This a Veteran’s Day story until it turns into a Memorial Day story
Elliot Williams was my Father-in-law’s fishing buddy. When Elliot died I was able to attend his funeral. This was a privilege, because Elliot, who had a rough childhood in the small Southern town where I was born, was also Chief Boatswain Mate James E. Williams. Chief Williams was one of the most decorated sailors in the long history of the Navy. Those awards included the Medal of Honor. Such a funeral is a special event. I grew up thinking all towns had a National Cemetery. Of course that is not true and we will get to that later. The Cemetery is more than a century old and had been expanded. Chief Williams wish was to be buried in the original portion of cemetery, but his family was told there was no room. Space was found for this war hero. As my wife and I were waiting for the graveside portion of ceremony to begin, she said it looks like there is plenty of space here. I said turn around and read the sign. Now you read the sign.
"CIVIL WAR
UNION BURIALS
On each side of this marker lie the remains of approximately 2300
Union soldiers who died as prisoners in the Florence Prison Stockade, between
September 1864 and February 1865.
The Stockade was located across Cemetery Street on Stockade Road. Burials are in trenches indicated by stone markers at the end of each row showing the number of individuals placed there."
I believe that when so many who have served consider it an honor to rest here with the original occupants, it becomes a sign of healing we should never lose. This cemetery is a monument to healing.
The tragedy of our time is of course that the young no longer know who to memorialize since the academy no longer teaches them that people have died to maintain our liberty not just the so called patriarchy.
it truly is a tragic time. to see what lies ahead and know that as soon as trump is vanquished nothing will stop the zombies from filling the breach is disheartening. saving the country from the beasts of the night is a young mans game. look inside k-12 and you will gaze upon our young men of tomorrow with dead eyes and listless demeanor...being taught they are useless bi-peds put on earth for the purposes of cannon fodder and ditch diggers.
This is exactly the moment for you to rediscover your faith in God and recognize the hope that comes when you let God lift that bleak veil from before your eyes.
Today is not the day for black pills. I share in your pessimism, but I am also reminded that there have been other dark days from which it seemed impossible to ever see the light again. Yet here we are. Not triumphant by any means, but still standing. And there are many good, decent, God-fearing young men and women in our midst. The horrible goblins that dominate our public discourse today do not want them to be talked about, much less praised or emulated, but they are there nonetheless. I know some and know of others. Let us seek to help them in their struggle rather than give up and despair. Let us be like Gandalf who rallied the defenders of Gondor, rather than The Steward who counseled surrender to the Orcs.
I disagree Donald. I think the true lasting legacy of Trump will be that his actions taught conservatives (especially the men) how to FIGHT again! I have high hopes for JD, Marco, Zeldin (although he has always been a fighter) and a number of others.
Interestingly, the conservative women have been fighters for a while. I guess it's the momma bear in them.
One of the major themes in Beowulf is courage. Beowulf is the epitome of courage, always charging into battle even though the odds are steeply against him. For example, he faces a dragon in his old age to defend his kingdom despite knowing he will likely die.
O ye of little faith. Do you get a perverse pleasure from your negative comments? I shall pray for you today. — Gen Z teens are twice as likely to identify as more conservative than their parents than millennials were 20 years ago, according to a Gallup and Walton Family ...
I was privileged to be a secondary school teacher most of my life. Over the years what kept me going through the darkest days when fashionable edicts from the educational establishment unanchored in reality and driven by deranged ideologies seemed overwhelming was the sheer basic decency of the majority of my students.
Now looking back over those years I can say I was not wrong.
A day such as today, Memorial Day, and and article such as this, sadly cast in sharp relief the shameful damage that has been done to this country ignoring, or worse, even castigating the memory of those who gave all they had for it for generations.
The Bible says, “to whom much is given, much is required.” And there is no country on earth, or even in history, that has been given more than our country.
We don’t deserve the mercy of God, but then, that is why it is mercy.
