Remember those who gave all.
My special salute goes out to Charlie Milton, an old high school buddy. He was just a kid the last I saw of Charlie and I feel certain he was just a kid when he was killed in Vietnam 3 days before his 20th birthday. He should have been in college with the rest of us instead of in the Marines.
Special salutes for anyone in particular?
I have friends on ” the Wall” but don’t go very often–too painful still. And it seems I spend a lot of time at Arlington attending the funerals of friends, the most recent being my boss and friend for nearly 20 years, VADM James A. Zimble who was the Surgeon General of the Navy from 1987 to 1991. He was not only my boss, he was my friend, a rare combination.
That is a very rare combination!
Arlington certainly is a haunting place. Its very existence is haunting. Sometimes I feel like it is ill-begotten land.
I know it takes a long time to get buried there. My daughter in law’s grandmother was buried with her husband and it took about 3-4 months for it to happen.
Is there a limit on how many can be buried there?
I”m sorry George. I can’t say I understand, because I don’t, but I can try to imagine how diffiuclt loss must be, especially when there are not only painful memories but happy ones too.
If you are interested, I’ve posted for Memorial Day.
http://unitedconservatives.blogspot.com/2012/05/memorial-day-2012-honor-them.html
Here’s to my father who served in Korea
A field combat medic, he didn’t talk about the war.
Except to talk me out of joining the service
when I was at loose ends when I was 19.
My uncle sent him a hat sewn with gold thread
and covered with symbols from back in the day.
It said “Combat Medic”, Dad wore it once for a picture
We sent it to Goodwill when he passed away.
Here’s to my Grandma who served as a corpse
When her Neuremburg apartment was flattened by bombs.
Here’s to my Mother who served as an orphan
and a ward of the Church till she got on her own.
Serious words there.
Elena: It’s called “survivors’ guilt”. Those of us who served in war time knew many good people who did not come back. We who survived cannot understand why we came home and those good men and women did not. In many cases, they were better than we were. They were more patriotic, more focused, and more worthy than we. We went on to a career and a family, they who were young and good did not. I share George’s feeling in that I cannot visit the Viet Nam Memorial without survivors’ guilt. I knew men, including Vietnamese patriots who never experienced life beyond war who deserved to live more than I did. This is a grief that will haunt me for the rest of my life.
I have a boyhood friend on the wall , Richard Crawford. He went into the Marines right out of High school. Was wounded , spent time in the hospital then sent back in, next time he came out in a body bag. All he ever wanted to be was a Marine like his uncle and from all accounts he was an excellent Marine. God Bless him and all the others who made the supreme sacrifice.
Hi Bear, happy Memorial Day weekend. I have often wondered about those types who long for soldiering. they sure don’t like their creature comforts, do they?
Are you behaving yourself up there in NY?