Althouse: Memorial Day.

May 28, 2018

Memorial Day.

Photo by Meade, texted from the graveyard.

34 comments:

Curious George said...: Memorial Day honors those who died during active duty. Thomas clearly did not, having served in WWII but died in may 1960.; 5/28/18, 8:30 AM
Moira Breen said...: Lovely photo.

Mrs. Galloway had a long, and, I hope, rich and happy life with her family, despite Mr. Galloway dying quite young. (It's not clear, but his death date looks to be 1960.); 5/28/18, 8:33 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Thanks to those who gave all.; 5/28/18, 8:33 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @Curious George

Memorial Day is celebrating annually with the correction of misguided souls who have an overly broad idea of the meaning of the holiday.; 5/28/18, 8:35 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Remembering all those who sacrificed so much for our freedom. One of them was one of my uncles, 1st Lt Conrad. He was in law school when the United States entered WWII. He enlisted shortly after, and was soon selected for Officer Candidate School. From a letter he wrote home from England (I believe March, 1944): "Soon ... I do not know how soon ... I shall have to demonstrate not only how much or how well I have learned the art of killing, but how well I have taught that abominable art to others. I know what's ahead. It won't be another pleasure trip, but though it may cost me my life, I wouldn't want to miss it! Should I be among the many who inevitably must fall, remember that I didn't go without realizing the possibility that I might lose my life. Remember, too, that I give my life willingly, that I do so out of love for my country and all its people ... even the traitors and selfish slackers. If I should die on the battlefield, I beg you to leave my body there. Some day our government may provide you the opportunity to visit my grave. If so, avail yourself of that opportunity."
The CO of a heavy weapons platoon in 116th Regiment, 29th Division, he survived Omaha Beach on D-Day.
This was a "Victory Gram" he wrote home on June 11th, 1944 (5 days after D-Day):
"Dear Folks,
Alive and well. Don’t worry. The Hun is strong, clever, and brave, but we are beating him.
The past few days here have seemed like years – so much has happened.
France is beautiful. I think I’ll like it better than England. Maybe all of this free wine and champagne makes the difference! You see, it’s purer than the water from the wells which the Germans may have poisoned.
Au revoir,
Conrad"
He was KIA three days later, on June 14th, 1944. He is buried in the American cemetery in Normandy, France.
Interestingly, (or ironically?), when he was born, they still spoke more German than English in the home. His mom, and all his grandparents, were born in Germany.; 5/28/18, 8:39 AM
Ralph L said...: Confederate Memorial Day was started on April 26, 1866, two years before the other one. It was still the holiday when my parents were young. I think most states switched circa WWII. Wiki says Texas combined it with Lee's birthday and MLK day.; 5/28/18, 8:41 AM
AllenS said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/28/18, 8:43 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: So what's with the fish in front of Thomas's tombstone? ( Also like the Uncle Sam badger next to Virginia's. ); 5/28/18, 8:44 AM
Quayle said...: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.; 5/28/18, 8:49 AM
Curious George said...: "Ann Althouse said...
@Curious George

Memorial Day is celebrating annually with the correction of misguided souls who have an overly broad idea of the meaning of the holiday."

Including Obama. And it should be.; 5/28/18, 8:52 AM
Curious George said...: "Blogger Ignorance is Bliss said...
So what's with the fish in front of Thomas's tombstone?"

It's a walleye. A prized sport fish here in Wisconsin. I'm guessing Tom liked to fish.; 5/28/18, 8:53 AM
Rocko said...: Althouse: Is that a direct quote from Yoda or a paraphrase?; 5/28/18, 8:58 AM
Ralph L said...: Could any Western society today stomach the percentage deaths of the Civil War or WW I?

Before Charles V's army sacked Rome in 1527, they couldn't get enough Romans to man the ancient walls of the city. Or was that in the 5th century?; 5/28/18, 9:00 AM
Ralph L said...: Rocko, I think she meant "celebrated."; 5/28/18, 9:02 AM
Curious George said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/28/18, 9:03 AM
Rocko said...: Auto-Corrupt is a bitch.; 5/28/18, 9:04 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: I'm grateful for all the North Koreans and North Vietnamese and Baathist Iraqis that me and the Saudi monarchy have been kept free from.

Are there any sites where they stopped interring after 1945? Cause I'd sure like to visit one of those.

Sometimes I think people use these sites and these times to just keep the war machine going. The things we fought for up until 1945 were vastly different from the things we fought for afterward and it's a disgrace that there's this shameful cultural taboo against saying so.