A revival of deep, soul-felt and informed gratitude needs to occur in the hearts and minds of every American for the incomprehensible bounty and blessings we have been so blessed with over these last 250 years, if we truly want or stand a chance of keeping it.
Will we ever, ever learn that lesson?
2 Chronicles 7:14
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Thanks Suzie for giving a thoughtful reply. I just purchased a book by a young writer who has a seminary degree and a Masters degree in US History specializing in the Civil War and the relationship between the slaves and their masters. This man is a podcaster who uncovers heretics in our church today. He is born and raised in a small town outside New York City but spent a lot of time as a kid in the summers with his cousins in Mississippi and LA, California. He has given many intriguing podcast on the Civil War. I highly recommend him.
I have texted him. He has shared a lot of info on Patreon that he ask we not share. He will send me info on how it can be purchased. I will try to figure that out and reply back to you. But for now I would strongly suggest you watch for free a documentary he was instrument for producing called "1607 The Virginia First Project " its free on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzg-yyhZPP0 Next see if you can still buy the book 'Scared Conviction " The Souths stand for Biblical Authority. He wrote it under a pen name Joseph Jay by advice from his professor at college. her is that location https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Sacred+Conviction+by+Joeseph+Jay&crid=F1PE2N6R5G9Y&sprefix=sacred+conviction+by+joeseph+jay%2Caps%2C120&ref=nb_sb_noss His other books are available from Amazon
It's 1984, I'm on a business trip to Israel. One of the days of my visit coincides with Israeli Memorial Day, a Sunday. My hosts invite me to a breakfast. Thereafter, we visit a cemetery where soldiers place flags on the graves of dead soldiers. Very solemn. EVERYBODY goes to a cemetery on Memorial Day in Israel.
Later that month, back home, I attend the family Memorial Day BBQ, Italian style; my last one ever. The discomfort I felt was embarrassing.
Visit an American cemetery in Europe. Normandy's the Big Daddy of course. Regardless of your religiosity, bring a copy of the Jewish and Christian Prayers for the Dead, and recite them.
A more intimate place is the American cemetery in Salerno, Italy. "Only" 1600 buried there.
Think of the parents of those buried on foreign soil, and how they had to muster the seafare or airfare to visit their child's grave, if ever.
You can have your burger and a beer, just please don't do it on the last Monday in May.
Your story of Israel reminded me of the time when I was in Ballarat, a small city in Australia on ANZAC day. There was a rousing parade with many kids wearing medals of relatives marching along side old veterans wearing their old uniforms. After the parade, everyone went to the cenotaph in the town park that commemorated those killed in war. Group after group laid flowers at its base. It was a solemn event that I will never forget. After the ceremonies were concluded, Aussies being Aussies, everyone headed to the pubs for a beer or two.
Went to the parade on Monday in my Republican majority town of around 8000 people. Maybe 200 people were there. The handful of men in uniform who marched in the parade were middle aged to elderly, there were 11 Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts and 6 Girl Scouts. I told my son that when I was a kid in the 70's there would have been 100 veterans marching, and 100s of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Lions club, Masons and religious leaders, plus antique cars, floats, all the fire trucks and police cars, etc. and that at least half the town would have been there. I told him that after WWII everyone in town would have been in attendance. How fast we forget.
I always felt a little guilty. when someone said thank you for your service. It's on our Texas driver's license. I never left stateside. Then I remember "They also serve who only stand and wait". And wait I did-24 months to the day. I felt little patriotism through the years until the way Vietnam veterans were treated. Yes, Vietnam veterans were often treated poorly upon returning home due to the growing anti-war sentiment and the perception of the war as a failure. Many veterans faced scorn, ridicule, and even physical harassment from civilians, who often blamed them for the war's outcome. ‘Cretins’ took on A new meaning when I hated them with the heat of 1000 suns. A dark period in our history. Those sub-humans started the division that is now on steroids. Thanks a lot, FLBJ.
