Happy Memorial Day to those who have served/serving

[Sevo]

I know it is not memorial day but I wanted to share something with everyone to show how much our veterans have a thoughtless job and how everyday we take advantage of their sacrifices. I am making this thread so you will not let another memorial day slip by without taking a minuet to thank those who have and are currently making the ultimate sacrifice for this wonderful country we call home.

I know first hand what it is like to serve our country, as I did it for 5 years as a active duty as a medic. I never saw the hell of war, but others have not been so fortunate. A good friend's dad and her grandfather have both served this country and are both war veterans. Her dad's name is George Roof and he wrote an editorial to the paper thanking his father and other veterans for their selfless roles in making our liberties a reality. I would like to share this with you all and I hope it rekindles that American pride, I feel, that many have lost:

Dad, This one’s for you

With America’s most patriotic honorarium coming up, I’d like to take a new slant at Memorial Day. With nearly 30 years of my own life spent in the military, I’m well aware that this is the lone occasion where, when we aren’t preoccupied with opening swimming pools, picnics, or vacations, we put our hands over our hearts to honor those men and women who gave their lives to ensure that we could be preoccupied.
I have the significant honor, however, of being the “baby boomer” son of an honest to God, American hero. He certainly is to me at least. You see, at 85, George W. Roof of Lexington, South Carolina was a member of “America’s Greatest Generation. He was a flight mechanic and a waist gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber in the Pacific. He declined a Purple Heart and still was awarded 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses and 5 Air Medals in a time when a simple campaign ribbon was exemplary.
For much of my life (and a significant amount of his), Dad never talked much about the war. I’d heard stories of his bailing out over Japanese territory, but as was typical of these men, war stories weren’t something they bragged about. Only after my return from Vietnam with my own ghosts did he seem to open up. Perhaps it was the trust of a common bond that drew it out, but over the years, more and more of the whole story came out. In 1987, I found that his best buddy and crew member lived in nearby Pennsylvania and that his pilot lived in Baltimore. I suggested that they have a mini-reunion and join me at Dover Air Force Base for an impromptu of today’s Air Force. Thankfully, they jumped at the chance.
I don’t think I’ll forget that fateful day when these three American heroes’ were my captive audience. They told me of “their” airplane, “Blunderin’ Ben” that flew like a tank and glided like a rock. They described an engine failure over the Philippines and seeing the “black popcorn” of flack creating a false ceiling above their target. Each described his private hell in working towards a hatch to jump out into the obvious terror that awaited below them. For the first time to each other, they described exactly how they’d evaded the marauding Japanese patrols looking for them, how they’d found friendly Filipino’s who’d spirited them out of harms way and how they’d gotten back to friendly lines. They each described to me the let down of their repatriation when the commanding officer called them in, not to congratulate them on their tenacity, but on the fact that since they’d only completed 31 missions and had crashed on their 32nd, they would have to complete the 9 remaining of their required 40 missions in another plane.
Suddenly their entire mood changed as I could see them reliving those tenuous days half a century and half a world away. The pilot was the first to say it and the words sent a chill down my spine from my own similar experience.
He said, “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a sight any more beautiful than when I saw the big red, white and blue American flag flying over those damned coconut palms.” A wafting dust particle got in my eye before I saw the tears welling in those amazing men’s eyes. We all knew.
This was a generation that went into the face of overwhelming odds just in hopes of giving the world a lasting peace and hopes for prosperity. Young men in miraculous machines gave the world two generations of peace by their actions. They secured the United States from enemy attacks for 49 years and 9 months so that my generation could live in peace. They allowed my children to live until middle age without ever knowing anything about “doing without” and they’ve become complacent.
A few weeks back, Dad and I were talking about Memorial Day and our flag. He told me that sometimes he gets really upset to comments he’d love to reply to, but I understand now how the Greatest Generation were complete in their actions but slow in their words. He explained that he would love to print an article in the paper to let people know how much that multicolored cotton flag can mean to those in peril and the pride they should take. He says, however, that his ideas are probably in a minority and though he is a proud patriot, he suffers their ignorance in silence.
I’m not my dad, and I’ve seen how the insidious implications of “political correctness” will allow pop singers to dog up the singing of our National Anthem under the guise of “artistic impression”. I’ve seen the song caterwauled in non-English languages and I’ve even seen the flag flown below those of other nationalities on U.S. college campuses. I think it should be criminal, but I’ll settle for repugnant. If every true American stood up for the ideals of my Dad’s generation it would stop. No one would dare sing Amazing Grace, or Silent Night off key. Can you imagine the Mexican national anthem being sung in French and the hullabaloo that would be raised. In Turkey, if you dishonor their flag, it’s a capital offense. Then why on this Memorial Day do we excuse the dregs of society who’d do the same thing to our song and our flag?
A few weeks back, it was reported that the oldest living WWI veteran had passed away. According to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, each day we lose 1056 veterans of WWII. The Greatest Generation in America loses 38,500 men and women each year and their contributions go unnoticed and basically taken for granted.
This year, won’t you join me where ever your Memorial Day is spent, and at noon, when the flag is traditionally returned to full staff, take off you hat, place your hand over your heart, and give silent thanks to these people who insured that being American still means something. If you sing the National Anthem, sing it with what Francis Scott Key felt, what the men on San Juan Hill, Mount Suribachi, Pork Chop Ridge, Khe Sahn, Beirut, even Granada and all the other hell holes American fighting men prevail felt as their hearts sang in seeing that glorious red, white, and blue. Your friends may tell you it’s “corny” or “outdated”, but that’s simply because they’ve never been there. Had they been, dust will get in their eyes as well.