How much richer and more powerful are we making our adversarial Chinese creditors with the unfunded $700 imperial "defense" budget we're pushing the debt up with? Will we have to go to war someday with them and all that money we're indebting ourselves to them with?; 5/28/18, 9:09 AM
Jeff Brokaw said...: Remember the fallen. Thanks Althouse.

I love your photography, btw. Uniformly high quality images with great color saturation, contrast and interesting composition.; 5/28/18, 9:10 AM
Jeff Brokaw said...: Of course, this photo is by Meade, duh. The one time I choose to comment on the photography, I get the credit wrong! LOL; 5/28/18, 9:29 AM
rcocean said...: Great photo.; 5/28/18, 9:54 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Meade does excellent photography... and excellent a lot of things, but he is ineffably subtle about seeming to be excellent. It’s strange.; 5/28/18, 10:00 AM
Big Mike said...: I posted a link to a video that captures Memorial Day for me over on the overnight thread. And this photograph is justifiably viral.

The fish left on the soldier's grave made me think of this article in Washingtonian magazine about the things left at the Vietnam memorial and what becomes of them.; 5/28/18, 10:07 AM
Big Mike said...: It’s strange.

It used to be part of what it took to be manly.; 5/28/18, 10:08 AM
Darrell said...: Hallelujah Veterans Version; 5/28/18, 10:24 AM
Michael K said...: I like the Galloway tombstones on which each listed their most important fact. She was the mother of five and he was a private first class in World War II.

Values quickly being lost by the majority.; 5/28/18, 10:27 AM
buwaya said...: Just to put in a plug for a couple of memorials that needs to be created, somewhere in the US. They don't exist, but they should.

And it should be Americans that make it happen, not foreigners.

These would be -

- To the American heroes, military and civilian, of the guerilla war in the Philippines, who persisted in resistance under conditions of unimaginable hardship and danger in an alien land against a cruel enemy, defying tremendous odds. Indeed, most of them died in this secret struggle. Their stories are nearly forgotten, but shouldn't be. It is an epic in the shadows. Thorpe and Moses and Noble and Praeger and the brothers Cushing, Volckmann and Anderson and Ramsey and Lapham and Fertig, and dozens more.

- To the Philippine Scouts, your only colonial regiments. They were foreigners who served and fought under your flag, as a part of your regular army. Their scant numbers saved the nearly hopeless situations of 1941-42 time after time, thrown in as rearguards, or attacking to restore the line, until there were too few left to continue. In the end most did not survive that war. A fitting memorial could feature the last charge of the 26th Cavalry (PS), at Morong, Bataan.; 5/28/18, 10:29 AM
Big Mike said...: Hat tip: ace.mu.nu

"My daughter is looking for a summer job. She’s a millennial so she’s hoping to find part-time work as a CEO."; 5/28/18, 10:49 AM
Michael K said...: Thorpe and Moses and Noble and Praeger and the brothers Cushing, Volckmann and Anderson and Ramsey and Lapham and Fertig, and dozens more.

I have read that Fertig was a revered figure at the Special Warfare school at Fort Bragg.

Two blogger errors in a row.

Three.; 5/28/18, 11:09 AM
Jim at said...: You'd think Ritmo could resist from shitting all over a Memorial Day thread.

But, no.; 5/28/18, 1:43 PM
Mark said...: Meanwhile, here in Arlington, home of the National Cemetery, the County regime has a tradition of doing nothing to mark this day. The rest of the year, they ignore it too, except to oppose plans to expand the cemetery by acquiring county land (Arlington is a county, not a city).; 5/28/18, 2:47 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger Jim at said...
You'd think Ritmo could resist from shitting all over a Memorial Day thread.

But, no.

I think shitting on a place that more visit and comment and especially on a day like this would seem to be part of his pathology.

This is far beyond the troll behavior I see at other blogs. Maybe Ann likes it.; 5/28/18, 3:08 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: This is far beyond the troll behavior I see at other blogs. Maybe Ann likes it.

I see what you did there - you're trolling Anne, personally.

Naughty, naughty.

Don't you militarists and imperialists get enough of a pass? I think it's good to spend the day questioning how many of the lives lost after 1945 weren't really in vain. Can't you get a sense of meaning in life without putting it on the line for whatever the government told you to do or whomever the government told you to kill abroad? Why must killing for the benefit of the U.S. gov't be a religion? There are better things to worship than killing and being killed for imperialism. I know how little you hear that idea and how much it offends you, but your reaction is an understandable one for someone who spent so much of his life in the service of so many of the wrong things.; 5/28/18, 4:32 PM
Michael K said...: The crazies always come back to their vomit, like dogs.; 5/28/18, 7:33 PM
Billy Hill said...: Interesting. My maternal grandmother was a Galloway.; 5/28/18, 8:24 PM