Two takeaways from Vietnam War: It erroneously led to immature 18 year olds voting. It also brought to the American mind to separate the war from the soldiers who fight it. The rank and file did not start nor continue the wars. Blame the politicians for that.
I joined the Navy in NYC during Vietnam. Dangerous times indeed to be in uniform on those streets. Those stationed there never went out in uniform.
You brought tears to my eyes, Don. My father was a Naval pilot in WWII flying supplies whose plane went down over the Aleutian Islands. His body was washed ashore. I was only 1 1/2 years old so never knew him, only the wonderful stories his contemporaries told me. I pray when it's my time to go I finally get to meet him.
Oh that the Star Spangled Banner would fly in every home in our beautiful America. That all Americans would appreciate the blessing it is to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Thank you, thank you to all who died to protect our way of life. We owe them infinite gratitude! Blessings and comfort to those whose children, brothers, sisters, moms. dads, and more gave their all, that we might all live in freedom! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
What a beautiful and moving column Don. Thank you. I'm certain that Lincoln was inspired by Pericles. A Civil War soldier with a 5th grade education had read Pericles most likely. Nowadays a college graduate would not only have no idea who Pericles or what the Peloponnesian War was, they wouldn't even know what who fought in the Civil War, what century it took place or even what a century is. Since the sun is finally out, I'm going to plant my garden then go to the Memorial Day parade in downtown Berwick at 11. Have a nice day.
My Father was in the Navy during WW2. He was a coxswain on the Higgins boats and served in the South Pacific. He was there for the liberation of the Philippines and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. My Father never spoke of his war time service -except once. He said he was issued a bags of corks, a mallet and a machine gun. He was to protect the Higgins’s boat as he took live men to the beaches and brought the dead and wounded back to the ship. I was young and did not even have a clue as to what that must have been like. To this day I know my Father suffered ‘survivor’s guilt’ from all he saw and experienced. So while Memorial Day rightfully honors the men and women who fought for our country-giving all.
Many men and women are in some senses ‘dead’ as they finish out their lives. My Father always seemed to never be ‘with us’ as a family as he always seemed to be at a distance.
I will never know the demons my Father brought home with him from his days in the Navy. However, I am grateful he was my Dad as he was one of the toughest men I have ever known—always standing on the right side of any conflict. I watched him in a couple of those situations—one was defending a lady in the neighborhood whose husband was chasing her with a butcher knife. My Dad met him in the yard with a shotgun and told him to ‘stand down’. Always loyal and always honest always willing to do the right thing.
We need to remember and always honor those who have gone before us to give us this land we love.
And yes—I fly a flag on a 30 foot pole in my front yard.
Marsha, God bless you and your Dad. I assume the corks and the mallet were to plug bullet holes in the sides of the boat during landing operations. I hope those corks were the right caliber to do the job.
My dad was also in the Navy during WWII. He was in ordinance and was stationed on Guadalcanal after we took the island. His job was to prepare bombs for missions and then to defuse any which weren’t used and were brought back to the island.
He only talked to me about it once. I pestered him for years because I wanted to know and to be able to pass his history on to my children. He finally relented when he was in his 80s and answered some of my questions. I wish that there had been time to learn more.
"You will never know how much it cost us to preserve your freedom. I hope that you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it." - John Adams
Excellent column Don. Sadly the dead may well have died in vain, considering the lack of gratitude displayed by their descendants of those that fought and those that honored them for their sacrifice back in the day. If only the ancestors of those that whine about how this country has always been racist, and those that demand reparations for some unpaid debt they feel they are owed could come back through time and slap sense into them…
IMHO, reparations had already been paid to the descendants of slaves by the loss of Union Soldiers in the Civil War. If not for that, they might either be still slaves or be back in Africa in God knows what state....lest they forget just who sold their forebears....
