Honoring Our Veterans
[guest post by Dana]
To all who have served, or are currently serving, and to all who have lost a loved one in protection of our freedoms, a heartfelt thank you on this significant day.
I had breakfast at a local cafe, and at a neighboring table sat a Marine who had participated in our town’s Veterans Day ceremony. I thanked him for his service and spent a few minutes chatting with him. He was recently returned from his fourth deployment to the Middle East and elsewhere. And as it inevitably seems to go, he was very humble about his sacrifice. This as his wife stared adoringly at him, and one of his children cuddled up close to him in the booth.
As has been so eloquently said before:
This day is dedicated to all who answered the call to service — whether they live in honor among us, or sleep in valor beneath this sacred ground.
Thank you to all Patterico readers who have answered that call to service. We are indebted.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (86e864) — 11/11/2015 @ 2:44 pmthe best way to honor them is not make anymore especially for memorial day. america’s presses possession.
beni (8075b1) — 11/11/2015 @ 2:46 pmmy breakfast place closed mysteriously and suddenly
just a cryptic note on the door saying it was a good time to move on
they had the best french toast and i loved the employees except for that one guy you could tell just wasn’t feeling the whole i work in foodservice thing
it makes NO sense
happyfeet (831175) — 11/11/2015 @ 2:54 pmBtw, President Obama admitted today that he has not fixed the VA yet. But he’s determined to, in spite of a very few officials having lost their jobs for their malfeasance.
But, if Hillary Clinton becomes our president, count on nothing happening on that front, no fixing the broken system, no firings, because after all, she says the VA problems are being exaggerated because Republicans are just politicizing it.
Dana (86e864) — 11/11/2015 @ 2:55 pmyes yes
it’s how this pathetic lil country treats its veterans the other 364 days of the year what’s really important
happyfeet (831175) — 11/11/2015 @ 2:56 pmNice post, Dana.
I was thinking of putting up a post about a guy by the name of Reverend Elias Hillard who in 1864 set out to photograph the last living veterans of the American Revolution, our country’s first war. There is a nice summary of his work at this website. He found six living vets of the Continental Army and state militias, and took their photograph and wrote up their stories. Since then, a few other photos and daguerreotypes of other veterans of the Revolutionary War have appeared from time to time. It’s pretty remarkable to think that some of those men lived long enough to have their picture captured by a technology that must have seen pretty amazing to them.
JVW (34f70e) — 11/11/2015 @ 3:09 pmYou know JVW, being a Vietnam vet and a member of a family who has insisted for generations the men serve our country in the military ( from the Revolution till this day ), I was fascinated by your link. Looking at those tired old faces and outdated clothes I can still see a glimmer of defiance in their aged eyes. King George never stood a chance really. Between the rugged individualism and the love of Liberty his goose was cooked. I don’t know what they called “dad-asses” in those days but seeing those guys I figure they fit the definition.
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27) — 11/11/2015 @ 3:22 pmI would have been awestruck to have been in their presence, Hoagie.
Thanks for putting your life on the line for our country. I would be awestruck to be in your presence as well.
JVW (34f70e) — 11/11/2015 @ 3:29 pmCalled my dad and talked to him as I do every Vets. day. He was at a Free breakfast, received a free haircut, hung out with his fellow Korean war vets. Went hunting, shot a pheasant for dinner. Not bad for 87.
mg (31009b) — 11/11/2015 @ 3:29 pmi want hair when i’m 87 plus also pancakes
if I gotta go fight in the nam that’s a price i’m willing to pay
happyfeet (831175) — 11/11/2015 @ 3:55 pmHair is one thing my family has plenty of, happyfeet.
mg (31009b) — 11/11/2015 @ 3:59 pmthat’s so fun
happyfeet (831175) — 11/11/2015 @ 4:02 pmWe came home in the early 70s to a very unwelcome reception. I am extremely grateful that today’s men and women are receiving the appreciation they so richly deserve. From an Old Salt, thank you for your service.
