Remember our veterans this Memorial Day



This will be our first Memorial Day honoring my brother, Jim, who passed last September. He did his service to the US in the 60's. He was 72 when he passed, I cannot believe this boy of 18 was so cute. LOL


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One of my wife's uncles served in the U.S. Army Air Corps... later to become the U.S. Air Force... in WWII. He lost his life when his bomber went down over Germany, 8 days before Germany surrendered. We have his casket flag... 48 star... and some of his uniform items.
Many if our family, including my Dad, served and are now gone. My Dad was with the Field Artillery in Europe. His farm background had him running the mule trains that pulled the howitzers and their ammo through the mud.

So many confuse Memorial Day with Veterans Day. Memorial Day is to remember those who served and are no longer with us. Veterans Day is the day when we applaud those who served and are still serving and are still with us. Our son who serves in the U.S. Army rec'd the U.S. Military Meritorious Service Medal this past week. Has nothing to do with Memorial Day. Still pretty proud of what he has accomplished serving our Country.
 
Remember all the men who fought as well as some who were heroes who didn't. For example the USS Dorchester was on its way with 904 on board, but was sank before it got to Europe, with only 230 survivors. In the icy water off Greenland, 674 men who were on the way to join the fight did not get there, but drowned.
http://www.armedtoserve.com/BUCKLER/DorchesterUntoldStory.html
One of those was my oldest uncle, who was too old to be drafted, but joined anyway, because he wanted to do his part, but didn't get to, even after taking advanced basic training.
 
Also on this day do not forget the many women who stayed home and still were part of the war effort. They did work in factories, raising children, writing letters, and countless other important jobs. My mom worked in the arsenal plant at Radford, Va. during the war, and on the assembly line making ammunition, as did many of my neighbors. Of course, I was an infant, but still remember seeing some relatives in uniform, although I didn't understand at that time.
 
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The one in the middle is my oldest son. He just retired last October after 20 years. No more deployments!
 
exwisehe said:
Also on this day do not forget the many women who stayed home and still were part of the war effort. They did work in factories, raising children, writing letters, and countless other important jobs. My mom worked in the arsenal plant at Radford, Va. during the war, and on the assembly line making ammunition, as did many of my neighbors. Of course, I was an infant, but still remember seeing some relatives in uniform, although I didn't understand at that time.
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Very true!!!

My city grandmother was a single mom and a machinist during the war. She was trained to make precision parts to repair machines in a local factory that had gone from making automobile parts to machine guns during the war.
 
Trade, those photos are incredible. I'm glad your son is home safe and sound and you too! Great pic of you, both young and older. Thank you for generations worth of devoted military service...and thank you for my freedom :rose:

Marie, Good pic of your cute brother. I'm so grateful for his service too and glad he returned safely to live a long life :rose:
 
Lara said:
Trade, those photos are incredible. I'm glad your son is home safe and sound and you too! Great pic of you, both young and older. Thank you for generations worth of devoted military service...and thank you for my freedom :rose:

Marie, Good pic of your cute brother. I'm so grateful for his service too and glad he returned safely to live a long life :rose:
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Thanks Lara, but I don't know if "generations worth of devoted military service" is the way I'd describe it.

I joined the Air Force under duress. Duress as in I had gotten the "Greetings" letter from my local draft board. I had already done my research and found that the Air Force had the lowest casualty rate of any of the services. Well actually the Navy was pretty low, and I know you are a Navy brat, but that just wasn't me. I figure I can walk a lot farther than I can swim so I preferred to serve on dry land. But bottom line, my objective was to get my military obligation ticket punched with the minimum risk of coming home in a body bag.

Anyway, I waited as long as I could, but when that "Greetings" letter came I beat it on down to the Air Force recruiter and said "Can you get me out of this?" And he smiled and said "Sure kid, we have a deal for you". So I don't take a lot of credit for my "service", although I do feel it was marginally better than my dad who somehow talked his way into getting his job at Curtis Wright declared "Essential to the War Effort".

My oldest son however was a Green Beret. So I give him credit for redeeming the family name.
 
Hey, Trade, duress or not you did it! I can't imagine the troops you received and the healing you were part of :thankyou1:
and being a Medic helping others is nothing to sneeze at (sneeze/medic..buh dum ching)
But you get an A+ for honesty and humility (and medic). Kudos to your son!
 
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