This is a counter-revolution which is in baby-steps compared to the culture revolution which has been underway since the 60/70s. Until the MSM has a come-to-Jesus moment and starts doing their job, the unenlightened listeners/readers will continue to believe absolute nonsense and continue to vote in those who are hell-bent to turn this country into a marxist paradise.
This a Veteran’s Day story until it turns into a Memorial Day story
Elliot Williams was my Father-in-law’s fishing buddy. When Elliot died I was able to attend his funeral. This was a privilege, because Elliot, who had a rough childhood in the small Southern town where I was born, was also Chief Boatswain Mate James E. Williams. Chief Williams was one of the most decorated sailors in the long history of the Navy. Those awards included the Medal of Honor. Such a funeral is a special event. I grew up thinking all towns had a National Cemetery. Of course that is not true and we will get to that later. The Cemetery is more than a century old and had been expanded. Chief Williams wish was to be buried in the original portion of cemetery, but his family was told there was no room. Space was found for this war hero. As my wife and I were waiting for the graveside portion of ceremony to begin, she said it looks like there is plenty of space here. I said turn around and read the sign. Now you read the sign.
"CIVIL WAR
UNION BURIALS
On each side of this marker lie the remains of approximately 2300
Union soldiers who died as prisoners in the Florence Prison Stockade, between
September 1864 and February 1865.
The Stockade was located across Cemetery Street on Stockade Road. Burials are in trenches indicated by stone markers at the end of each row showing the number of individuals placed there."
I believe that when so many who have served consider it an honor to rest here with the original occupants, it becomes a sign of healing we should never lose. This cemetery is a monument to healing.
Well done, my friend.
I looked up James E. Williams on the Wikipedia and recognized his photo immediately.
Thank you, Mr Surber, for channeling Pericles and, especially, Lincoln today. Truly inspiring.
I cannot say this any better than Erik. So I will add my commendations to Don In my usual way: sevenfold Amen. Cue the choir.
Ditto and quiet down, Altos!
The tragedy of our time is of course that the young no longer know who to memorialize since the academy no longer teaches them that people have died to maintain our liberty not just the so called patriarchy.
it truly is a tragic time. to see what lies ahead and know that as soon as trump is vanquished nothing will stop the zombies from filling the breach is disheartening. saving the country from the beasts of the night is a young mans game. look inside k-12 and you will gaze upon our young men of tomorrow with dead eyes and listless demeanor...being taught they are useless bi-peds put on earth for the purposes of cannon fodder and ditch diggers.
the end.
This is exactly the moment for you to rediscover your faith in God and recognize the hope that comes when you let God lift that bleak veil from before your eyes.
debby downer
Today is not the day for black pills. I share in your pessimism, but I am also reminded that there have been other dark days from which it seemed impossible to ever see the light again. Yet here we are. Not triumphant by any means, but still standing. And there are many good, decent, God-fearing young men and women in our midst. The horrible goblins that dominate our public discourse today do not want them to be talked about, much less praised or emulated, but they are there nonetheless. I know some and know of others. Let us seek to help them in their struggle rather than give up and despair. Let us be like Gandalf who rallied the defenders of Gondor, rather than The Steward who counseled surrender to the Orcs.
I disagree Donald. I think the true lasting legacy of Trump will be that his actions taught conservatives (especially the men) how to FIGHT again! I have high hopes for JD, Marco, Zeldin (although he has always been a fighter) and a number of others.
Interestingly, the conservative women have been fighters for a while. I guess it's the momma bear in them.
One of the major themes in Beowulf is courage. Beowulf is the epitome of courage, always charging into battle even though the odds are steeply against him. For example, he faces a dragon in his old age to defend his kingdom despite knowing he will likely die.
IMO, Trump's success is largely owed to him not even having the words: "die", "lose", "fail" or "quit" in his vocabulary.
The GOP of old were like the stereotype of the French - waiving the flag of surrender even before a threat materialized.