Dave (f5fb18) — 11/11/2015 @ 4:11 pmThanks to you, Dave. This day belongs to you too.
JVW (34f70e) — 11/11/2015 @ 4:13 pmJVW, what a wonderful site. Thank you for sharing it. It’s just amazing to think that these men were average joes doing something utterly extraordinary, from which we still reap the benefits. Resolute and determined individuals, indeed.
mg, your dad and my dad are kindred souls from the same place and time. And if yours is like mine, he delights in being with the old vets, and it breaks his heart to talk with the young guys who have come back from Afghanistan all broken up, inside and out. But he is terrific at listening to them, and takes a lot of time volunteering in helping them navigate the challenges of a now remarkably changed life.
Also, this is a special year for me as both my dad, and now my son will be attending the Marine Corps Ball.
Dana (86e864) — 11/11/2015 @ 4:33 pmOne of my grandfathers was a WW I veteran and the other was in a strategic industry in WW 2. Dad was a bit too young for WW 2 but was a Korean War and Viet Nam era veteran.
All my friends were military brats and many went on to serve and a few made the ultimate sacrifice. My thoughts turn to these brave men and women you have served and helped purchase our freedom.
We owe them a debt we can never repay, but we can make sure the government does right by them during the next administration.
WarEagle82 (44dbd0) — 11/11/2015 @ 4:54 pmDana, My dad enjoys the camaraderie of all vets. He was a high school teacher and coach for 40 years and taught and coached a few local vets back home. My dad has a twin, identically the same in everything.
mg (31009b) — 11/11/2015 @ 5:02 pmGood for your family, Dana, should be a great time.
My father enlisted in the Navy when he was 15 in World, War I. When the war ended, he wanted out and told them he was only 15. I remember reading about a kid who got the Navy Cross in WWII and then they found out he was 15 and discharged him.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 11/11/2015 @ 5:08 pmWhat’s been asked of vets is no more than what will be, we are going to need their resolve, their leadership and their know-how in short order right here.
DNF (755a85) — 11/11/2015 @ 5:13 pmactually to get us out of this mess we’re gonna need people what gravitate more towards private sector-type work Mr. DNF
you know
people who produce stuff
happyfeet (831175) — 11/11/2015 @ 5:18 pmhappyfeet- prepare for the invasion.
mg (31009b) — 11/11/2015 @ 5:24 pmi am ill-prepared for the invasion
i live in chicago
happyfeet (831175) — 11/11/2015 @ 5:26 pmbut seriously
if the lesson of food stamp isn’t that failmericans are their own worst freedom-hating fascist whiny victimhood-fetishizing enemy
then
i missed the lesson
and i did all the readings
happyfeet (831175) — 11/11/2015 @ 5:28 pmGreetings:
I’m the infantryson of an infantryman and this Veterans’ Day seems to me to be morphing into something that falls in between solemn and maudlin. And this “Thank you for your service.” fad. You know, I kind of grates. You thankers, believe it or not, were nowhere in my calculus. Try to think how you’d react if someone told you “Thank you for graduating from high school (a social good, no).” or Thank you for not aborting your child (an individual good).”
Dammit, its a holiday. If you want to put a bottle of something in my meathook, you go right ahead. But for My and God’s sake, control your your solemnity and park your maudlin in someone else lot.
(How’d you like that one “happyfeet”)
11B40 (6abb5c) — 11/11/2015 @ 6:06 pmGreetings:
And here’s how I do Veterans’ Day:
It was back during my military daze that I had my first attack of bayonetophobia. When our Drill Sergeants would force march us draftees out to the bayonet training area, have us affix a not very long knifey-looking thingy to the business end of a perfectly good shooting iron, and then run us full-speed at a bunch of used tires into which we were to stick the pointy end of the aforementioned underdeveloped knifey thingy all the while shouting at the top of our already overworked lungs, “The purpose of the bayonet is to kill”.
