May God watch over and protect our Troops who work so hard to keep all of us safe. And thank you to their families for their sacrifice. And bless all of our fallen heroes who gave their last measure so that we continue to enjoy the freedom they fought to protect. May we never forget that freedom is not free. And how blessed we are for living in the greatest country on Earth. I hope everyone enjoys the day.
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Today…your son will receive his very first toast. 
Happy Memorial Day to all and thank you to all our troops who sacrifice/d to keep us all safe.
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Thank you to all who serve to protect this nation, and especially to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in this nation’s defense.
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A toast to the fallen.
Here’s to Jacob Barton, murdered at the Camp Liberty mass shooting, and to Cody Stubblefield, who fought his demons until the end.
May the light in my son’s eyes be of the same light that you’ve shone on me.
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-Salute-
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My buddies next door in Bco whom I earned my purple heart with had it the worst of us in 2011.
SGT Bolen
SPC Lanningham
SGT Harding
PFC Hizon
SPC Buzinski
SGT Soderland
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Here’s to Jimmy, my much beloved Uncle who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to his country.
Allan
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The first Decoration Day
As the U.S. Civil War came to a close in April 1865, Union troops entered the city of Charleston, S.C., where four years prior the war had begun. While white residents had largely fled the city, Black residents of Charleston remained to celebrate and welcome the troops, who included the TwentyFirst Colored Infantry. Their celebration on May 1, 1865, the first “Decoration Day,” later became Memorial Day.
Historian David Blight retold the story:
During the final year of the war, the Confederates had converted the planters’ horse track, the Washington Race Course and Jockey Club, into an outdoor prison. Union soldiers were kept in horrible conditions in the interior of the track; at least 257 died of exposure and disease and were hastily buried in a mass grave behind the grandstand. Some 28 black workmen went to the site, re-buried the Union dead properly, and built a high fence around the cemetery. They whitewashed the fence and built an archway over an entrance on which they inscribed the words, “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
Then, black Charlestonians in cooperation with white missionaries and teachers, staged an unforgettable parade of 10,000 people on the slaveholders’ race course. The symbolic power of the low-country planter aristocracy’s horse track (where they had displayed their wealth, leisure, and influence) was not lost on the freed people. A New York Tribune correspondent witnessed the event, describing “a procession of friends and mourners as South Carolina and the United States never saw before.”
At 9 a.m. on May 1, the procession stepped off led by 3,000 black schoolchildren carrying armloads of roses and singing “John Brown’s Body.” The children were followed by several hundred black women with baskets of flowers, wreaths and crosses.
Then came black men marching in cadence, followed by contingents of Union infantry and other black and white citizens. As many as possible gathered in the cemetery enclosure; a childrens’ choir sang “We’ll Rally around the Flag,” the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and several spirituals before several black ministers read from scripture . (“The First Decoration Day,” Newark Star Ledger)
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Thank you for sharing that…seriously. I’m so proud of our men and women in the military and I hurt inside for the losses of life and the pain of those loved ones left behind.
In 2006, a friend of mine went to Virginia to celebrate a reunion of the 1st Airborne from WWII. The master distiller from Jack Daniel’s was there and had purposefully done a barrel of whiskey, that was bottled for each person that was there. He personally signed every bottle. My friend didn’t drink and so he had the distiller autograph the bottle to me. He and my father, who were both WWII veterans died with in a week of each other in 2014. On Memorial Day, of that year, I broke open the bottle and took a shot. I’ve done this same thing every Memorial Day since and I text a picture of me doing this…to his son. That reminds me…it’s time…
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In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Eternal memory
Eternal memory
Blessed repose, eternal memory
(English translation)
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A big thanks to all of you who contributed to this post.
Some really special stories and thoughts.
We all will not forget.
God bless America!
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Happy Memorial Day to all, I know we have veterans on this board, thank you all for keeping us safe… Much respect 
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I spent some of my day thinking about Captain Andrew Haldane.
He was the company commander of K/3/5 of whom Eugene Sledge wrote about in his book “With The Old Breed”.
He wrote that Captain Haldane was firm but compassionate and was the finest officer he ever knew.
He served on Guadalcanal, at Cape Gloucester and on Peleliu.
Captain Haldane was killed by a sniper on Peleliu three days before his company came off the line on October 12, 1944.
He was 27.
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we need more mental health outreach for vets.
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Sounds like a very generic, half-felt thing to say.
Ah, this one has all my dead friends on display. Oh well, no regrets bumping the memories of my Dad in the other one.
Got apples growing on Stubbs’ tree right now. First harvest of the year is in about 6 weeks.
From what I gather, these are the latest two servicemen to die.
Both non combat related accidents.
