Rights Reserved

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

http://www.andrewphelps.com/archives/2004/05/31/today_is_memorial_day_remember
http://grunt.space.swri.edu/memday.htm
http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=6272

[snippy_about_it]

.......... Fallen Soldier remembered in Iraq
August 17, 2004

To many, Spc. Joseph F. Herndon II may have seemed indestructible. Twice this dedicated Soldier, assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, looked into the face of death and survived.

On April 7 an RPG hit his chest and failed to detonate during a battle in Hawijah, Iraq. Despite being wounded, he risked his life to aid two other injured Soldiers on his fire team, and helped carry them to safety. On June 27 he was again wounded while on patrol in the city of Huwayjah, when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle. For his selfless service, Herndon received two Purple Hearts and an Army Commendation Medal with Valor.

Then, some might say, when it seemed like the hard part was over and things were winding down, tragedy struck. After returning to Iraq from seeing his high school sweetheart, wife Melaine, on Rest and Recuperation leave, Herndon, 21, was mortally wounded during a sniper attack July 29 while pulling security during a patrol north of Hawijah.

Herdon’s fellow soldiers remembered him during a memorial service at the Kirkuk Regional Airbase. Known for being the one man his squad could count on, his friends shared the contributions Herndon made to the bond all fellow soldiers share.

"He bought a pick-up truck for the Soldiers to use, that did not have transportation," said Sgt. Christopher Mayberry of Company A, 1-27 Inf. "He didn't even need it, that is just the kind of guy Joe was."

"He put himself on the line everyday and gave his life for his country," a tearful Soldier said after the ceremony. "We all take that risk when you're in a combat zone, but the hurt is so great when you lose one of your own."

Herndon was posthumously awarded a third Purple Heart and a Bronze Star Medal which is the nation's fourth highest award for valor in combat.

[snippy_about_it]

"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!



Good Monday Morning Everyone.


Memorial Day 2005


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[MikefromOhio]

[kellynla]

On this day, I'd like to remember my father, a WWI veteran, my brother a Korean War veteran and all my fellow Marine Corps Viet Nam veterans who paid the ultimate price for freedom.

For Freedom is not Free!

God Bless them all.
May they Rest in Peace.

Semper Fi,
Kelly
"C" Company
1st Battalion
5th Marine Regiment
1st Marine Division
Viet Nam 1969 & 1970

[Soaring Feather]

To Remember

We honor those who've given all
to war's terrible guns and blood and gore
to those, whose broken bodies came home
in flag covered caskets
their final home.

Many rest in other lands
under Old Glory's waving bands.

We honor you and the gift you've given
your life for your brethren
Your nation called
you answered with all
your life you gave
for the Land of the Brave.

For this gallant act we say
Thank You, you gave all.

bentfeather
05.29.05 (c)

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-Gram.

A soldier held in Japanese prison camps in World War II secretly painted stars and stripes on pilfered paper hidden from his captors, then held the flag up high to greet American planes flying overhead when his camp was liberated.

After returning home, Cpl. Millard Orsini consigned the object of his secret work to a closet. He rarely mentioned the war or the moldering flag, and died in 1978 from a heart attack. Read all about it.

Girl Scout Hannah McVey of Rosamond, Calif., takes a photo as her sister Caitlin adds a flag to the dozens surrounding a new grave, of Army Pfc. Samuel Sungjune Lee, who died in the Iraq war on March 28, 2005, during the traditional placement of flags in preparation for Memorial Day ceremonies at the Los Angeles National Cemetery Saturday, May 28, 2005. Hundreds of boy and girl scouts placed flags on each one of nearly 85,000 graves. Formal Memorial Day services will be held Monday, May 30. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[Aeronaut]

Love your tag. I had a conversation with a guy soliciting funds for the Minnesota GOP, and basically told him that.

[The Mayor]

May 30, 2005

Known Unto God

Read:
Psalm 77:1-15

Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? —Psalm 77:9

Bible In One Year: Psalm 148-150

While visiting a World War I military cemetery in France, I was struck by the number of grave markers bearing only these words:

A SOLDIER OF THE GREAT WAR: KNOWN UNTO GOD

The cemetery was surrounded on three sides by stone panels bearing the names of 20,000 soldiers who fell in nearby battles. Imagining the loneliness of men dying in war and the anguish of families grieving at home was overpowering.