I couldn’t help but think that these almost-adult supervisors of ours were out of their ever loving one-track minds. So, being a fairly autonomous Private from the Bronx of the day, I decided to offer the nearest individual whose sleeves had more stripes that mine ever would, my take on our current endeavor. So, I says, “Hey Sargey baby, how’s about we change our explication to something along the lines of, “The purpose of the bayonet is to remind all of us to bring plenty of ammo.” ? “Wouldn’t that be less labor intensive and saving all that carbon dioxide that we would be exhaling would probably give us a headstart on that global warming problem that will be showing up in about 30 years ?”
Well, it turns out that the aforementioned Sargey baby was uninterested in either the global environment or my own personal mental health. Thus, my bayonetophobia took hold of every fiber of my being (and upon my return to civilian life, it morphed into the even more crippling kitchenophbia, but that’s a bit off-topic if you know what I mean). Things progressed steadily downhill from there, especially when I started my all-expense-paid vacation (they told me) tour of somewhat sunny Southeast Asia where there were, in lieu of cabana boys, an awful lot of misguided miscreants with, instead of drink trays, these gunny
looking thingies with perpetually attached bayonety thingies that still haunt me to this day (and especially when I’m wanted on the kitchen). It was just so much longer than ours, that, if it wasn’t for my already established phobia, it would certainly have given me a severe case of bayonet-envy. It was way long, with a tapered triangular shaft and instead of ending in a pointy point, itended in a tip like a regular screwdriver. (Those little devils were multitasking when Bill Gates was not yet a gleam in his father’s eye.)
So, things were looking kind of grim for my mother’s favorite and only son. But then, one day not too long after, a (pre-DADT) man came into my life to lead me through and out of the darkness. He was long and tall, much like my self, and always spoke the truth, not so much like myself. All his sleeves were be-striped. His first name was Platoon and his last name was Sergeant and thus he spaketh unto me, “The basic combat load is 22 magazines; we hump 29.”
11B40 (6abb5c) — 11/11/2015 @ 6:11 pmlove it Mr. 40
add not a tiddle to it would i
happyfeet (831175) — 11/11/2015 @ 6:12 pmMy daughter’s school was open today and they had an assembly. The band played The Star Spangled Banner and The Caissons Go Rolling Along; the orchestra played When Johnny Comes Marching Home; and the choir sang Flanders Field. The VA opened its first transgender clinic. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/11/cleveland-va-medical-center-opens-first-veterans-transgender-clinic/
nk (dbc370) — 11/11/2015 @ 6:39 pmA hearth “Happy Birthday, Marine!” for them both.
Bill H (2a858c) — 11/11/2015 @ 6:54 pmSounds very much like Ernie Pyle writing about his wartime experiences.
Bill H (2a858c) — 11/11/2015 @ 7:00 pmBack in the day, I did notification and survivor assistance a couple of times. I kept up
Richard Aubrey (472a6f) — 11/11/2015 @ 7:28 pmwith one family–survivor assistance doesn’t end just because you get off active duty–and
am in touch with some of them. Dad met Mom when they were in the Canadian Navy in WW II.
Older sister met hubby when they were in the USN, although she was out when I met them.
Younger daughter met hubby when they were Marines. One of this couple’s sons is a C130
loadmaster.
Unbelievable family.
20. Yes, indeed, people with the know-how to produce stuff without an electric power grid, without regular supply of gasoline or diesel fuel, without uninterrupted railway and interstate transportation nets, people who maintain networks of relation between other such resourceful folk.
Big city folk? Kinda doubt it.
DNF (ffe548) — 11/11/2015 @ 8:14 pmBah humbug.
Just noticed my employer, a retailer, sent an email out to customers offering them a thirty percent discount for Singles Day (11:11, if that is not immediately apparent). And since they also sent out special discount passes to serving military and retired, it isn’t as if they forgot what day it is.