Conservatives see that a successful outcome IS possible - and even likely! - if they just DECIDE to FIGHT.
I, for one, find it to be a thing of beauty!!
he's a guy who thinks that not only is the glass half empty, but also that it's filled w/poison.😡
I never noticed that before. That is very unfortunate.
O ye of little faith. Do you get a perverse pleasure from your negative comments? I shall pray for you today. — Gen Z teens are twice as likely to identify as more conservative than their parents than millennials were 20 years ago, according to a Gallup and Walton Family ...
I was privileged to be a secondary school teacher most of my life. Over the years what kept me going through the darkest days when fashionable edicts from the educational establishment unanchored in reality and driven by deranged ideologies seemed overwhelming was the sheer basic decency of the majority of my students.
Now looking back over those years I can say I was not wrong.
God bless them all xx
Profound and beautiful article.
A day such as today, Memorial Day, and and article such as this, sadly cast in sharp relief the shameful damage that has been done to this country ignoring, or worse, even castigating the memory of those who gave all they had for it for generations.
The Bible says, “to whom much is given, much is required.” And there is no country on earth, or even in history, that has been given more than our country.
We don’t deserve the mercy of God, but then, that is why it is mercy.
A revival of deep, soul-felt and informed gratitude needs to occur in the hearts and minds of every American for the incomprehensible bounty and blessings we have been so blessed with over these last 250 years, if we truly want or stand a chance of keeping it.
Will we ever, ever learn that lesson?
2 Chronicles 7:14
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Thanks Suzie for giving a thoughtful reply. I just purchased a book by a young writer who has a seminary degree and a Masters degree in US History specializing in the Civil War and the relationship between the slaves and their masters. This man is a podcaster who uncovers heretics in our church today. He is born and raised in a small town outside New York City but spent a lot of time as a kid in the summers with his cousins in Mississippi and LA, California. He has given many intriguing podcast on the Civil War. I highly recommend him.
Do you have a link for us to find him? Or his name?
I have texted him. He has shared a lot of info on Patreon that he ask we not share. He will send me info on how it can be purchased. I will try to figure that out and reply back to you. But for now I would strongly suggest you watch for free a documentary he was instrument for producing called "1607 The Virginia First Project " its free on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzg-yyhZPP0 Next see if you can still buy the book 'Scared Conviction " The Souths stand for Biblical Authority. He wrote it under a pen name Joseph Jay by advice from his professor at college. her is that location https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Sacred+Conviction+by+Joeseph+Jay&crid=F1PE2N6R5G9Y&sprefix=sacred+conviction+by+joeseph+jay%2Caps%2C120&ref=nb_sb_noss His other books are available from Amazon
Next he wrote two books on Social Justice goes to church by his real name Jon Harris : https://www.amazon.com/Social-Justice-Goes-Church-Evangelicalism/dp/1649600801/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UOGVFW972IAS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.w37apwjXLr8iUlKKlT__QPiB6W8573wsIf85o6HmaCCVPWlBS3E77ni-jbQYh3UT05YnOIXvKUwVB7m8nEZXHTq4yeTBKfs0dUdjz-6-gPxps751a3tuzvpRD_-XGvgT.cC-NOf2kKoNrpg1cNnLnLiWSkFqDbwbguGe0HV5xB9o&dib_tag=se&keywords=social+justice+goes+to+church&qid=1748308941&sprefix=Social+Justice+Goes+to+Church%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-1
His latest book is Against the Wave which I'm reading now. https://www.amazon.com/Against-Waves-Christian-Order-Liberal/dp/1967020000/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Z0APCV51FE63&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zi_A2MpHfQv-Ze_Ny4WaAphgjIfs9Mr8rY6jtT7d0mlwZ_7ueMvDBAGUAJo_7sM5.S8Ye6pf7ayYv5CU_vS1h3HD74-SfmOQ1i0NbfPA8uSI&dib_tag=se&keywords=against+the+waves+jon+harris&qid=1748309038&sprefix=Against+the+Waves%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1
Finally you can watch him on his podcast on YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BhIic1wO9M
Your best column yet. Congrats.
