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Your Memorial Day 2022 to-do list includes (in no particular order):

  • Fly the flag.
  • Attend a Memorial Day parade.
  • Barbecue some meat.
  • Drink a cool adult beverage or two.
  • Throw a ball around with the kids.
  • Take a dip in a pool.
  • Watch a good war movie.
  • Remember those who gave their lives to make all of the above possible.

 

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25 COMMENTS

  2. My dad died 55 years ago on the USSLiberty. I miss you, Dad. We should never forget what happened that day!

    • Funny how saying “U$$ Liberty” gets you auto-moderated here. Hmmmmm.

      Respect our fallen veterans today, TTAG. Stop trying to cover up the deaths of the men on the U$$Liberty

      • Is there a particular reason you’re ashamed to identify who are?

        That just seems doubly strange on ‘Anonymous Day’, er, Memorial Day…

        • What is strange is this dude has gone on an anti-Semitic rant because of his dad. I don’t think Israel purposely targeted a US ship in the fog of war. But thanks for your dad’s service & sacrifice. My shoutout goes to Vietnam Vets who were treated like garbage by the likes of Hanoi Jane & John Kerry. And one dying in SE Asia was too many!

        • What is anti-Semitic about saying my dad died from an Israeli war crime?

          No seriously- I want you to answer.

        • Friendly fire isn’t usually treated as a war crime.

          Here’s a question I’d like you to answer. What actions would you like us to take in regards the Liberty and the Israeli’s?

        • It wasn’t friendly fire. It was a deliberate attack to bring the US into the war against the Egyptians.

          The following are war crimes:
          -The jamming of radios on both US Navy tactical and international maritime distress frequencies;
          -The use of unmarked aircraft by the forces attacking the USS Liberty;
          – The deliberate machine gunning of life rafts dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship

          I dealt with this stuff my whole life. I want people to know the truth about why I grew up without a dad.

    • Look man, I know your on some kind of personal quest for recognition of what happened there, but there’s been a lot of times US soldiers were killed when they weren’t supposed to. I’m not aware if Israel was ever made to pay for the attack in some way and if they didn’t, then that’s wrong, and they should’ve. But I will also say I’ve personally lost family due to the actions of the Germans and Vietnamese. I don’t have any hate in my heart for anyone in Germany or Vietnam.

      Consider the story of the “Beast of Omaha.” The beast of Omaha was a German machine gunner who likely has the most kills of any soldier in history (single handedly that we know of), who personally killed up to 2,000 American soldiers on D Day. Though there’s some dispute on how many he actually killed, it was an incredibly high number. In the beach scene in the movie saving private Ryan, the German machine gunners point of view is based on this man. He ended up surviving the war, and decades later he eventually met some American veterans from that day. The American veterans did not hate him and remarked that had the roles been reversed, they would have done the same.

  3. Thank you, Dan.

    Each Memorial Day, I pull out my father’s old albums and look through the photos of him and his brothers in uniform, and read the letters sent to him by his older brother who was serving in China.

    The letters that are the most difficult to read are from my grandfather, who had the sad task of corresponding with the Quartermaster General’s office about the disposition of my uncle’s remains.

  5. Instead of a Hollywood movie, read or listen to Audie Murphy “To Hell and Back.” You won’t probably be able to finish it in a day but you’ll have a hard time putting it down.

    The book should make you pause a minute to remember the little guys that fought and died and no one remembers them as heroes or even their names – but we owe them and millions more like them our freedoms.

  6. To the readers/commenters of TTAG that have served or are currently serving:
    Thank You
    To the families that have lost those that have served:
    Thank You

  8. ‘Fly the Flag’
    🤔
    Mine flies 24/7/365. Gets replaced every 7-4, the old one gets incinerated each Flag Day. After sunset, with a single malt.

    I’ve been doing this for over a decade. At least six other homes within one block of my house fly the flag 24/7/365 now. 😄

  9. This day always has special meaning in our family. Here’s one families record of service.
    Had a distant Ancestor/Patriarch who crossed the Delaware with Washington. Had a great great Granduncle who was shot in the head at Gettysburg fighting for the North. He lived only to be taken care of by his parents. Had a great great Uncle who was gassed and shot by the Germans in WW1, fighting for the Canadians buried in Flanders field.
    Had a bunch of great uncles who fought in WW2. One on-a destroyer that was hit by a kamikaze, he was deathly afraid of fire after watching his buddies burn. Another flew the hump delivered stuff to China. Another who was D-day plus three until the outskirts of Berlin. Was in the third army under Patton who he loved. Saw terrible stuff in the bulge, lost an eye and got a “dear John” letter and after the war became an alcoholic although he finally cleaned up he definitely had what they call ptsd today. One Grandpa served but stayed stateside because he was a carpenter and needed him to build prison camps for German prisoners at Leavenworth, the other worked on development of synthetic rubber for the war department.
    Finally had an uncle who fought with the first air Calvary in Vietnam saw a lot of combat. He doesn’t talk about it much.
    There are many families with similar service history. That’s why we celebrate this day. To give thanks to God and to the men who built and defended this nation.

    • One of my maternal uncles was only 16 when he enlisted post-Pearl Harbor. The recruiter looked the other way and let him lie about his age. He wasn’t going to turn away someone willing to serve, especially a healthy well-built farmboy.

      He was in the Pacific theatre, and his family still has most of his letters written home, some almost half-obscured by the black ink of the censors. During one of the many “island hops,” he wrestled in the foxholes with a Japanese soldier for control of a rifle. He came out the survivor and would eventually bring that Japanese rifle home. I hope his family still has it. It represents far more than some crass “war trophy”.

  10. I would also add to the list that one should visit a Veterans cemetery on Memorial day. That will bring the true weight of brave men and women’s sacrifices for our country and our freedoms

  11. To any who served, Your service is much appreciated and I thank You for it.
    Please, even if you don’t visit a cemetery, or even fly the flag, please, take a moment today to remember, honor, and thank those who gave their lives in service to this country.

  12. That’s a great to do list for a day of remembrance. I made a couple of adjustments. No BBQ. A fish fry instead. Mangrove snapper fillets, hush puppies, cheese grits… I always discharge a U.S. service rifle. Usually an M-1. (Same for 4 July and Veterans Day.) A quiet word between me and my God asking that my gratitude be passed along to those that fell.

  13. I’d rather die on the battlefield then die shitting my pants in a nursing home.
    FJB

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