There may be times in life when we feel forgotten and alone. Like the psalmist we cry out: "Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? . . . Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?" (Psalm 77:7,9).

The psalmist's answer to feeling abandoned came in remembering all that God had done in the past, meditating on His wonderful work, and speaking of it to others (vv.11-12).

In our darkest moments, we can remember the words of Jesus: "Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Luke 12:6-7).

We are never forgotten by God. —David McCasland

When trials loom or death is near,
In Christ we can confide;
We never need to feel alone—
He's always at our side. —Sper

In every desert of trial, God has an oasis of comfort.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
Lonely But Never Alone
Safe And Secure

[Alia]

My own two cents, and I thank you for letting me share it here: +++

Today is Memorial Day. When we give tribute and remember those who've given the ultimate sacrifice in defending us, our country, Freedom.

I've been working studiously, for the first time in my life, avoiding reading the Memorial Day articles, and threads. Why? I've got this wound, which is healing, but is still there. He died in Fallujah last September. My next-door neighbor's child.

I've got soldiers "who came back" at my house, now. I just checked, they're up and awake. All of us are somber. We each wear KIA bracelets. Caught one staring out the window, he caught me and asked: "You okay?" I laughed and replied: "I'm as okay as YOU ARE!" We laughed a bit.

I've been avoiding going full bore into this Memorial Day, for the first time; and because the wounds which still pang over MY loss.

I come from a long line, both sides, of men who've fought and died for freedom. Some came back, and some didn't. And every year since my children were born, I've been taking them to Memorial Day events.

This year, I'm a bit shaky. Last night I watched a bit of Gary Seniece's Tribute to Our Fallen -- all I could do was 20 minutes before I was a near mess.

The President, in his speech, is so right:

In their hometowns, these soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are more than names on a roll of honor. They were friends and neighbors, teachers and coaches, classmates and colleagues. Each was the most important person in someone's life; each had hopes for the future, and each left a place that can never be filled.

If I dwell upon my own recent loss, it hurts like crazy. I'll go into my hurt, a bit, have a visit with Mick. I'll remember that last time we were together, before he went off again. I was washing the car in the front yard, when a car drove up, and out popped Mick, coming straight over to me. I'll remember this once little child grown to taller than me. And so glad we were to see each other. He had run straight over to see me. Like all those times when he was a kid and telling me how fast he could run; and how well he was doing in school.

We caught up. He knew he could always count on me to not be bashful about what I thought, and saying what I thought. He knew I'd tell him how proud I was of him; and he'd reply in this nonchalant way as per Joe Friday: "Jest doin' my job, ma'am"." And we'd laugh.

I'll remember that hug as we parted, and his tallness now requiring my face to go straight into that niche between his shoulder and head, my face in his neck. And I remember so perfectly, his warmth and smell, and I can hear and remember the feel of his laughter, yet, rumbling in his throat and chest. And my pulling away saying: "Y'all come back now, ya hear!" And his reply: "Order accepted!" Well, his calling was greater than any order I could have given...

And quickly, then, I'll remember what he died for. And what he believed in. Then, I'm okay -- the tears and pain won't take me down and out. When I stay focused upon what he fought for, I'm okay.

Today, you will witness the stoicism and courage of those who've lost loved ones. You might wonder why they aren't falling apart, while remembering and giving tribute. I'll let you in on this secret:

It's because we are remembering what our loved ones fought for, what they believed in, and that they did what they did because they loved us and cared about us, believed in Freedom, and a civil world. And in this light, we are made whole and because we are joined with our departed in that love for our fellow man. We might cry a bit, but because we love that freedom so fiercely and we loved that our departed did too.

In the twinkling of an eye, all those departed, and all those remaining, whether or not they've personally lost loved ones in pursuit of freedom, will be joined, if only for a nanosecond in something greater than ourselves. We shall be transformed.

I can be in a crowd and tell who has lost a close soldier, and who hasn't. There's something in the eyes. And when that connection is made, there's a complete non-verbal communication which takes place, And it warms us. I have found myself in major, enveloping hugs with total strangers, over this matter. And in that brief moment, something big and important was added to each of us.

Where mere moments before we carried this lonely place of loss within ourselves, we were now made whole by a simple connection.

A connection of pure love.

