Memorial Day- all but forgotten

BillBrown · 2018-05-28T23:14:08.284Z

Memorial Day has morphed into another Veteran’s Day. I think it’s a shame. The purpose of the day has been all but forgotten.

I’ve been listening to local talk radio today and it was Veteran’s shows. Thank you for your service this that and the other.
The people Memorial Day is supposed to honor were never veterans. They never had a chance to be. They are either in foreign cemeteries or they came home in body bags.

Eclipze · 2018-05-28T23:45:20.702Z

Is someone who went out on a tour, came back and then died in a subsequent tour a veteran and a Memorial Day rememberance, or is a veteran only one that survived all tours of duty?

JayJay · 2018-05-28T23:47:19.453Z

It has in many ways, but at least in our little town we remember it for what it’s supposed to be…complete with a very touching ceremony every year in a local cemetery where many local fallen are buried.

BillBrown · 2018-05-28T23:56:40.473Z

Anyone this day is honoring can’t hear you say “Thank you for your service”.
If you find yourself saying that on Memorial Day, you’re talking to the wrong person

JayJay · 2018-05-28T23:59:57.304Z

Well that’s going to happen simply because many veterans are going to be showing up at Memorial Day ceremonies to remember their fallen comrades. And when you see a vet…it’s something you often feel you have to say.

But yes I understand what you are saying. There is a lot of conflation.

That’s why i like our town’s ceremony. It is wholly focused on honoring the fallen. Our local VFW post does a great job of it every year keeping it that way.

SixFoot · 2018-05-29T00:01:00.206Z

JayJay:

it’s something you often feel you have to say.

Annoying, isn’t it? lol

JayJay · 2018-05-29T00:02:01.893Z

I realized a second after I posted it how bad that sounded…LOL!

SixFoot · 2018-05-29T00:03:02.792Z

It’s all good. Most of us are fully aware that the phrase just rolls right off the tongue like it’s something mandatory and played out.

JayJay · 2018-05-29T00:04:42.224Z

I actually try not to say it. I’d rather ask questions to find out where they served and how their life is today.

BillBrown · 2018-05-29T00:05:09.392Z

JayJay:

It has in many ways, but at least in our little town we remember it for what it’s supposed to be…complete with a very touching ceremony every year in a local cemetery where many local fallen are buried.

My Mother’s brother died in the Bataan Death March. Every Memorial Day I remember, we drove to Dallas and decorated his grave. I went today.

SixFoot · 2018-05-29T00:05:19.142Z

Much more honest that way.

Smyrna · 2018-05-29T00:08:14.339Z

Years ago, an elder veteran friend of mine went to his 101st Airborne reunion in Virginia. The number attending were of the age now that fewer were making it every year and that this was going to be a big one. Jack Daniels sent their master distiller there with a barrel that was aged especially for this moment. He signed bottles and when it came to my friend, he told him that he didn’t drink so to make it out to his friend, which was me. He died in early May of 2014 and it was with in a week of my father who also was a veteran. On Memorial Day of that year, I broke open that bottle and drank a shot, toasting my father and friend. I texted a picture to the son of that friend. He enjoyed it. I just got done with my 5th shot. Happy Memorial Day everybody.

CanadianJudo · 2018-05-29T00:08:35.151Z

so Memorial Day is the American Remembrance day?

JayJay · 2018-05-29T00:10:20.934Z

Agreed.

I’m not a veteran but my dad was, his dad was, and all his brothers were. And my other uncle was old enough to remember life in Russia during WW I.

So if me commenting on the “thanks for your service” line came off as negative, it is because I feel like people say it almost as a way to be dismissive of learning about the person behind the uniform. I’m sure a lot don’t, but I bet many do.

Smyrna · 2018-05-29T00:11:37.486Z

It’s the remembrance of those veterans that have passed on.

moonshine · 2018-05-29T00:12:44.554Z

if you ask trump its all about himself…

Smyrna · 2018-05-29T00:14:19.800Z

I heard his tweet and it wasn’t in poor taste.

CanadianJudo · 2018-05-29T00:17:48.051Z

What about the facebook post shilling the memorial day sale on his website

SixFoot · 2018-05-29T00:18:24.687Z

I’m the last one who cares what anyone says about the troops, so it’s all good. I’m at peace with everything I’ve done and only regret the things I didn’t do, like burning poppy fields down instead of walking through them. We kicked a lot of ass otherwise.

JayJay · 2018-05-29T00:18:40.962Z

If I may be so bold…this isn’t helping, guys.

Can we have a discussion about this that doesn’t involve bringing in politics or bashing Donald Trump?

It was a good thread until that happened.