It's 1984, I'm on a business trip to Israel. One of the days of my visit coincides with Israeli Memorial Day, a Sunday. My hosts invite me to a breakfast. Thereafter, we visit a cemetery where soldiers place flags on the graves of dead soldiers. Very solemn. EVERYBODY goes to a cemetery on Memorial Day in Israel.
Later that month, back home, I attend the family Memorial Day BBQ, Italian style; my last one ever. The discomfort I felt was embarrassing.
Visit an American cemetery in Europe. Normandy's the Big Daddy of course. Regardless of your religiosity, bring a copy of the Jewish and Christian Prayers for the Dead, and recite them.
A more intimate place is the American cemetery in Salerno, Italy. "Only" 1600 buried there.
Think of the parents of those buried on foreign soil, and how they had to muster the seafare or airfare to visit their child's grave, if ever.
You can have your burger and a beer, just please don't do it on the last Monday in May.
I think that God shares your opinion on your last sentence. The weather is always crappy on Memorial Day.
Your story of Israel reminded me of the time when I was in Ballarat, a small city in Australia on ANZAC day. There was a rousing parade with many kids wearing medals of relatives marching along side old veterans wearing their old uniforms. After the parade, everyone went to the cenotaph in the town park that commemorated those killed in war. Group after group laid flowers at its base. It was a solemn event that I will never forget. After the ceremonies were concluded, Aussies being Aussies, everyone headed to the pubs for a beer or two.
Went to the parade on Monday in my Republican majority town of around 8000 people. Maybe 200 people were there. The handful of men in uniform who marched in the parade were middle aged to elderly, there were 11 Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts and 6 Girl Scouts. I told my son that when I was a kid in the 70's there would have been 100 veterans marching, and 100s of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Lions club, Masons and religious leaders, plus antique cars, floats, all the fire trucks and police cars, etc. and that at least half the town would have been there. I told him that after WWII everyone in town would have been in attendance. How fast we forget.
Beautiful, Don. Just perfect. Thank you!
I always felt a little guilty. when someone said thank you for your service. It's on our Texas driver's license. I never left stateside. Then I remember "They also serve who only stand and wait". And wait I did-24 months to the day. I felt little patriotism through the years until the way Vietnam veterans were treated. Yes, Vietnam veterans were often treated poorly upon returning home due to the growing anti-war sentiment and the perception of the war as a failure. Many veterans faced scorn, ridicule, and even physical harassment from civilians, who often blamed them for the war's outcome. ‘Cretins’ took on A new meaning when I hated them with the heat of 1000 suns. A dark period in our history. Those sub-humans started the division that is now on steroids. Thanks a lot, FLBJ.
Two takeaways from Vietnam War: It erroneously led to immature 18 year olds voting. It also brought to the American mind to separate the war from the soldiers who fight it. The rank and file did not start nor continue the wars. Blame the politicians for that.
I joined the Navy in NYC during Vietnam. Dangerous times indeed to be in uniform on those streets. Those stationed there never went out in uniform.
This great piece should be sent to every school room in America, Oh wait! Very few if any teachers would understand it, never mind. Thanks Don.
Freedom is a light for which many have died in darkness.
(Inscription on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution, Philadelphia, PA)
🇺🇸✝️🌹
🙏
You brought tears to my eyes, Don. My father was a Naval pilot in WWII flying supplies whose plane went down over the Aleutian Islands. His body was washed ashore. I was only 1 1/2 years old so never knew him, only the wonderful stories his contemporaries told me. I pray when it's my time to go I finally get to meet him.