So, yes, Memorial Day is here again. And my flag is out. And I'm ready to go; good to go. And I will look just like anyone else remembering and paying tribute.

And the tears will probably be lightly flowing down my cheeks when we get to that part about "ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country, our freedom".

And in that instant, I will not only see my neighbor, but all those in my ancestral line who died for freedom. And I will give homage and thanks to all those I didn't know past, present, and future who died for freedom from tyranny. And I will also see the faces of so many who did come back through several wars. I'll remember their characters and the things they said and did.

And the echoes of it all will fill the aching holes and heal the patches on my soul.

If ya go into Memorial Day thinking about yourself and your losses or someone else's loss; you'll be a mess.

If ya go into Memorial Day thinking about Love For Your Fellow Man -- you will be made whole. And you will join in with all those through thousands of years who gave their all in the name of pure love for their fellow man; their neighbor.

Memorial Day is our way of giving that love right back to those who died so that we might live in freedom, as imperfect as it comes in the mortal world.

My heart goes out to those with even more recent loss. Pulling the picture together for Memorial Day can be hard. For them, I pray strength, that they might rise on that bubble of love and be able to join in on the calvacade of warriors, live and dead, who yet march in the name of love for each other and freedom.

Freedom.

Long May She Wave.

[E.G.C.]

In honor of those who paid the ulteimate sacficies on the batttlefields.

Fomr EGC Southwest Oklahoma.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on May 30:
1220 Alexander Nevski [Aleksandr] Russian ruler (1252-63)
1524 Selîm II Sari the blonde, sultan of Turkey (1566-74)
1672 Peter I "the Great" Romanov tsar of Russia (1682-1725)
1800 Karl W Feuerbach German mathematician (Position of Feuerbach)
1812 John Alexander McClernand Major General (Union volunteers)
1830 Edward Winslow Hinks Brevet Major General (Union volunteers)
1832 George Doherty Johnston Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1835 Alfred Austin Leeds England, poet laureate of England (Garden)
1846 Peter Carl Fabergé Russia, goldsmith/jeweler/egg maker
1867 Arthur Vining Davis Sharon MA, CEO (Alcoa-1910-57)
1896 Howard Hawks Goshen IN, director/producer (Rio Bravo, Scarface)
1902 Seton Howard Frederick Lloyd archaeologist
1908 Mel[vin Jerome] Blanc San Francisco CA, voice (Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd & Porky Pig)
1909 Benny Goodman Chicago IL, clarinetist/bandleader (King of Swing)
1912 Hugh Griffith Anglesey Wales, actor (Ben Hur, Mutiny on the Bounty, Oliver!)
1916 Dr Joseph W Kennedy scientist (1 of 4 discoverers of plutonium)
1926 Christine Jorgensen pioneer transsexual
1934 Alexei A Leonov Siberia USSR, cosmonaut (Voskhod II, Soyuz 19)
1936 Keir Dullea Cleveland OH, actor (2001, 2010, David & Lisa)
1939 Michael J Pollard Passaic NJ, actor (Bonnie & Clyde, Roxanne)
1943 Gale Sayers NFL running back (Chicago Bears)
1945 Meredith MacRae Houston TX, actress (Petticoat Junction, My 3 Sons)
1946 Candy Lightner political activist/founder (MADD)
1958 Michael E Lopez-Alegria Madrid Spain, US Navy Lieutenant Commander/astronaut (STS 73, sk 92)
1963 Helen Patricia Sharman Great Britain, cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-12)
1964 Wynonna [Christina Judd] Ashland KY, singer (Judds-Why Not Me, Love Can Build A Bridge)
1978 Krassmira Todorava Miss Bulgaria Universe (1997)

