Enjoy the videos and the articles. Most importantly, honor our fallen men and women with some time over the weekend.....
WHY MEMORIAL DAY IS MUCH MORE THAN A THREE DAY WEEKEND
May they "Rest in Peace"
We asked Dale Dye the question: Why is Memorial Day much more than a three day weekend? Hold onto your bootstraps, nobody shoots as straight as a Marine Combat Veteran.
WILL REMAIN ON FRONT PAGE UNTIL MEMORIAL DAY
Dale Dye is a retired Marine Captain(Mustang). He served two tours in Vietnam participating in 31 combat operations. During his tours he received the Bronze Star(w/Combat "V") and three Purple Hearts (for wounds received in combat). He is also is the author of six military novels, including Run Between the Raindrops, Outrage, Platoon, Conduct Unbecoming, and Duty & Dishonor. His newest novel is Laos File. He also founded www.Warriorsinc.com. He has appeared in the movies Platoon, Band of Brothers, Casualties of War and Saving Private Ryan, to name a few.
By Dale Dye, Special for America Fighting Back
Like a lot of other Americans these days I’m spending too much time pissed off about way too many things.The economy sucks and blows like a big jet engine.America’s traditionally robust place in the worldwide auto industry has crumpled like a cheap plastic fender, There’s almost as many good people out of work as during the Great Depression and those mobs at job fairs across the nation are beginning to look suspiciously like bread lines.I’m not perceptive enough to fully understand how we got ourselves into this mess but I do know it took a world war to get us out of it the last time our economy swirled this close to the crapper.And that leads me to ponder Memorial Day which, unfortunately, is another thing that pisses me off. As a veteran, I’m angry that this day will be passed by most of my countrymen with not one thought about the millions of Americans who lost their lives in our nation’s wars or undeclared conflicts.As one who has watched men die in combat, I’m upset that we’ve lost perspective on what Memorial Day means and it’s a national disgrace that beggars the crimes committed by the greedheads that engineered the recent economic train wreck.Stay with me on this and you’ll see why. Back in 1868 General John Logan decided his nation had forgotten the fallen on both sides of the bloody Civil War.As national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, a group of Civil War veterans, he issued a proclamation that eventually led to declaration of a day of remembrance for all our war dead.There’s a lot more to the history here, but that’s a thumbnail sketch of how we wound up with a red-letter day on our national calendar which was supposed to provide a break from everyday chores and make time to honor those who made the supreme sacrifice to preserve our freedom. Naturally, being the lazy, self-centered hedonists that many of us are, we’ve managed to turn that significant day into a combination barbecue, beer-bust, shopping mall safari and three-day weekend fun-fest.Too damn bad the veterans resting under their somber headstones or decomposing, lost and long forgotten on some remote battlefield, can’t join in the festivities.Seems to me if anyone deserves a day off with beer, burgers and bargains at the retail outlets, they do.But those folks are dead and dead people really put a damper on parties, with the possible exception of a traditional Irish wake. Maybe the Irish have it right.Maybe we should turn our backyard barbecues and other Memorial Day celebrations into a wake for all the courageous men and women who died just because their nation asked them to risk it and they believed it was their duty, their obligation and their honor to take the chance of losing it all.That would certainly improve my mood.It would also be a welcome signal that while the people of my polyglot nation may be blissfully ignorant of our commendable military history, they can still understand and appreciate the courage and patriotism it takes to lay down your life for a larger cause. Naturally, given how tightly most of us are wrapped around the axle and trying to keep the wheels from falling off our personal lives, the moments of remembrance we owe our war dead don’t happen except for isolated observances scattered hither and yon across the nation.Efforts of the most patriotic among us have failed to turn Memorial Day into anything much beyond a welcome week when we won’t have to face Monday in the workplace.Not that there’s anything very patriotic about our Congress these days, but you can blame that august body for the sham Memorial Day has become since they wimped out back in 1971 and passed the National Holiday Act to ensure all government bureaucrats got a three-day weekend.In 1999 wounded World War II vet Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii introduced a bill to restore the original day of observance and correct the national policy that slides the day around the calendar to the last Monday in May.To date, there has been no further action on that bill.And the Veterans of Foreign Wars were right on target in 2002 when they declared the quest for just another day off work “has contributed greatly to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.” Are you receiving here?Have you got a solid copy on just how low I think we’ve sunk when the patriotic spirit and ultimate sacrifice of our millions of war dead simply serves to trigger more time on the couch mindlessly absorbing daytime TV that you normally miss while at work?Is the signal strong enough to let you know that failing to recognize their service and sacrifice is not only a national travesty; it’s a personal thing that impugns your honor as an American?If you give a damn about that – and you should especially if you’ve got impressionable kids running around the house this Memorial Day – you need to halt in place for about thirty seconds and think about it. It’s simple.I’m not asking you to toss cold water on the barbecue, pass on the beer or even pause very long in whatever activities you’ve got schedule for Memorial Day this year.What I’m asking you to do – and this is in the nature of an order as opposed to a request – is take some time on Memorial Day and say thanks in your own way to the men and women who died in defense of our nation and to preserve the way of life that is – regardless of your personal or professional problems right now – better than anywhere else on earth.I’m telling you to make this Memorial Day what it was meant to be:A time to remember those who made the supreme sacrifice so that the rest of us remain free to live in this great nation. Notice when I’m talking about these fallen Americans I don’t use terms like “gave their lives” and you shouldn’t either.That would imply they wanted to die.Believe me when I tell you they didn’t want anything of the sort.They wanted to live but they came up short on luck of the draw in combat.They wanted to live freely in a nation that allowed them to do that and offered a chance for success and happiness if they survived and worked hard for it.That promise made taking the chance on dying in combat worth the risk.This Memorial Day – and every day we draw breath in this great nation – we need to remember that.It’s so little to ask for so much that was given to us all.
HONOR THOSE WHO DIED FOR OUR FREEDOM
This is our tribute to all Americans that have died fighting for our Freedom. We are posting it early because there are some ideas of how to honor them rather than just having a picnic. It's worth the time. We will have a full tribute to our fallen Warriors starting Friday, 27 May, 2011.
What can I do on Memorial Day to honor our "Fallen"?
1. Know the history so you can pass it on to others. History......
2. If you own an American Flag fly it at half-staff until noon. If you can't fly it at half-staff at least fly it.
3. Visit a cemetery and place a small flag or flowers at the graves of America's fallen Heroes. Call your local Chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) or the American Legion to see if their chapter has anything planned. More information about finding a cemetery......
4. Participate in the National Moment of Remembrance 3PM (local time). Pause in silence wherever you are and honor the fallen. Read....
5.. Visit memorials in your area.
6.. Take the time to donate to any of the many charities that assist the families of those killed in combat.
7. On this Memorial Day take the time to thank any World War II Veteran you can find for their service. We are losing this very special group at over 1500 per day.
8. We will have a very special version of "Taps" available on our website on Memorial Day, play it.
Letter from then President Lincoln to the mother of five killed on the battle field:
Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.
Dear Madam,--
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
