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...all the soldiers, sailors and airmen who gave all they had for the United States of America.
For me, this day is the most sobering of all this country's National Holidays.

I remember when I was a senior in HS, and watched on television those who claimed to be my countrymen, hurl rotten eggs at the returning Viet Nam veterans.
Shouting that they were "Baby Killers, and even spitting on them. Desecrating the American Flag, these men held such reverence for.

I made a life altering decision because of those scenes. I enlisted.
I chose to be one of the finest men our country has ever produced.
A man at arms.
Ready to die and willing to kill wherever my Uncle Sam sent me.

To this day, I have only contempt for those "protestors" of the 60's and 70's.
Protesting the very men whose sacrifice allowed them this "right to protest" their country and men who served it.
I view them with disgust. Hating war DOESN'T MEAN, AND CANNOT MEAN DISRESPECTING THE WARRIORS WHO FIGHT THEM!

But, I also remember ALL THE MEN & WOMEN who have served.
Especially those who died face down in the mud on foreign soils. Leaving a permanent hole in the fabric of their families.
A perpetual "empty seat" at their dinner table.

I salute all those, like me, who weren't destined to die, or be crippled or maimed the remainder of their lives.
We served, and lived to come home.

And better than most we understand all the white crosses on the coast of France. We understand the Black Wall Monument to the nearly 60,000 Americans who died in Nam.
All for their fellow citizens.
Given the lack of attention paid them, for most Americans they are only ghosts. Few civilians notice those who didn't return
The gap between soldier and civilian is wider now than it has ever been. It bothers me, especially today.

Veterans know where they went. What they endured and what they did.
This day I reach out to the surviving men I served with in the 2nd Ranger Battalion.

Today I ponder. I say the Pledge of Allegiance. I salute the American flag.
I open & drink a cold bottle of beer to those who "GAVE THE LAST MEASURE OF DEVOTION"

THIS DAY!


MEMORIAL DAY!

SUA SPONTE!!!

Your post was most eloquently stated, Chinaman.
Like you, I am a veteran of the Armed Forces, I served in the Navy.
Unlike you, I did not serve my active duty during a time of war, (USNR, '62-'64); my closest brush with war was a near miss when my ship nearly "bought it" during the Cuban Missile Crisis when a Russian sub commander had itchy fingers and almost launched a nuke at the carrier that I was aboard.

I'm not so sure that Robert A Heinlein, the great sci-fi writer and author of Starship Troopers, among others, wasn't spot-on when he advocated in his book that in order to earn the right to vote, one must serve in some form in the Armed Services.
Starship Troopers, in case any haven't read it, is a darn good read, highly recommended...