A Sad Memorial Day

[clyde]

Originally Posted by GBBob

Come on Steve..How about keeping your personal political feelings out of a thread honoring those that have served? I really don't like my Dad's WW2 service mixed up in your Obama obsessions..

And you know I'm cool with you, but just felt you were mixing busines with pleasure, if that makes sense.

kissy-kissy

[GBBob]

Originally Posted by clyde

kissy-kissy

Pat Tillman...we speak your name.

[Danzig]

we are leaving san antonio now. of course we visited the alamo, a poignant shrine to a group who all gave all they had for freedom. glad we went.

[bigrun]

Originally Posted by Danzig

we are leaving san antonio now. of course we visited the alamo, a poignant shrine to a group who all gave all they had for freedom. glad we went.

Bout 50 years ago got to the Alamo couple times while at Lackland AFB...quite a site...

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by Danzig

we are leaving san antonio now. of course we visited the alamo, a poignant shrine to a group who all gave all they had for freedom. glad we went.

Others may appreciate this as well, but I'm almost sure you will find this interesting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/op...pagewanted=all

David Blight is one of the best historians around.

[dellinger63]

Interesting poll regarding the military and Obama. Custom made for this thread

Bottom Line

Americans who currently serve or previously served in the U.S. military are less likely to approve of the job President Obama is doing than are those who have not served in the military, by about 10 percentage points. This approval gap occurs across age groups.

For younger, post-draft-era veterans, individuals with certain regional, demographic, or psychographic backgrounds may be more likely to be Republican and more likely to join the military. For older veterans, their service in the military may have led them to a more Republican viewpoint on politics, either during their service or in later years.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/147839/Mi...wer-Marks.aspx

[GBBob]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

Interesting poll regarding the military and Obama. Custom made for this thread

Bottom Line

Americans who currently serve or previously served in the U.S. military are less likely to approve of the job President Obama is doing than are those who have not served in the military, by about 10 percentage points. This approval gap occurs across age groups.

For younger, post-draft-era veterans, individuals with certain regional, demographic, or psychographic backgrounds may be more likely to be Republican and more likely to join the military. For older veterans, their service in the military may have led them to a more Republican viewpoint on politics, either during their service or in later years.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/147839/Mi...wer-Marks.aspx

Can't you just substitute "Democrat" for "Obama" and get similar results? I never thought of military folk as leaning Left much anyway so I really don't think this is specific to our President.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by miraja2

Others may appreciate this as well, but I'm almost sure you will find this interesting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/op...pagewanted=all

David Blight is one of the best historians around.

thanks for posting this. i knew why memorial day started, but others may not. just finished the shelby foote trilogy the other day. 20 years worth of effort by him~im glad he put forth the effort.
have the history channel set to dvr tonite for the gettysburg show.
that war was a painful, horribly bloody too long chapter in our history. so costly, with every major battle surpassing the previous one in lives lost.

[bigrun]

Memorial Day: Blessed are they




By Times-Dispatch Staff
Published: May 30, 2011

Today America pauses. A grateful nation remembers and offers thanks. Memorial Day honors those who gave the last full measure of devotion; liberty endures because of those who died on its behalf.

The brave always have answered the call. Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill and other engagements made the Declaration of Independence possible. Early defeat would have crushed the Revolution. Ideas motivated the Founders; sacrifice ensured their success.

Guns may fall silent, yet as philosophers have said only the dead have seen the end of war. The war to end all war, for instance, led to a second global conflagration in 20 years. The wounds of Normandy and Iwo Jima, of Bastogne and Guadalcanal had not healed before the U.S. engaged in combat at the Pusan Perimeter and the Chosin Reservoir. Americans bled in Vietnam. For decades they stood sentinel in a divided Europe. Today, they stand guard in Afghanistan and Iraq. More than 230 Virginians have died in the war against jihadism.

When he said farewell to the Corps, and the Corps, and the Corps, Gen. Douglas MacArthur said of the American soldier:

"From one end of the world to the other, he has drained deep the chalice of courage. As I listened to those songs [of the glee club], in memory's eye I could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs on many a weary march, from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle deep through mire of shell-pocked roads, to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective, and for many, to the judgment seat of God.

"I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory. Always for them: Duty, Honor, Country; always their blood, and sweat, and tears, as they saw the way and the light."

MacArthur's words continue to describe the men and woman who have chosen the profession of arms — a profession equaled only by the clergy. Today is a day to take pilgrimages to war memorials, and to bend the knee.