Memorial Day

gorourke
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 40
(5/25/01 8:34:40 pm)
| Del All Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is another photo I took at the Wall.

On this Memorial Day -- I post it in tribute to my fellow soldiers of the 25th Inf. Div., who “Suffered All, Sacrificed All, Dared All and Died” – and to all the members of Americas Armed Forces who died in service to their country.


P. Gary

LarryJK
Senior Chief Moderator III
Posts: 26
(5/26/01 2:15:10 am)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excellent, Gary...a beautiful tribute!

Tac401
Administrator
Posts: 764
(5/26/01 2:26:21 am)
| Del
ezSupporter
Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nice Gary!

Keep those photo's and stories commin folks!
The Firearms Forum Vietnam Memories Bulletin Board Contact Administrator

oneknight
Moderator
Posts: 991
(5/26/01 9:06:25 am)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sad, but beautiful! Thank you for sharing.

TShooters
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 166
(5/26/01 10:56:59 am)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wonderful pic, P. Gary.

It's always touching to see all of the items left at the Wall. There are always lots on Memorial and Veterans Day. Each offering has a story behind it...most of the stories are unknown to us as we view the items left behind.

I'd also like to share this with you. Last year, some friends made the trip to DC for
Memorial Day. Sal sent me this soon after. This is not just for his friend, who received it,
but to all of you who served.

Sharon

---------------------------------------------

Subject: The Letter... A MUST READ


In DC last weekend Ed Yates, (who some of you know),
while sitting on a bench looking at The Wall, was thinking
about our lost Brothers when all of a sudden this young
girl walked up to him and handed him this letter. After
reading it, he looked up only to find the little girl had dis-
appeared before he could thank her.

As it turned out she was just one of teacher Bruce Galler's
class there on a field trip doing the same for other Vietnam
Veterans. Below is the letter of Thanks that I wrote to him
along with his reply.

I'd like you all to take a moment or two to do the same... It's
teachers like Mr. Galler and his students that is this country's
future. It's these kids that will keep our memories alive into
the next century and (hopefully) beyond. Your email(s) can be
sent to: bgaller@wilsona.k12.ca.us

Thank you...

s/s
---------------------------------------
It has come to the attention of my Marine Corps & FMF
Corpsmen group that your class might be responsible
for leaving a wonderful letter of gratitude towards we
Vietnam Veterans for the sacrifices we made years
before they were even conceived.

I'd just like to take the time to commend them on their,
much appreciated, thoughtfulness. We rarely, if ever,
are thanked by our peer age group. To be thanked by
a generation that is the future of America is over whelm-
ing, to say the least.

I'd also like to thank who ever was responsible for making
them aware of Vietnam and our sacrifices. For, as the
saying goes...Those that aren't aware of the past are con-
demnded to repeat it. I hope to God, for them, and this
great country that will never come to pass.

Semper Fidelis,

Sal Latina
-------------------------------
Mr. Latina,

I will gladly pass on the message to our students. We truly
honor your service to the nation and it has surprised me that so
many soldiers have been so thankful for simple recognition of
what you all did for us.

I thank you and your fellow soldiers from the core of my soul
for the sacrifices you made and the hardships you've endured in
place of the honor that should have been bestowed upon you when
you returned. Our nation, particularly our young people, will
indeed learn from the past and won't EVER treat our vets with
disrespect on my watch.

I will print your letter and others for all of our students to
read. When they realize how much power they have to heal,
they can further this and many other worthy messages to the
people who need to receive them.

With pride,
Bruce Galler




Edited by: TShooters at: 5/26/01 12:00:29 pm

Misterstan
Moderator
Posts: 178
(5/26/01 1:23:02 pm)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sharon,

Thank you for posting those letters.

The best reward any of us could hope for is to know that the youth of our country have taken an interest in the sacrifices that all our veterans have made for them.

Stan Lambert
St. Clair Shores, Michigan

dap22
Senior Chief Moderator II
Posts: 603
(5/26/01 2:13:17 pm)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P. Gary & Sharon:
A heartfelt tribute, particularly to the Vietnam veteran. As Stan says, it's heartwarming to know that the youth of today are being taught about the sacrifices made by the veteran. Hopefully, enough will be taught in both school and home to preserve and value the freedom that so many of us and before us have fought for.


TShooters
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 181
(5/26/01 4:10:16 pm)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You're most welcome, Stan & dap22. I was thrilled to receive Sal's email
about the letter his friend had received at the Wall last year and wanted
to share it with ya'll.

