Althouse: Memorial Day.

May 26, 2014

Memorial Day.

24 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I'm not at all sure whether those classified as "missing in action" are among those within the scope of remembrance of Memorial Day.

Maybe I'll head on down to the local Harley dealership and see what they all have to say about it.; 5/26/14, 9:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Absent Companions!; 5/26/14, 9:50 AM
David said...: We live about a quarter of a mile from the Beaufort National Cemetery. I'll be over there today.

Beaufort Cemetery was established in 1863 as a reburial center for soldiers buried at scattered locations throughout the coastal region controlled by the Union. Over 2800 men were reinterred there, and initial burials began as well. The reburials were grim work, and as Crack could tell you, it was done almost exclusively by the former slaves in the area.

There are now over 14,000 graves in the cemetery, including many African American soldiers who served with the Union during the war. There are also 100 Confederates.

The Cemetery is beautifully maintained, and regularly visited. We have three military bases in this town, and many military retirees. They know what the place means.; 5/26/14, 10:11 AM
khesanh0802 said...: Ann,

Thanks.; 5/26/14, 10:15 AM
Gahrie said...: Thanks to all that served, and respect and honor to all those who gave their last, full measure.; 5/26/14, 10:20 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Not this year:

Wave your racist flags alone,...; 5/26/14, 10:38 AM
Big Mike said...: What the Drill SGT said.; 5/26/14, 10:40 AM
Unknown said...: The commanding General of the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk gave a speech during that post's Memorial Day ceremony. It was followed by a roll call of the 100 servicemen and women who deployed from Fort Polk and left it all on the battlefields. I was proud to attend.
Greater love has no man ...; 5/26/14, 11:12 AM
furious_a said...: Not until I get my check

There, fixed it for you.; 5/26/14, 11:50 AM
Dan said...: you know what crack? you are the racist!; 5/26/14, 11:52 AM
traditionalguy said...: It's nine days till June 4, 1942. On that day 72 years ago the almighty Japanese Empire's main Battle Group of four aircraft carriers was intent on capturing Midway, and then Oahu, and then the Panama Canal, etc.

They ran across 240 US Navy and Marine fliers who kept attacking them until all of the Japanese carriers, with all of their trained aircrew and mechanics, had been burned to death and sunk.

Historians credit that day's work as the most significant turning point in one battle battle in the history of warfare.; 5/26/14, 12:53 PM
Gahrie said...: Not this year

Fuck you Crack. You're as bad as those Jonesboro assholes.; 5/26/14, 1:42 PM
cold pizza said...: Ann and Meade, thank you for the pictures--it brought back a flood of memories:

In 1993, with 4 stripes on my sleeve, I became a military bugler. For the next 12 years (and adding 2 more stripes), I attended hundreds of funerals and memorial services in Utah, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Hawaii, and California.

Sometimes I would be the only military service member present.

Each ceremony was sacred to me.

I've stood in misplaced, half-forgotten, overgrown private plots in the middle of dense Southern forests; knee deep snow in the Wasatch mountains in February; the green calm of the Punch Bowl.

I've rendered final honors for WWII vets attended by throngs of family; bone fragments of a Vietnam-era pilot finally returned to the US in 1997; young fathers killed in combat and in accidents; 2 friends (one a suicide, the other dropped dead of an aneurysm while our squadron was doing PT), and my step-father.

Georgia had heat, torrential downpours and tornados. At one national cemetery in GA, as we were waiting for the funeral procession to arrive, lightning hit the metal shelter next to where we (the Honor Guard detail) were standing. Heh. (I can laugh about it now)

At another, when the tornado siren began to blare, the only shelter in the flat plain of the cemetery was the open grave in front of us. No funnel cloud appeared, but I get a chuckle remembering the consternation of the young E-2s and E-3s who made up the firing party.

Someday, I'm going to have to record Taps for my own funeral since buglers have pretty much gone the way of cavalry horses. The electronic bugle just doesn't cut it and is a sign of just how far we've fallen in rendering true respect.

Now, in order to honor the fallen, I'm going to go enjoy some freedom.

To Absent Friends and Fallen Comrades! -CP; 5/26/14, 1:51 PM
Pianoman said...: To all the Althouse commenters who served: Thank you for your service.; 5/26/14, 2:51 PM
khesanh0802 said...: If it weren't impolite I would tell Crack to stick it where the sun don't shine. What a tasteless imbecile!; 5/26/14, 3:26 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Thanks, Althouse.
-Hammond; 5/26/14, 4:43 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: And thank you too, Cold Pizza.; 5/26/14, 4:46 PM
The Godfather said...: Yesterday at church before the service we had a slide show with photos of the members of our congregation that had served in the military. I didn't count, but there were a lot, and many of them had served in WW II and Korea (we have a demographic like that here). There were also slides of military cemeteries around the world, with captions showing the number of American dead buried there. A huge number.

Anyone who doesn't honor those who served, is thoughtless. Anyone who dishonors their memory is despicable.; 5/26/14, 5:03 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Thank you, cold pizza.; 5/26/14, 5:43 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Dan,

"you know what crack? you are the racist!"

Compared to what?; 5/26/14, 6:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Thank you for that Cold Pizza. My Grandfather (WWI, WWII, and Korea), my Dad (WWII) my first cousin (Korea)all were buried at Arlington National cemetery. I served in Vietnam, but didn't get awarded sufficiently high enough medals for valor to qualify for Arlington, but at all of their services, Taps was just so beautiful and moving.
I will be buried in a Veterans Cemetery and will meet up with my brothers from Vietnam and my family someday..........and probably to the sound of "Taps".
Thank you again.
Have a Good, Peaceful Memorial Day.; 5/26/14, 6:21 PM
Unknown said...: Cold Pizza: Thank you. Twice I have heard one of you buglers for the rean real. Gardener, NE I was military rep for a nineteen-year-old Nam draftee; Savannah, GA touristing in the Old Cemetary when the echoing of taps came through the live oaks and spanish moss for some American soldier. I served, though not in theater. I hope your shade will be fortunate enough that there is one last bugler.; 5/26/14, 7:18 PM
richard mcenroe said...: There's not much point in paying attention to Crack: He has a ghetto inside his head he's locked himself into.

I think I'll let him go his way...; 5/27/14, 11:49 AM
Dan said...: Crack "Compared to what?"
I cant begin to tell you how downcast I am by your post. You are a bigoted racist black man who does nothing to change the relationship between white and black people. You only strive to make waves and divides between us because of the past. How about trying to bridge the divide? I have never replied to your rants because I thought" let him speak his mind" but this was the last straw! You sir, have stepped upon the grave of my dear Father on the day I remember him most. I hop[e you are proud of yourself!; 5/27/14, 8:31 PM