Good list.
Though Private Ryan was fictional the ending was poignant. “Tell me I’ve led a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.”
For the guys who didn’t make it home. I think my Dad kept the buddies that didn’t make it home in his mind a lot as he tried so hard to live a good life. I saw the same thing in most of the WWII vets that I knew when I was a child. So many were decent men.
I wonder how long we will be a great enough natin to maintain these memorial places, like the cemetary at Normandy, of tribute to the fallen for freedom just so? The United States has saved the world from tyranny at least twice. Not just helped but outright saved the world twice in the last century. I wonder if we have enough strength, decency, courage and character to save ourselves now?
“...I wonder if we have enough strength, decency, courage and character to save ourselves now?...”
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I sometimes have a problem with seeing how younger people treat this day...I realize it is a “holiday” and people are off work and enjoy having the time with family and friends...
I only wish they took the day a little more serious about the real meaning of the day...
It’s great to cook out and have a good time, but let’s also reflect on what the day stands for...
I was 13 years old when I realized that liberals were evil, despicable people. It was late 1945 when all the GIs were coming back to my neighborhood (Chelsea district, NYC), some missing body parts or minds.
Almost every newspaper had some columnist wringing their hands about the "coming wave of violence" (WTH???). The meme was that these returning GIs were so addicted to killing and mayhem that they will bring that back to the States and that people better be prepared for the savagery.
Every vet we knew just wanted to get back to a normal life and try to make up for the lost years.
Then in the '50s, when none of their dire predictions proved true, they started snickering that under Ike's administration, society was "boring".