Sharon

gorourke
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 44
(5/26/01 4:49:31 pm)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sharon,

What a wonderful thing to happen on that visit to the Wall. Thanks for sharing those letters, wish I could give those kids a Hug!

P. Gary


homer4
Moderator
Posts: 673
(5/27/01 11:48:31 am)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Touching! and dittos on the hugs.
...and two hard boiled eggs.

low2go
*Senior Chief Moderator*
Posts: 339
(5/27/01 7:16:14 pm)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REMEMBER THE ONES THAT HAVE GONE BEFORE US



MEMORIAL DAY
------------
Memorial Day is their day, isn't it? It is supposed to be the day a
grateful
nation pauses to quietly thank the more than one million men and women
who have died in military service to their country since the
Revolutionary
War.
Or is it the day the beach resorts kick into high gear for the summer
season,
the day the strand is covered by fish-belly white people basting
themselves
in coconut oil, the day the off-season rates end and the weekend you
can't
get in a seaside seafood restaurant with anything less than a one hour
wait.
Or is one of the biggest shopping center sales days of the year, a day
when
hunting for a parking space is the prime sport for the holiday
stay-at-homers?
Or is it the weekend when more people will kill themselves on the
highways
than any other weekend and Highway Patrol troopers work overtime picking

up the pieces?
I think the men and women who died for us would understand what we do
with their day. I hope they would, because if they wouldn't, if they
would
have insisted that it be a somber, respectful day of remembrance, then
we
have blown it and dishonored their sacrifice.
I knew some of those who died, and the guys I knew would have
understood.
They liked a sunny beach and a cold beer and a hot babe in a black
bikini,
too. They would have enjoyed packing the kids, the inflatable rafts, the

coolers, and the suntan lotion in the car and heading for the lake. They

would have enjoyed staying at home and cutting the grass and getting
together with some friends and cooking some steaks on the grill, too.
But they didn't get the chance.
They blew up in the Marine Barracks in Beirut and died in the oily
waters of
the Persian Gulf. They caught theirs at the airstrip in Grenada in the
little
war everyone laughed at. They bought the farm in the Ia Drang Valley and
on
Heartbreak Ridge, Phu Tai and at Hue. They froze at the Chosin Reservoir

and were shot at the Pusan Perimeter. They drowned in the surf at Omaha
Beach or fell in the fetid jungles of Guadalcanal. They were at Cantigny
and
Bellau Wood and at San Juan Hill and at Gettysburg and at Cerro Gordo
and
at Valley Forge.
They couldn't be here with us this weekend, but I think they would
understand that we don't spend the day in tears and heart-wrenching
memorials. They wouldn't want that. Grief is not why they died.
They died so we could go fishing.
They died so another father could hold his laughing little girl over the
waves.

They died so another father could toss a baseball to his son in their
backyard
while the charcoal is getting white.
They died so another buddy could drink a beer on his day off.
They died so a family could get in the station wagon and go shopping and

maybe get some ice cream on the way home.
They won't mind that we have chosen their day to have our first big
outdoor
party of the year.
But they wouldn't mind, either, if we took just a second and thought
about
them.
Some will think of them formally, of course. Wreaths will be laid in
small,
sparsely attended ceremonies in military cemeteries and at monuments at
state capitols and in small town's squares.
Flags will fly over the graves, patriotic words will be spoken and a few

people there will probably feel a little anger that no more people
showed up.
They'll think no one else remembers.
But we do remember.
We remember Smitty and Chico and Davey and the guys who died.
We remember the deal we made: If we buy it, we said, drink a beer for
me.
I'll do it for you, guys. I'll drink that beer for you today, and I'll
sit on that
beach for you, and I'll check out the girls for you and, just briefly,
I'll think of
you.
I won't let your memory spoil the trip but you'll be on that sunny beach
with
me today.
I will not mourn your deaths this Memorial Day, my friends. Rather, I'll

celebrate the life you gave me.
This Bud's for you, brother!

... For he today, that sheds his blood with me, shall be my brother.
LZ Memories "Always Green Smoke!"



Mesen
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 155
(5/27/01 7:41:32 pm)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simply awesome.

106RR196LIB
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 112
(5/29/01 1:37:20 am)
| Del Re: Memorial Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My heartfelt thanks to those who served and died. There were many others who could not readjust or endure withdrawal and gave their lives long after the war ended.
None of us knew that the incredible mood swings which resulted in addiction and suicide for so many of my brothers and sisters were related to Agent Orange and other chemical poisoning. It has been said that the back of the Wall should be covered with all of the vets who died of complications, political and otherwise.
Mike H