Memorial Day Gratitude

[foxx]

On this, our greatest national holiday, I wish to extend my expression of deepest gratitude to all of our Vets and fallen heroes, wounded and dead, and their families that have served our country and the entire free world these past 200+ years.

In my mind, everyone who has ever served our country in the armed services is due the highest honor and respect.

Thank you all.

[LoneWolf]

I would like to say thank you and also offer post response that I read posted (by a fellow Marine) on a Marine SNCO page that definitely hit home in concerns to Memorial Day:

Two years ago, I made the mistake of likening Memorial Day to Veterans Day and was called on it by some of my fellow SNCOs. I won't make the same mistake again ever. I will use the day and time to remember those who have fallen in defense of their country. I will also remember the families and friends who are mourning these losses, as I cannot imaging their grief and sadness they suffer continuously.
To the few Marines I have lost over the years, the number is one too many. ...To the Marines who have seen their friends killed and maimed over the years of this war, I will mourn with you on this day of remembrance.
If someone says something out of place on this day, forgive them, say thank you, and educate them, because most of them do not understand where you are coming from on this subject.
As always, Semper Fidelis Marines!!

[foxx]

Thank you, LoneWolf for your service and respectful and appropriate response to my post. While re-reading my post, I see that it reads as though I am confusing Veterans Day with Memorial Day. For that, I apologize. I do know the difference, and did not intend to minimize the greater objective of Memorial Day, for it is a day for remembering those killed. My intention was to express gratitude to their families and comrades who, in a particular way, grieve that loss more than I am capable of understanding or experiencing myself.

Your response, rooted in the desire to memorialize those very people, rather than allow me to recognize your service only serves to demonstrate all the more the spirit of your admirable sense of duty and regard for others who have been killed while, in a very real sense, standing directly beside you in service. You, my friend, are equally willing to make that same sacrifice. I cannot help but be moved by that.

So yes, I will continue to strive to recognize your service and unique sense of loss on this day in a similar way I do for the immediate families and friends of another's funeral. Likewise, I will not be surprised when you deflect that, saying, "It's not me, it's they."

God Bless them all.
.

[scope eye]

Duly Noted.

Dean

[LoneWolf]

You make a lot of friends in this business, unfortunately you tend to lose some along the way. This is their day! A day to remember what the cost of the freedoms we have takes to keep. Thank you for understanding gentlemen!

I was over in Iraq when I got the news of my good friend Daniel Angus. We were stationed together at Parris Island, but he moved on to Camp LeJeune and I moved on to Okinawa, Japan. He was one of the guys that taught me how to be a leader and get things done early on in my career. He's survived by his wife and daughter.

http://projects.militarytimes.com/valor/marine-sgt-daniel-m-angus/4473996

The story of the unit: http://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/heroes/heroes-2013/mabus-the-heroics-of-this-unit-cannot-be-overstated-1.224903

[thomae]

I get no happiness from those who thank me on this day.
Yet I do not correct them, for they mean well.
Mine own thoughts hearken only to those who lie today in the peaceful stillness of their own Flanders' fields, row on row,
and with those who have succumbed to the restless waves and now sleep soundly blanketed by the mighty ocean deep.
For they truly have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
and touched the face of God.

[tufrthnails]

All gave some, but today we remember our brothers who gave All.