Memorial Day

[Nikki]

I'm opening this year's thread a day early.

Tomorrow, we give pause to remember and honor all those men and women who, for the past 350 years have paid a price -- up to the ultimate -- for us as a nation.

There is no way we can ever repay them except to keep alive, for every generation, their faith in our nation, their belief in the rule of law as a protector of all, their confidence that their actions and sacrifices were for the greater good, and atheir names -- each and every one.

Tomorrow, I'll be going to Arlington Cemetary to pay my respects to one of my friends from high school.

Then, up to Walter Reed to spend the day as a volunteer driver for the Wounded Warriors program.

It's not much, but I try.

[Cathulhu]

My pop, who I'm glad to say is still with us, drove M-10 Wolverine tanks for Patton and got a couple shot out from under him. (Yup, that's the guy that taught me to drive!) My father-in-law, also still around, was taken as a POW in the Battle of the Bulge and survived six months in a German slave labor camp. I plan to do some visiting this week with these real-life heroes, the reason we have the freedom we enjoy. I'm one lucky, lucky person to have such guys in my life.

[wserra]

I remember my good high school friend Ivan (Puerto Rican, not Russian), who enlisted in the Army and died in Viet Nam at age 19 or 20.

I remember that, at the time Congress authorized Bush I to go to war in Iraq, one member of the Senate (Tim Johnson of South Dakota) and five or six members of the House had children in the armed forces.

RIP.

[Prof]

College and high school classmates, friends, cousins, and those thousands I did not know, I salute you now. I often think, as I get older, how lucky I was that this cup passed me by. I sometimes feel a twinge of guilt, too.

[The Observer]

No Man's Land
Eric Bogle

Well, how'd you do, Private William McBride?
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside?
I'll rest here awhile in the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day, Lord, and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916--
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean,
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they sound the fife lowly,
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing "The Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play "The Flowers of the Forest?"

Did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind?
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
And, though you died back in 1916,
To that loyal heart are you always 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they sound the fife lowly,
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing "The Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play "The Flowers of the Forest?"

The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;
The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.
The trenches have vanished long under the plow;
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard it's still No Man's Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.

Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they sound the fife lowly,
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing "The Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play "The Flowers of the Forest?"

And I can't help but wonder, now Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you 'The Cause?'
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.

Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they sound the fife lowly,
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing "The Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play "The Flowers of the Forest?"

[Nikki]

Also, there's a memorial in Langley, Virginia, which very few people ever get to see.

It honors the men and women without names, without faces, who never were, but died in shadowy service to their country.

There are also memorials in New York, Oklahoma City, Washington, and too many other places. Perhaps these are the most significant memorials of all, because they emphasize why all those others drew a line in the sand and refused to let anyone erase it.

[Unidyne]

In recognition of those who gave all for this country, permit me to post a link to this video, recorded back when TV stations didn't show informercials overnight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkDPvuidzLg

Sung by the US Air Force Academy Glee Club.

[Nikki]

On Friday night, I went to the Prarie Home Companion performance at Wolf Trap.

In the middle of the show, Garrison asked that the audience rise and join him in singing the National Anthem.

One thousand people stood as one, bared their heads, and sang as with one voice.

Wolf Trap is just a few miles from Arlington, Manassas, and Antietem. I think we did them justice.

[Judge Roy Bean]

On Friday night, I went to the Prarie Home Companion performance at Wolf Trap.

In the middle of the show, Garrison asked that the audience rise and join him in singing the National Anthem.

One thousand people stood as one, bared their heads, and sang as with one voice.

Wolf Trap is just a few miles from Arlington, Manassas, and Antietem. I think we did them justice.

And a fine job you did!

Howooooooooo!