Memorial Day 2021
Ken;
Amen. My best friend growing up volunteered to stay an extra day in Viet Nam. He was killed by a faulty mortar shell that exploded inside a case that he was helping a helicopter pilot load onto his aircraft. Many times I have wondered how it would have been if he had returned safely. How, perhaps, our families would have intertwined. I still miss you, Curtis!
Thank you Ken, David Meashey
David Meashey said:
Ken;
Amen. My best friend growing up volunteered to stay an extra day in Viet Nam. He was killed by a faulty mortar shell that exploded inside a case that he was helping a helicopter pilot load onto his aircraft. Many times I have wondered how it would have been if he had returned safely. How, perhaps, our families would have intertwined. I still miss you, Curtis!
Thank you Ken, David Meashey
Yeah, the memories are what haunts…I and a Spec 4 in my platoon in the 82nd. Really good guy. He ended up getting a slot to West Point and we attended his graduation. Later, he was killed in an accident (peacetime) as a helicopter pilot. Really good guy.
Thank you all. It seems like long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away.
My uncle who I never saw was killed in Mindanao. He was a navy medic and was awarded the silver star for heroism.
Honoring my cousin, Bobby Rollins , killed in action 9 March, 1969 in Nuc Tom Vietnam.
And may this day always remember and honor all that paid such a high price for all of us. Thank you all.
Just an FYI:
The American flag on Memorial Day — which falls on Monday, May 31, this year — should at first be flown at half-staff, much like at other times of national mourning.
The U.S. flag code is specific about how it should be raised and lowered, and for how long it should remain lowered during the day.
On Memorial Day, the flag should be briskly raised to the peak and remain there for an instant before it is slowly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains until noon. Then the flag is briskly hoisted to the peak again, where Old Glory remains until sunset, when it is slowly lowered.
It’s an important piece of symbolism. Until noon, the flag flies at half-staff as a memorial for the nation’s military war dead; for the rest of the day, it flies full and high in a salute to living veterans.
We in Canada, and other peace loving Nations, mourn our dead also.
Two of my uncles served in the First World War…one was only 18 when he enlisted. He was killed in France, never to be found. I was not born back then, so never knew or met him (Rest in Peace, Percy).
My other uncle survived, and I knew him well. (Ernest)
We have our “Remembrance Day” in November, here in Canada.
Fred Mills
“In Flanders’s Fields the poppies grow…”
The Rotary does something similar up the street from me at the traffic light. The whole corner has flags planted with sign, “Honoring Our Heroes” every Memorial Day.