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Deaths which occurred on May 30:
0727 Hubertus bishop of Tongeren-Maastricht/saint, dies at about 72
1252 Ferdinand III the holy King of Castilië/León, dies
1416 Jerome of Prague burned as a heretic by the Church
1431 Joan of Arc burned as a witch by the English at Rouen at 19
1574 Charles IX King of France (1560-74), dies
1593 Christopher Marlowe British dramatist (Tamburlaine the Great), murdered
1778 Voltaire [François-Marie Arouet] French writer (Candide), dies at 42
1864 James Barbour Terrill US attorney/Confederate Brigadier-General, dies at 26
1865 William Clarke Quantrill criminal/Confederate bushwhacker, dies at 27
1912 Wilbur Wright US aviation pioneer, dies
1918 Georgi V Plechanov Russian revolutionary theorist, dies
1945 Irma Laplasse Flemish farmer/Nazi collaborator, executed
1951 Hermann Broch writer, dies at 64
1954 Ahmad Amin Egyptian historian/author, dies at 67
1960 Boris Pasternak Russian poet/writer (Dr Zhivago), dies at 70
1961 Rafael L Trujillo Molina dictator Dominican Republic (1930-61), murdered at 69
1964 Leo Szilard Hungarians/US nuclear physicst, dies at 66

1971 Audie Murphy WWII hero/actor (Sierra), killed in plane crash at 46

1977 Paul Desmond US jazz saxophonist, dies at 52
1981 Ziaur Rahmen President of Bangladesh, is assassinated
1983 Alfred M Gruenther US General/NATO-commander (1953-56), dies at 84
1986 Hank Mobley US jazz saxophonist, dies at 55
1993 Herman S Blount Sun Ra, US jazz pianist (Solar Arkestra), dies at 79
1994 Ezra Taft Benson dies (Mormon Church president) age 94
2000 Gordon “Tex” Beneke, (singer and sax player, Glenn Miller Orchestra, dies age 86.

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GWOT Casualties

Iraq
30-May-2003 3 | US: 3 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Specialist Michael T. Gleason Mosul/Tikrit (between) Non-hostile - vehicle accident
US Specialist Kyle A. Griffin Mosul/Tikrit (between) Non-hostile - vehicle accident
US Specialist Zachariah W. Long Mosul/Tikrit (between) Non-hostile - vehicle accident

30-May-2004 5 | US: 5 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Aaron C. Elandt Baghdad (military hospital) Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US 1st Lieutenant Kenneth Michael Ballard Najaf Hostile - hostile fire - ambush
US Private 1st Class Nicholaus E. Zimmer Kufa (south of) Hostile - hostile fire - RPG attack
US Private Bradli N. Coleman Baghdad (military hospital) Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack
US Specialist Charles E. Odums II Baghdad (SW part) Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack


Afghanistan
A Good Day

http://icasualties.org/oif/
Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White

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On this day...
1434 Battle at Lipany
1498 Columbus departs with 6 ships for 3rd trip to America
1522 French troops driven out of Genoa
1527 University of Marburg (Germany) founded
1536 English king Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour
1539 Spanish explorer Fernando de Soto discovers Florida (Tampa Bay)
1574 Henry III follows brother Charles IX as king of France
1588 Spanish Aramada under Medina-Sidonia departs Lisbon to invade England
1783 Benjamin Tower of Philadelphia publishes 1st daily newspaper in US
1808 Napoleon annexes Tuscany & gave it seats in French Senate
1814 1st Treaty of Paris, after Napoleon's 1st abdication
1821 James Boyd patents Rubber Fire Hose
1822 House slave betrays Denmark Vesey conspiracy (37 blacks hanged)
1842 John Francis attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria
1848 2nd battle at Gioto: Sardinia-Piemonte defeats Austrians
1848 México ratifies treaty giving US; New Mexico, California & parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona & Colorado in return for $15 million
1848 William G Young patents ice cream freezer
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed Missouri Compromise opens north slavery
1858 Hudson Bay Company's rights to Vancouver Island revoked
1862 Battle of Booneville MS - captured General Beauregard evacuates Corinth MS
1862 Battle of Front Royal VA
1864 Battle of Bethesda Church VA
1864 Cavalry fight at Old Church (Totopotomoy Creek) VA


1868 Memorial Day 1st observed when 2 women in Columbus MS placed flowers on both Confederate & Union graves


1872 Mahlon Loomis patents wireless telegraphy
1879 92º F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland OH in May
1879 Gilmore Garden (NYC) renamed Madison Square Garden
1883 Rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse caused a stampede that kills 12
1889 The brassiere is invented
1890 1st Dodger homerun (Dave Foutz)
1894 Bobby Lowe is 1st to hit 4 homeruns in 1 baseball game
1896 1st car accident occurs, Henry Wells hit a bicyclist (NYC)
1904 Frank Chance gets hit by pitch 5 times in a doubleheader
1908 1st federal workmen's compensation law approved
1908 Aldrich Vineland Currency Act forerunner to Federal Reserve System
1909 Reuben Siegel laid cornerstone of 1st home in Tel-Aviv
1912 US Marines sent to Nicaragua
1913 1st Balkan War ends, Treaty of London
1913 New country of Albania is formed
1921 Memorial to Captain Eddie Grant, killed in WWI, unveiled at Polo Grounds
1921 Salzburg Austria votes to join Germany
1922 Cubs swap Max Flack for Cardinals Cliff Heathcote during the middle of a doubleheader. Both play for both teams that day

