Memorial Day 2016

[shepsan]

During the Korean War, the patrol squadron in which I served, VP- 871, lost two PB4Y2 Privateer Aircraft.

twenty-one young men crewing those warplanes perished. They were my friends and comrades in arms. I mourned for them then and I mourn for them still these sixty-two years later.

Each Memory Day since their deaths, I have honored these men by recalling their names to friends and others. In my minds-eye, they remain forever young, courageous and patriotic.

It is fitting that on this coming Memorial Day, I again pay tribute to them for their sacrifice.

They are:
First Aircraft Lost August 6, 1951
LT E.W. Darrah
LT R.A. Ward
ADEC P.H. Lowe
AOU2 F.E. Thornton
AT3 D.R. Gabbett
AL3 F.E. Partain
AN J.T. Andrew
ALAN R.F. Bowen
ADEAN D. Lim


Second Aircraft Lost 14 January 1952
LT E.C Hill
LT C.C. Johnson
LT L.W. Seymour
AMC L.R. Harriston
ADE1 J.H. Jorgensen
AT1 J.M. Wilkins
ADE2 R.M. Funk
AD3 O.R. Anderson
AL3 M.L. Cedeno
AO3 L. McMurray
AN R.A. Rose
ALAN R.W Stacy

Recently, while attending the military funeral services for a friend, the chaplain read a poem that might have been written by any the men whose names I have listed:

Miss me when I come to the end of the road and the sun has set for me.
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room.
Why cry for a soul set free?
Miss me a little but not for too long and not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that was once shared.
Miss me but let me go.
For this is a journey we must all take and each must go alone.
It’s all a part of the master’s plan, a stop on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick of heart, go to the friends you know.
Bear your sorrow in good deeds.
Miss me but let me go.

Memorial Day enables Americans to pay tribute to ALL the valiant men and women who have fallen in the service of our great country. My wife Marie (a USN Korean War veteran) and I are thankful to all of America’s fallen heroes. We pray that they did not die in vain.

Please join in asking for God blessings to these fallen patriots, their families and for all who today serve the United States in the armed forces.

Respectfully,

[BarryLee]

My Mother lost her Uncle at Pearl Harbor and always kept his memory alive. It’s very important that we remember all who served, but on Memorial Day we need to take time to remember those who gave all.

Shepsan, thank you for your service and my condolences in your loss.

[Bowdog]

Each Memorial Day I think of my fellow Vets and give thanks for they gave all for our way of life. We are a very special country. Good Bless the USA.
US Navy Viet Nam 68-69

[boatdoc173]

great post shepsan

I have benefited directly from our veterans. I received my post grad training in a VAMC. I cannot offer more thanks and gratitude to our service men and women for all they have done for all of us. We, the people, need to honor and thank them all as often as possible!!!JMHO

Happy memorial day to all--thank a veteran for your freedoms!!

[Aguila Blanca]

Hoo, boy. Here we (I) go again. Memorial Day seems to be one of my pet peeves.

Bowdog and boatdoc, I know your thoughts are well-intended. I am a Vietnam veteran, so I hope you'll take my word that I honor our veterans as much as anyone, and more than most.

That said, I am a living Vietnam veteran. My day is not Memorial Day, it's Veterans' Day, which falls later in the year. Memorial Day is the day for honoring those who died in the service of the country. It is NOT the day for telling a veteran "Thanks for your service." (Of course, you can do that any day.)

This country seems to be losing sight of what our national holidays stand for. Some of that (much of it, I reckon) can probably be attributed to the Monday holiday bill, and the notion of President's Day, when important national holidays became divorced from their traditional roots and significance, and became just an excuse for a three-day weekend.

Please ... let's remember what Memorial Day stands for, and not let it get further watered down. Back in 1994 I had the opportunity to join a tour to France, Normandy, for the 50th anniversary of D-Day. The tour I was on went in May, so we were a bit before the actual celebration, but the parade stands and such were under construction. The tour took us to several of the American cemeteries in France and Luxembourg.

I respectfully submit that if you ever stood in one of those cemeteries, you would know what Memorial Day stands for.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

[Theohazard]

Originally Posted by Aquila Blanca

Memorial Day is the day for honoring those who died in the service of the country.

This. I'm still alive, so this day isn't for me or for any other veteran or current service member.

Shepsan, I can't tell you how much I respect and appreciate the men in your squadron who gave their lives in service to our country. However, this thread doesn't appear to be gun-related and is therefore breaking forum rules:

General Discussion Forum (72 Viewing)
A place for general discussion and Member hob-nobbing. Posts must be Firearms related.

[Kevin Rohrer]

My grandfather made it back from a German POW camp in WW1. My father came back from the Pacific while his brother came home from the ETO in WW2. I came home from service in Germany. My great-uncle did not. Note the date.

*BAIR, HOWARD A.
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army
345th Infantry Regiment, 89th Division, A.E.F.
Date of Action: November 2, 1918
Citation:
The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Howard A. Bair, Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Barricourt, France, November 2, 1918. Calling on his platoon to follow, Lieutenant Bair pushed forward and attacked enemy machine-gun nests. After killing two of the enemy, he himself was killed by a hand grenade, while accepting the surrender of another of the enemy.
General Orders No. 44, W.D., 1919
Home Town: Columbus, OH

[Kimber84]

Shepsan,

Thank you for bringing your fallen brothers to our attention on this Memorial Day weekend, without their sacrifices we would not be able to enjoy the freedoms we so often take for granted.

I can never forget this guy's face, he was a classmate of mine that paid the ultimate price after only a few weeks in Iraq.



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[jstert]

i recall my widowed mom's mom, a ww1 army nurse who served in both france and siberia, at memorial day ceremonies wearing her own service medal on her left chest. on her right chest she wore the medals of my grandfather/her husband who died of ww1 service connected causes in 1926 and my uncle/her eldest son who was captured in the ardennes and killed by german pow camp guards just one week before v-e day.


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[Spats McGee]

While I am eternally indebted to those who paid the ultimate price in service to this nation, this is not a topic for TFL.

Originally Posted by Forum Rules

1. All Topics and Posts must be related to firearms, accessories or civil liberties issues.

Cordially,
Spats