George S. Roof, CMSgt, USAF Retired



I salute all veterans past and present and I know come noon on the 28th I will stop and give thanks...

after reading this, dust landed in my eyes as well.

Chris Lynn
US Army Veteran.

[CeraDigital]

I'm glad that my time served as a Combat Engineer, I didn't see war either. Here's to all our Veterans and soldiers serving now

[Sevo]

I'm glad that my time served as a Combat Engineer, I didn't see war either. Here's to all our Veterans and soldiers serving now

Me too Andrew. I can not imagine what some have gone through.

Thank you as well for serving our country, it take dedicated folks to do it.

[jotay]

Big thank you's to those that have served and those that are currently serving.

If you happen to be out and about and see a young enlisted service man or women in uniform at a bar or resturant consider buying them a drink or picking up their check. It's a small way for us to say thanks.

[frankykeno]

Thank you Chris for sharing that, it's beautiful and so very touching. In the midst of the usual BBQ's and opening up the cottage, I hope everyone does stop and remember, especially this year as so many fine people stand and sadly fall for freedom overseas. My husband is third generation US Army, he served as did his father and both grandfathers before him. I expect our son Michael will too in his time, though my mother's heart prays it will be during a time of peace. A young man very dear to our family is currently serving in Iraq and we worry daily for his welfare.

Our family will remember this weekend, as we should every day really, that freedom is never free and honor those that pay that cost for all of us.

[Sevo]

Thank you Chris for sharing that, it's beautiful and so very touching. In the midst of the usual BBQ's and opening up the cottage, I hope everyone does stop and remember, especially this year as so many fine people stand and sadly fall for freedom overseas. My husband is third generation US Army, he served as did his father and both grandfathers before him. I expect our son Michael will too in his time, though my mother's heart prays it will be during a time of peace. A young man very dear to our family is currently serving in Iraq and we worry daily for his welfare.

Our family will remember this weekend, as we should every day really, that freedom is never free and honor those that pay that cost for all of us.

Joanna,
very well said. Thank you for posting that. I know its hard to see your son go into the military, it sounds like its in his blood. Please tell your husband thank you for his time from me.

[frankykeno]

In his blood is a good description Chris, you've no idea how much this 6 year old focuses on his father's army service LOL. He has Mike's army cap and wears it constantly, marches down the street, and knows how to properly salute the flag on the post office we pass daily on the walk home from school. His collection of plastic army men is on constant "active duty" and his latest dream toy was a huge (and very noisy) army tank that roars across the room at me, much to his delight. Really rather odd, how much he loves all things army since he's aware of his paternal family service but it's not like we talk about it constantly or anything. He prefers what he calls "my army man hair cut" If he does end up going into the US Army as an adult, I wonder if I should whip out this pic at the finish of his basic training....