1922 Lincoln Memorial dedicated

1925 Peter DePaolo became 1st man to average over 100 mph at Indianapolis 500
1925 Roger Hornsby replaces Branch Rickey as manager of Cardinals
1927 Walter Johnson records 113th & last shutout of his career
1932 Socal, formerly Standard Oil of California, discovers oil in Bahrain
1933 Patent on invisible glass installation
1937 Memorial Day Massacre - Chicago police shoot on union marchers at Republic Steel Plant in Chicago, 10 die
1941 1st anti semitic measures in Serbia
1941 English Army enters Baghdad, chasing pro-German coup government
1942 1,047 bombers bomb Cologne in RAF's raid of WWII
1942 Reichsführer Himmler arrives in Prague
1942 Satchel Paige pitches 5 innings to defeat Dizzy Dean All-Stars 8-1
1942 US aircraft carrier Yorktown leaves Pearl Harbor
1943 US troops reconquer Attu Aleutians
1949 East Germans constitution approved (or else)
1954 Dutch bishops forbid membership to non-catholic sporting clubs
1955 Said el-Mufti forms Jordan Government
1955 Tunisia begins domestic self governing
1956 Bus boycott begins in Tallahassee FL

1958 Unidentified soldiers killed in WWII & Korean War buried in Arlington

1959 President Stroessner disbands Paraguay's parliament
1959 World's 1st hovercraft (SR-N1) tested at Cowes England
1961 Roger Maris hits his 10th & 11th of 61 homeruns
1964 Beatles' "Love Me Do" single goes #1
1965 Viet Cong offensive against US base Da Nang, begins
1965 Vivian Malone, is 1st black to graduate from University of Alabama
1966 300 US airplanes bomb North Vietnam
1967 Biafra declares independence from Nigeria
1967 King Hussein of Jordan visits Cairo
1967 Robert "Evel" Knievel's motorcycle jumps 16 automobiles
1967 Yankee Whitey Ford, nearing 41, announces his retirement from baseball
1968 President De Gaulle disbands French parliament
1971 US Mariner 9 1st satellite to orbit Mars launched
1971 Willie Mays hits his 638th homerun, sets National League record of 1,950 runs scored
1972 3 Japanese PFL terrorists kill 24, wound 72 at Tel Aviv's Lod International Airport
1979 Pat Underwood makes his pitching debut for Detroit beats brother Tom
1979 Percom Data Company Inc release Microdos for Radio Shack's TRS-80
1980 1st papal visit to France since 1814
1981 "Nightline" extends from 4 nights to 5 nights a week (Friday)
1982 Spain becomes 16th member of NATO
1983 American League president Lee MacPhail suspends Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for one week, for his public criticism of umpires
1984 Bomb explodes in rebel leader Eden Pastora headquarters in Nicaragua
1986 Bobby Rahal is 1st to average over 170 mph in the Indianapolis 500
1987 West German Mathias Rust lands airplane on Red Square
1991 64th National Spelling Bee: Joanne Lagatta wins spelling antipyretic
1991 Supreme Court rules prosecutors can be sued for legal advice they give police & can be held accountable
1992 UN votes for sanctions against Serb-led Yugoslavia to halt fighting
1997 Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, set afire by 12 year old grandson
1997 Child molester Jesse K. Timmendequas was convicted in Trenton, N.J., of raping and strangling a 7-year-old neighbor, Megan Kanka, whose 1994 murder inspired "Megan's Law," requiring that communities be notified when sex offenders move in. (Timmendequas was later sentenced to death.)
1998 6.9 earthquake hit northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan (The estimated deaths later reached 5,000)
2000 Last Monday of the month. Memorial Day, which began in 1868 as Decoration Day, was set aside to remember those who have died in the service of their country. Celebrated on May 30 for the first 100 years, Memorial Day was officially changed to the last Monday in May in 1968
2000 It was reported that physicists had conducted experiments in which light beams appeared to travel faster that the speed of light

2002 In NYC a solemn, wordless ceremony was held to mark the end of the cleanup at the World Trade Center site.

2003 President Bush began a 6-nation tour in Krakow, Poland, and brought personal thanks to the country for standing up as a wartime ally in Iraq
2004 An Israeli air strike killed Wael Nassar (38), a top Hamas commander, along with his assistant in Gaza City.

