Monday, May 25, 2009

Remembering

The finest Memorial Day tribute you will read today.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link. Also recommend Andy Rooney's commentary from last nights 60 minutes.

Here's to all the vets, past and present.

My father spent the better part of 4 years in the China-Burma-India theatre during WW II. He served as a glider and scout plane pilot with the then Army Air Corps. Had some interaction with Claire Chennault of Flying Tigers fame. At the same time his brother-in-law was a sailor taken prisoner by the Japanese when his ship sank. He was in the Nike labor camp in Thailand. They are both long dead but I heard some of their stories. It was in the realm of possibility that planes stationed near my father were bombing projects built by Japanese POW's from Thailand. They had a gallows humor about that.

Rex Usher, my uncle by marriage I guess, described the brutality of the prison camp and said the only reason he survived was because of his small stature. The larger men, he said, starved to death.

Pray for Peace.

RJ

dean said...

Here in Canada, we celebrate... well, I guess celebrate is the wrong word. We observe Rememberance Day on November 11, at 11 minutes after 11, which is the time that the armistice on the Western Front of the Great War, the War to End All Wars, was signed.

I'm not sure whether spring or fall, edging into winter, is the better time. I think November is a more introspective month than May, but May fits in other ways. Life returning to the land, new growth, hope, etc.

It sounds funny to say 'happy Memorial Day' or 'happy Rememberance Day', but if I were one of the people who were being remembered, I'd want those doing the remembering to be happy.

I'd want them to remember, though.

Trée said...

Erin thanks for the link to Harry's blog. His writing is very, very, good. And just for you, on this day, I'll make some extra maple bacon.

Zen Wizard said...

We hardly ever think about WW1--but the Battle of the Somme for instance had 1.5-million casualties (!!). And that is just one battle... Ref.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme

It is my understanding that almost everyone in Australia at the time at least knew someone who died in WW1 if not experienced a close family member dying.

Erin O'Brien said...

Thanks for the thoughts and links, gents.