70 years and counting

My Dad was in WWII -- I don't say thank you any more. I say I'm sorry that we got apathetic enough to lose what he watched his friends die for. I am soooo sorry to all of you that we didn't fight harder to save habeas corpus. I am ashamed we dishonored your memory. There is no excuse for us to waste what you fought so valiantly to preserve. I pray there are enough of us still fighting to effect a veto.

My father was a Lieutenant and turret gunner in the Air Force and two of his brothers were also in the Air Force at the same time. They are all dead now (only one of their sisters survives today in her 90s).

I know they were all very proud of their service in WWII and for my father it was probably one of the first and last things he ever did in his short life (died at 44) that he was proud of.

I think war is insane and a perversion but know it is a 'necessary evil' - ('when in Rome').

I do know that we might not even have the concept of a 'free country' if it weren't for the brave men that have died for 'peace' and I do appreciate their sacrifice.

Let's hope in their memory someday we stop sending thousands of 20 year old boys to be maimed and slaughtered and that somehow we evolve into a society that can negotiate and live in peace with the rest of the world.

... that is until Armegeddon where we will kick the crap out of the devil's armies

From Sting's "The Dream of the Blue Turtle," one of my favorite albums.

"Children's Crusade"

Young men, soldiers, Nineteen Fourteen
Marching through countries they'd never seen
Virgins with rifles, a game of charades
All for a Children's Crusade

Pawns in the game are not victims of chance
Strewn on the fields of Belgium and France
Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade
All of those young lives betrayed

The children of England would never be slaves
They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves
The flower of England face down in the mud
And stained in the blood of a whole generation

Corpulent generals safe behind lines
History's lessons drowned in red wine
Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade
All of those young lives betrayed
All for a Children's Crusade

The children of England would never be slaves
They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves
The flower of England face down in the mud
And stained in the blood of a whole generation

Midnight in Soho, Nineteen Eighty-four
Fixing in doorways, opium slaves
Poppies for young men, such bitter trade
All of those young lives betrayed
All for a Children's Crusade

Paul, I'll back that up with this vid.


My Grandfather was one of the guerillas that fought the Japs in Cebu. My respects to him and to all those who fought alongside him.

Pearl Harbor: Sailors Who Survived Attack 70 Years Ago Return To Ships After Death

story here...

Pearl Harbor: Sailors Who Survived Attack 70 Years Ago Return To Ships After Death

My mother is 87 years young. She can't walk without a walker or wheelchair,but when she shows you a picture of her standing tall in her wac outfit you can see the pride in her eyes.

I will definitely salute the men and women that went thru that war.

As a history buff. I have studied quite a bit about that terrible war and how many millions died in terrible ways.

Sometimes I have to wonder if the younger people even realize what an immense tragedy it all was.


So a definitive salute from this vet to all who went through that...civilians included.

My Grandfather was a medic in ww2 and was stationed in Egypt and then in Italy. Some of the things he saw and had to deal with out there would make your toe nails curl.

He never talked much about his time in the war and alhough had a few scars himself never held a grudge.

A man of many who were honarable throughout.

RIP

My dad served in World War II and Korea. He had two ships sunk from under him, was severely injured one of those times and was nearly captured by the Japanese the other time but he survived. I was born while he was serving in Korea.

When I was a child he had consistent nightmares and would scream in his sleep stuff like, "We gotta get out of here! She's [the ship] going down!"

He eventually fully recovered though and had a successful life. He would never talk about the war though. I only know about what happened to him because his best friend told me.

It's unimaginable to me what those guys went through and what constant fear their loved ones back home must have suffered. We owe them our freedom, that's for sure!

"I've got friends to this day who are, as Charlie Daniels put it, "Still in Saigon."

My father served in Korea.He passed away a few years back,my only living brother has times when he is "Still in Saigon".

History is always at its finest when from the mouth of someone who lived it.

I have been blessed with a bloodline of longevity. Many of my relatives have been well into their 100's and lived into an age of my life that their stories had meaning for me. My father's family men were all in the military at one time or another, all in war. My Mother's family came over during the Bolshevik takeover in Russia. War is ugly in any country, and excruciatingly so when it hits your home soil. Listening to them tell their lives is something I really miss. My father also never spoke much of the war. I know some of what he could have said would have shocked us.

War is called a necessary evil, but the cause is always nothing but some human's greed for power and wealth. I wonder if we will ever learn to boot people from their pedestals when they become maniacal instead of killing masses for the glory of the criminally insane.

We saved the world and we were rewarded by quickly becoming the first middle class nation in the history of the planet.

TL