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Channel Is, England, N Ireland, Wales : Spring Holiday
Guam, Puerto Rico, US, US Virgin Islands : Memorial Day
Lincoln City IN : Nancy Hanks Lincoln Memorial Day
US : The REAL Memorial Day (Decoration Day) (1868)
US : Memorial Day/Decoration Day, a legal holiday (1868) (Monday)
Virginia : Confederate Memorial Day (1868)(Monday)
National Water a Flower Day
Public Relations Week Begins
National Salad Month

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Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Felix I, pope [268-73], martyr
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Ferdinand III, Spanish king/patron of engineers
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Jeanne d'Arc, Maid of Orleans, patroness of France
Christian : Solemnity of Pentecost (Whitsunday)
Christian-Scotland : Term Day
Christian : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Trinity Sunday)

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Religious History
339 Death of Eusebius, 74, Father of early church history. He attended the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325, and his "Historia Ecclesiastica" contains an abundance of detail on the first three centuries of the Early Church found nowhere else in ancient literature.
1431 French heroine Joan of Arc, 19, a prisoner of the English, was burned at the stake for heresy. (She was later canonized in 1920 by Benedict XV.)
1819 Anglican bishop Reginald Heber, 36, penned the words to the missionary hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains."
1934 The two-day Barmen Synod ended in Germany. The resulting Barmen Declaration affirmed that the German Confessing Church recognized Jesus Christ to be the only authoritative voice of God, in clear contrast to all other (i.e., Nazi) powers representing divine revelation.
1968 Death of Martin Noth, 66, German Old Testament scholar. Noth was the first authority to note that 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings contain virtually no mention of the classic prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos and Hosea.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Strange Days
US chicken ducks jaywalking fine

A chicken fined $54 for illegally crossing a road in California has had the charge thrown out by a court.
The fine was dismissed after a lawyer for the bird's owners argued that the fowl was domesticated and could not be classified as livestock.

California law bans livestock from highways, but not domestic animals.

Linc and Helena Moore had been fined on 26 March after their chicken wandered onto a road in the small rural mining town of Johannesburg in Kern county.

They were warned by their lawyer that if the bird continued to cross the road unattended they could face a minor misdemeanour infraction, the Daily Independent newspaper reported.

Allegations

The Moores say they were fined because of their repeated complaints that local authorities had not done enough to curb off-road drivers.

"For the last two-and-a-half years, no-one has been able to stop the kids riding their bikes in the middle of the road or the neighbours' dogs running around our neighbourhood," Linc Moore was quoted as saying.

"But when our chicken escaped and crossed the road once it became a huge issue."

Officials from the sheriff's department rejected the allegations.

The couple are now seeking legal assistance to file harassment charges against Kern County's Sheriff Department.

---

Thought for the day :
"The hero dead cannot expire:
The dead still play their part."

[Professional Engineer]

Good for you. I haven't had the opportunity yet.

[alfa6]

Part Two, with head bowed

I believe that this is from either a memorial service or a burial at sea ceremony on the John F. Kennedy

Deepest Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Professional Engineer]

1936 Keir Dullea Cleveland OH, actor (2001, 2010, David & Lisa)

I was David Bowman...

[snippy_about_it]

My own two cents, and I thank you for letting me share it here:

Thank you for sharing with us today Alia.

We are here for the very reason you take your children to Memorial Day services, to remember, to educate and most of all, to Never Forget.

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you Mike.

[snippy_about_it]

Thought for the day :
"The hero dead cannot expire:
The dead still play their part."

Amen. Thank you Valin.

[Professional Engineer]

1588 Spanish Aramada under Medina-Sidonia departs Lisbon to invade England

I'll be waiting on pins and needles to see how this turned out.