This on the heels of an internal communication that demoted Thanksgiving to “Black Thursday”….
kishnevi (083485) — 11/11/2015 @ 8:28 pmMy Father was wounded in Korea USAF. He is buried in the same grave plot, at ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY. Mom remarried my DAD. Difference is DAD is the man who raised me. Different last name, and he and Mom provided the family with 2 more sons, my DEAR DEAR DEAR and BELOVED little brothers. Both successful and wonderful. Dad died 2 years ago, and he (also USAF) is buried at Fort Levenworth, near his Liberty Mo. birthplace. Youngest bro is a VET, also USAF, former fighter pilot. Nephew Rick USMC was wounded ANBAR PROVINCE, IRAQ, Jan 2004. He is well and a Daddy now.
GUS (7cc192) — 11/11/2015 @ 11:20 pmGrandfather was wounded severely at EL ALEMEIN. British Scottish Black Watch. He was crippled and a POW for 2 years a guest of THE THIRD REICH. Great Grandad, KIA October 1918 in Egypt too!! Buried British War Graves DAMASCUS SYRIA. I am named for him, and have all of his medals, his British M.O.A, and other military awards regarding his death in WWI. I am named after Great GranDad, as is my son.
GOD BLESS THOSE WHO SERVED.
My hat’s off to you, sir. That is rough duty.
Here’s one Marine’s story.
http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/americainuniform/2011/10/vietnam-casualty-notification-officer.html
Steve57 (bcaa38) — 11/11/2015 @ 11:28 pmGrandpa flew as nose gunner in one of these, not during World War 1, but just after, with a squadron stationed in Hawaii.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 11/12/2015 @ 3:01 amMartin MB1 twin engine bomber
11B40 : Greetings from a 11B68 (1956 to 1965) who, although only an E6, had the first name of Platoon and the last name of Sergeant also. That SKS was a mean looking weapon. I was a bayonet instructor, among other things, when we grunts actually had a bayonet not that C Rat can opener. I don’t blame you for your opinion on the usefulness of that toy. To you and the other veterans here, a toast to “absent friends.”
Michael Keohane (5ea921) — 11/12/2015 @ 4:14 amSteve
Richard Aubrey (472a6f) — 11/12/2015 @ 5:01 amThanks for the link. I’ll get to it sometime. Not sure when.
The Army did things differently. Casualty branch called the Army installation closest
to the Next of Kin. Whoever was keeping the roster–me, in this case–looked to see
whose turn it was.
I had gotten off orders because my brother had been killed. So, at my next duty station,
the S1 didn’t put me on the roster”for obvious reasons”. He left and I got to be S1–Air
Defense, hell of a job for an Infantry O2–and and, as you know, when you’re in charge you
can’t bail. The Army separated Notification from Survivor Assistance, although in one case
I did both. That’s how I got acquainted with the family. Terrible way to make friends,
but we had some good times.
@37, you know how the Navy is. We have different names for everything (that’s not a wall, that’s a bulkhead; that’s not a water fountain, that’s a scuttlebutt; that’s not a door, that’s a hatch) and we do everything differently. And as much as they hate to admit it, the USMC falls under the Secretary of the Navy.
The general rule is if the next of kin resides in the immediate vicinity of the command reporting the casualty, it’s the responsibility of the CO of that command to make the initial notification. For all other circumstances we have designated Casualty Assistance Calls Officers assigned to regional offices. When someone is designated a CACO that’s their primary duty.
Steve57 (bcaa38) — 11/12/2015 @ 10:34 amMy da had to do that a few times when he was stationed in Milwaukee. Orders would come down from Great Lakes regional and he would be asked to be part of the detail, even though his thing was supply. He always came home a little shaken after one of those days.
Bill H (2a858c) — 11/12/2015 @ 11:25 amBad idea to load one individual up with that. Running a roster is better.
Richard Aubrey (472a6f) — 11/12/2015 @ 1:36 pm