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Join us as we Remember those that gave all and those that have served and are serving now in our military.
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I’m a little earlier today than most days, and with good reason. First of all, let me thank you for the considerable efforts you and others put forth to make the Canteen what it is – a warm and friendly place for veterans and civilians alike to come and feel welcome. I’ve never failed to get that, whenever I stop by, which isn’t nearly often enough.
This isn’t a particularly enjoyable weekend for me. Yes, I do appreciate the breath of spring that’s finally on the land (at least in most places). The windows are open, the screen door is up, the top is down on the convertible, and the days are longer. A nice time of year, to be sure.
But I’m in a funk. Not a suicidal depression, I’m grateful to say. That roller coaster ride is over, thank God. But I’m certainly not in the kind of upbeat holiday mood that typifies most of these summer-like mini-vacations.
It’s Memorial Day weekend, after all. And that means something. It means something different than does its companion holiday in November – Veteran’s Day. And it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I finally got the difference. Veteran’s Day honors those who served. Memorial Day honors those who fell.
In the midst of all the travel, excursions, celebrations, whatever, we all need to take a moment to honor those who fell. I’m surprised how few of the people I know, those I know well, those I count as friends, are planning to do that. They’ve got too much planned, the kids are too busy, they just want to sleep in and relax, or they just don’t want to be somber or be reminded of. . . what this weekend is all about. Take one from Column A, two from Column B, you get an egg roll either way.
Now, I have nothing against people who are going to enjoy this weekend to the fullest. My sister is having a barbeque Monday afternoon, and I intend to put in an appearance and partake of the feast to the fullest extent my aching gall bladder will allow. But along the way I will stop and take a moment to remember those who fell.
And so I encourage all of you to do that. FReepers, lurkers, anyone who just surfed on in. Go to a service Monday morning. Get up an hour early. Go out in the sunshine, or the gloom, or the drizzle or the cold. Be reflective. Be respectful. Be somber. And yes, be sad. It won’t kill you to do it for an hour. We have this three-day holiday for a reason. And the reason is to honor those individuals who punched our ticket. We ride the crest of a wave in this country, whatever its problems. And we do so because selected individuals paid the due bill when it all counted. And we can stop, take an hour out of a busy holiday weekend, have a little respect, and honor their sacrifice. We owe them that. It’s the least all of us can do.
End of rant. Hope you have a nice weekend, Bunny.
In Memoriam: Thomas Anthony Eckl, 199th Light Inf. Bde., KIA 20 Feb. 1968. A good man, who should have come home.
Today's classic warship, USS Georgia (BB-15)
Virginia class
Displacement. 14,948
Length. 441'3"
Beam. 76'3"
Speed. 19 k.
Complement. 812
Armament. 4 12", 8 8", 12 6"
Commissioned on 24 September 1906
Sold for scrap on 1 November 1923
USS GEORGIA, a 14,948-ton Virginia class battleship built at Bath, Maine, was commissioned in September 1906. She soon became a unit of the Atlantic Fleet, participating in routine operations and, in June 1907, in the Jamestown Exposition's naval review. On 15 July 1907, while engaged in gunnery exercises, a powder charge ignited prematurely in her aft 8" turret, killing 10 officers and men and injuring 11.
In December 1907, GEORGIA left Hampton Roads, Virginia, with other Atlantic Fleet battleships to begin the World cruise of the "Great White Fleet". She visited ports in the West Indies, South America, Mexico, the U.S. west coast, the western Pacific, Asia and the Mediterranean before returning to Hampton Roads in February 1909.
GEORGIA was updated after this voyage, receiving many improvements, including "cage" masts in place of her original "military" models. Her normal Atlantic Fleet activities were punctuated by a trans-Atlantic trip to Europe in 1910-11, a Naval Academy training cruise in mid-1913 and intervention operations in troubled Mexico and Haiti in 1914. While out of commission in 1916-17, GEORGIA served as receiving ship at Boston, Massachusetts.
Recommissioned in April 1917, GEORGIA was employed on training duties during most of the First World War, shifting to convoy escort missions in September 1918. Late in the year, she began six months' of transport service, bringing almost 6000 U.S. servicemen home from France in five voyages. In July 1919, the battleship transited the Panama Canal to join the Pacific Fleet. She was placed out of commission at Mare Island, California, in June 1920. GEORGIA remained inactive until November 1923, when she was sold for scrapping.
I'd like to add my appreciation to all who have served to insure that America remain 'the land of the free and the home of the brave!" Among those are my own father, 2 uncles and 3 cousins.