Oh that the Star Spangled Banner would fly in every home in our beautiful America. That all Americans would appreciate the blessing it is to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Thank you, thank you to all who died to protect our way of life. We owe them infinite gratitude! Blessings and comfort to those whose children, brothers, sisters, moms. dads, and more gave their all, that we might all live in freedom! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
You can practically tell the political leanings of the occupants of a home by whether the American flag is flying or not....I swear....
How sad and yet so true !!!
What a beautiful and moving column Don. Thank you. I'm certain that Lincoln was inspired by Pericles. A Civil War soldier with a 5th grade education had read Pericles most likely. Nowadays a college graduate would not only have no idea who Pericles or what the Peloponnesian War was, they wouldn't even know what who fought in the Civil War, what century it took place or even what a century is. Since the sun is finally out, I'm going to plant my garden then go to the Memorial Day parade in downtown Berwick at 11. Have a nice day.
God Bless the Fallen. I pray for the families that they know our sympathy and appreciation to their lost members…
My Father was in the Navy during WW2. He was a coxswain on the Higgins boats and served in the South Pacific. He was there for the liberation of the Philippines and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. My Father never spoke of his war time service -except once. He said he was issued a bags of corks, a mallet and a machine gun. He was to protect the Higgins’s boat as he took live men to the beaches and brought the dead and wounded back to the ship. I was young and did not even have a clue as to what that must have been like. To this day I know my Father suffered ‘survivor’s guilt’ from all he saw and experienced. So while Memorial Day rightfully honors the men and women who fought for our country-giving all.
Many men and women are in some senses ‘dead’ as they finish out their lives. My Father always seemed to never be ‘with us’ as a family as he always seemed to be at a distance.
I will never know the demons my Father brought home with him from his days in the Navy. However, I am grateful he was my Dad as he was one of the toughest men I have ever known—always standing on the right side of any conflict. I watched him in a couple of those situations—one was defending a lady in the neighborhood whose husband was chasing her with a butcher knife. My Dad met him in the yard with a shotgun and told him to ‘stand down’. Always loyal and always honest always willing to do the right thing.
We need to remember and always honor those who have gone before us to give us this land we love.
And yes—I fly a flag on a 30 foot pole in my front yard.
Have a blessed day.
Marsha, God bless you and your Dad. I assume the corks and the mallet were to plug bullet holes in the sides of the boat during landing operations. I hope those corks were the right caliber to do the job.
My dad was also in the Navy during WWII. He was in ordinance and was stationed on Guadalcanal after we took the island. His job was to prepare bombs for missions and then to defuse any which weren’t used and were brought back to the island.
He only talked to me about it once. I pestered him for years because I wanted to know and to be able to pass his history on to my children. He finally relented when he was in his 80s and answered some of my questions. I wish that there had been time to learn more.
Bless you, your father and my 100 year old neighbor who is very reluctant to discuss his service [ sad memories of a pow ] however brief.
A quote a friend shared with me:
"You will never know how much it cost us to preserve your freedom. I hope that you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it." - John Adams
Excellent column Don. Sadly the dead may well have died in vain, considering the lack of gratitude displayed by their descendants of those that fought and those that honored them for their sacrifice back in the day. If only the ancestors of those that whine about how this country has always been racist, and those that demand reparations for some unpaid debt they feel they are owed could come back through time and slap sense into them…
I believe Trump and Hegseth, among others, are endeavoring to bring honor and appropriate pride back to our military.
IMHO, reparations had already been paid to the descendants of slaves by the loss of Union Soldiers in the Civil War. If not for that, they might either be still slaves or be back in Africa in God knows what state....lest they forget just who sold their forebears....
Be comforted! This is the dawning of a new Golden Age.
This is a counter-revolution which is in baby-steps compared to the culture revolution which has been underway since the 60/70s. Until the MSM has a come-to-Jesus moment and starts doing their job, the unenlightened listeners/readers will continue to believe absolute nonsense and continue to vote in those who are hell-bent to turn this country into a marxist paradise.