ARMED FORCES DAY TODAY

I salute them.

They have my support whether I agree with the war or not.

Malcolm

Thank you, Don, Dick and Whomever Else!

The following was spoken by General Douglas MacArthur on acceptance of an award from West Point:

"Duty, honor, country. . .

They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm, but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet never take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength."

(I think that says it all.)

Carol

I forgot it was today. Probably was thinking it was Day 3 of Indy 500 qualifying.

Also remember Ernie Pyle.


Ernie Pyle


Ernie Pyle, perhaps America's most famous war correspondent, died 60 years ago ... Read Ernie Pyle's own work in this archive of columns and letters. ...
journalism.indiana.edu/news/041505pyl

It is the VETERAN,
not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN,
not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN,
not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN,
not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN,
not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN,
not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN who salutes the Flag,

It is the VETERAN who serves under the Flag.

IF YOU CAN'T SUPPORT AND STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS…

THEN PLEASE...PLEASE...PLEASE, STAND IN FRONT OF THEM!

Ernie Pyle wrote about the grunts. He lived on the front lines with the troops. He had more time in the front lines then most troops. After the war in Europe, he went to the South Pacific. He died on the front lines with the marines. When those in combat areas heard about his death, they took a second and bowed their heads. He wrote about men by their first name. He knew them. He wrote letters home to their folks for them. He cried when he saw them die. He lived in the water filled fox holes with them. He was as much a vet as any other. Ernie told the folks back home what the Government would not. I remember Ernie Pyle.

He landed with the Marines. A member of the 77th (Army)was driving the Jeep.

www.answers.com/topic/ernie-pyle

You may not consider Ernie Pyle a Vet. I do. Are you a veteran of a war, or AW?

Domenic,

You may consider Pyle a veteran, but in fact he was not. He was a fine reporter who gained fame and wealth from his writing. He was NOT a member of the Armed Forces.

True he was not a member of the armed forces. He had the respect of
those who served. When he was killed, most felt like they had lost a
budy. One of their own.
He never wrote about battles nor generals.
He lived and wrote about the kids in the mud. I recall one story he
wrote about a company commander. A kid of 22. He wrote little things
about the kid. He covered the boys body the next day. Wrote a letter to
the boys mother. He sat in the ditch where the body was and cried. Guys
knew Ernie Pyle by sight. Most asked him to write their names in on of
his many note books, just in case they didn't make it. They wanted
someone to remember them. No, Ernie wasn't a member of the armed
forces...but he was one of them...and he died with them.

Quote :

He landed with the Marines. A member of the 77th (Army)was driving the Jeep.
[url=http://www.answers.com/topic/ernie-pyle]www.answers.com/topic/ernie-pyle[/url]
You may not consider Ernie Pyle a Vet. I do. Are you a veteran of a war, or AW?

I don't know what the 77th (Army) is and he did not land with the Marines anywhere, at any time. He traveled to Okinawa long after a joint force of Navy, Marines and the US Army invaded Okinawa on April 1, 1945. The Army's 77th Infantry Division invaded Ie Shima to secure the airfield there and destroy the Japanese forces.


Ernie Pyle left Okinawa to visit the soldiers on Ie Shima. There were no Marines on Ie Shima unless they were Japanese Marines.

Am I a veteran of a war, or AW? It is none of your business if I'm a veteran of a war and I don't know what you mean about AW. I guess it is some sort of insult but I just don't understand it. Perhaps you will be so kind as to not bother to explain it.

BTW, dP if you are trying to insult members or former members of AW you might keep in mind that Dick is a member of AW, Shelagh was a member as was Alice, Rogers, Marie, Merri and others I can't remember right now.

As to me being a veteran, as you call it, of AW I received a dishonorable discharge in public by The Big Boss herself, Jenna Glatzer, over three years ago. Shelagh posted the entire document in this forum. Find and read it and you will know all about me and AW.

Sorry, I got your thread off-track. It was to honor our military service members and nothing else.

ANCHOR'S AWEIGH!!!!

Thanks Phillip, we're cool!

Memorial Day honors those Americans who died in wars, Veteran's Day honors those who served in the past, and Armed Forces Day honors those who are presently serving.

This has been a patriotic holiday since 1950.

In 1952, The New York Times ran an article about the day. In it they said:

"It is our most earnest hope that those who are in positions of peril, that those who have made exceptional sacrifices. . . may somehow know that we hold them in exceptional esteem.

"Perhaps if we are a little more conscious of our debt of honored affection they may be a little more aware of how much we think of them."

Don, I hope that you and all the other veterans here will accept this passage as my tribute to our veterans and active soldiers:

Quote :

In our own time, especially during the last thirty years, we have attempted to deny the reality of the archetypal “warrior” hero, because of our knowledge of the total devastation another major war would bring. War in our time is a terrible and fearsome happening, but rejection and repression of the warrior archetype, which is a psychological reality within each of our own minds, will not eliminate war. Repressing the aggressive side of human nature doesn’t get rid of it. It is merely removed to what Carl Jung called our “Shadow, “ the parts of our personalities we don’t want to see or have recognized.

Refusing to accept our Shadow qualities may very well cause us to externalize our aggression and project it onto others. Refusing to admit that as humans we are naturally aggressive creatures might also prevent us from recognizing the danger from outside our own communities when it is present. The warrior must be remembered, upheld as an essential part of our selves and our culture and retuned to a place of honor, if we are to survive.

Ann Levingston Joiner, A Myth in Action

(I added the italics)

Ann

Ann and Nutter,

You both are very wise.

Carol