TO ALL VETERANS

F

Fibber

Charter Member
On this Memorial Day I would like to thank all my fellow vets, and those who still do, for serving.

To paraphrase a old Irish toast " Here's to those we know, those who we passed along the way and those who have gone before.":salute:

I also remember on this day, and others, many of my old friends of yesteryear who weren't as lucky as me and are forever young from 'Nam. RIP guys. You are not gone from this earth as long as the last person who knew you can recall your name. I hope you guys will be around for a few more years.:salute:

Hate to sound morose but this weekend always tears at me.
 
Reply...

Fibber,

I am glad that someone started this thread, thank you very much! And here's a toast of appreciation to all veterans of every nation who place (or had placed) their lives on the line to keep us free. :icon29:
 
Thanks for Our FREEDOM!

May we not take it for granted or loss it to the power hungery. A lot of people have paid a heavey price for it.

THANKS!
 
Best wishes to my Yank Mates of the 35th TFW and 7/17th Cavalry at Phan Rang Vietnam 70/71. We remember Lizard and Cookie on Memorial Day
 
“ we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. “ Abraham L.

To those that died that we might live we thank you for your sacrifices and pray we will strengthen our bodies, minds and souls to honor your deeds in the paths of our lives.
Si Yu’us ma’ase, Wahoo
 
Salute

Some pictures I recently acquired from my father's sister.
The 1st is the tank crew my father severed with. The back of the photo says "Northern New Guinea". He's the Blondie at the ripe old age of 19.

The 2nd is somewhere in Luzon. On the back of the photo it says, "Luzon first night". I have no idea who the photographer was, my dad never had a camera.

My Memorial Day holds the memory of him plus all of the others that served, past and present.
What we have now is owed to them.

Dave
 
A moving video


Mansions of the Lord
To fallen soldiers let us sing
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord
No more bleeding, no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
Just divine embrace, eternal light
To the Mansions of the Lord.
Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard though the angels sleep
Through the ages safely keep
The Mansions of the Lord.

Visit a local cemetery. Visit a vet. :icon29:

Happy Memorial Day weekend to all and thanks to all you wonderful fallen heroes. :USA-flag:
 
Just Saying Thank You.....

... Never Seems Like Enough.

Shake a Soldier / Sailor / Marine / Airman's Hand - They Earned It :salute:
SC
:kilroy:
 
Fibber said:
On this Memorial Day I would like to thank all my fellow vets, and those who still do, for serving.

To paraphrase a old Irish toast " Here's to those we know, those who we passed along the way and those who have gone before.":salute:

I also remember on this day, and others, many of my old friends of yesteryear who weren't as lucky as me and are forever young from 'Nam. RIP guys. You are not gone from this earth as long as the last person who knew you can recall your name. I hope you guys will be around for a few more years.:salute:

Hate to sound morose but this weekend always tears at me.
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Not morose at all, Fibber. Your feelings are shared by many of us. They are the feelings and memories this day is meant to call up. Thanks for the post.

BTW: The little Masked Rider avatar I use is the image from the ship's flag my ship (USS Richard B. Anderson, DD786) flew during operations off Viet Nam. Our radio call sign was Masked Rider.
 
I never could figure out what to say to someone who put their life on the line for me or died for me so I'll just say thanks. If anyone has better words that I might use please let me know.
 
erufle said:
I never could figure out what to say to someone who put their life on the line for me or died for me so I'll just say thanks. If anyone has better words that I might use please let me know.
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I don't think we can ever find the words to say thank you enough.

Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets' pace;
And glut thyself with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more than what is false and vain,
And merely mortal dross;
So little is our loss,
So little is thy gain.
For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb'd,
And last of all, thy greedy self consum'd,
Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss
With an individual kiss;
And Joy shall overtake us as a flood,
When every thing that is sincerely good
And perfectly divine,
With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine
About the supreme Throne
Of Him, t'whose happy-making sight alone,
When once our heav'nly-guided soul shall climb,
Then all this earthly grossness quit,
Attir'd with Stars, we shall for ever sit,
Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee O Time.

John Milton
 
erufle said:
I never could figure out what to say to someone who put their life on the line for me or died for me so I'll just say thanks. If anyone has better words that I might use please let me know.
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I had 3 uncles fought in WW2, my Dad, who had polio, worked at WPAFB and did the ranging calculations for building the Sperry bombsight. My grandmother, who couldn't read, worked as a cook at the same base, and many relatives who were deferred all worked in war industries. I had several cousins who were in Vietnam and all came back. My service during Vietnam and after was with a Minox camera and not an M-16. I know a few things about the 60s would make you burn all your Jefferson Airplane albums.

These three uncles were on the line on Dec.16 1944. One was trapped in Bastonge, one came south with Bradley and one came north with Patton; the three met in Bastonge. Uncle Virgil was the company sniper, and said that you always, in the back of your mind, know you're fighting for your country and your friends and family, but when 2 battalions of SS troops are coming at you under a mortar barrage you're fighting with, and for, your buddy in the next foxhole.

My two brothers served in the late 50s, one froze two toes almost off on the line in a tank on the border between the two Germanys.

Jesus said, no greater love hath a man that he would lay down his life for his friends. That can't be topped in my book. And this memorial day I would wish we could honor the dead, maimed, and those still serving, by giving them victory, and not another Hanoi Two-Step like the last one.

Tony
 
I think we all owe a great deal to those who gave so much in the past and continue to do so in the present so that we can enjoy the lifestyle we do now. I salute all of them. "Lest We Forget".
 
Our families lost 18 brothers, fiances and friends in WW1, with 8 coming back wounded - my Grandfather wore a leg brace from 1918 until he died in 1996 and was full of shrapnel, that moved every now and then and sent him to hospital - my other Grandfather lost his brother. Dad had his neck broken in the Solomon Islands, blowing Japs out of caves - at 93, he still suffers badly at times, from the injuries. An active life has kept him going long past that of his mates who were there. Mom lost her (American) fiance, a Navy Lt(jg) from Alberquerque, "somewhere in the Pacific", and 2 other cousins died as a result of wounds suffered during the war, after WW2.
By Vietnam, luckily, NZ was not heavily involved, but I knew some NZ SAS guys and several US conscripts who were there, strangely enough, through model airplanes, ....most survived, 2 didn't! The SAS guys didn't go into much detail - just enough to know that you didn't really want to know any more......

I spent 4 yrs in the RNZNVR and my new Wife spent some time in the RAF.
She was peeved, she didn't get to go to Aden!

Now, my wife's grandson goes into the Australian Army, next month.......he wants to go to Afghanistan...............
And still, the conflicts go on....providing fodder for our flying obsessions.....bittersweet in so many ways...

I salute all of them. "Lest We Forget"
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Too true!
Our family NEVER forgets!
 
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