This Memorial Day

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farrahUSMC

farrahUSMC

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Oct 31, 2017
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Guys.. I know this is an Air Gunning forum but I would like to share this touching poem and hopefully everyone would take a moment to reflect and it's just not all about barbeque and beer this memorial day.

MEMORIAL DAY.... Do you know why men and women who have been to war yearn to reunite. Its not just to tell stories or look at old pictures, to drink, weep or laugh. We gather because we long to be with the people who once acted their best in a cesspool of inhumanity, who have suffered and gave the ultimate sacrifice, we were stripped of our humanity and through it all and with God's help we prevailed. I did not pick these people, they were delivered by fate and the Marine Corps. But I know them in a way I know no other. I have never given anyone such trust. They were willing to guard something more precious than their own lives. If I die in battle they would carry on my reputation... the memory of me. It was part of the bargain we all made, the reason we were all willing to die for one another. For those of us who survived I cannot say where we are headed the prefect bond and friendship we have forge are that of legend and myth and I hope it will not to begin to fade through the passage of time. A few of my brothers and sisters have drifted far from me now, only sending back an occasional word or two. Even with that I know that one day it too will fall silence. But for as long I have memory, I shall think of them all, fondly and everyday for I am sure that when it is time for me to leave this world my last thoughts will be of my family and my comrades in arms.. SEMPER FIDELIS, THIS WE'LL DEFEND, SEMPER FORTIS, AIM HIGH
 
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Thank you to all those who sacrificed part of their time on this earth … and some who gave everything they had to fight and defend something bigger than themselves. It's been fifty something years and I still remember them as they were … forever happy go lucky … indestructible, until their time came … they never grew old … whatever we were to each other, that we still are … life means all that it ever meant, it is the same that it always was … my friends, the keepers of my soul may be out of sight but never out of mind, they are waiting for me, somewhere very near, just around the corner, all is well. We touched each other's lives in every way that another person can touch the life of someone else. They were and still are the best, the cream of the crop, the very heart and soul of America. Should you so choose to say thank you or just to jar your thoughts and memories about what Memorial Day is really about, I invite you to visit the web site of my old unit C Co,1st Bn, 5th Infantry, 25 Division

http://bobcat.ws/vietnam-memorial-page.html

Click Memorial Pages and then Vietnam
 
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I lost my closest cousin to an IED in Iraq. Jason Buzzard: KIA 06-21-2006. He was a son. brother, husband and father of two. Besides my father, he and my uncle were my favorite diving, fishing hunting and skiing partners. He truly was like a brother I never had. I miss him very much. Memorial and Veterans day took on a whole new meaning for me after that happened to our family. Thank you to all of you who have served and seen combat. I really do appreciate your service!

Stoti
 
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I had friends who died in 'nam, both fathers were in WWII. My dad chased off the Japanese to build runways and unloaded the bomb parts from the USS Indianapolis in the Phillipines. Her dad chased Rommel & his Afrika Corp across North Africa. Both uncles fought in Korea, my older brother in 'Nam. My ancestors Johann Peter Koger and his brother Jacob fought in the Revolutionary war to make this a republic. They were counted as present at Yorktown when the British were forced to surrender to General Washington. So we helped make a nation. Lets honor them by taking it back!!!
 
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I was always glad to be in the Air Rescue and Recovery Service In Nam. Our C 130s could refuel anything that could fly slower then 600 knots usually choppers and an occasional fighter or wart hog and carried gear to snag men off the ground (seldom). But we were unarmed in the air and on the ground. Seemed crazy hiding out in bunkers when our base was under attack by mortars and sniper fire and not able to shoot back. But it felt good every a pilot was recovered and flying refuel for the raid on the pow camps in north vietnam. I hated seeing wounded and body bags. That was the most difficult. So to the guys who could and did shoot back thanks. I was in D.C. visited all the memorials but I could not get myself to stand at the Memorial Wall. The replica came to our city and I visited it . I never got over it and knew I'd be a puddle on the ground if I visited the Wall In D.C. . My dad and 2 uncles fought in WWII . They would only talk a little about it when they had enough to drink. Some funny stories, some terrible. My uncle was a captured P.O.W for 6 months. When I got back from nam I heard people yelling baby killer in the airport but what hurt most was on construction job site watching guys harass 2 army vets, 1 was recon patrol the other a ranger. people tried to sneak up on them and startle them. I warned them those two men were trained to kill 1st and think second and to just leave them alone. The 2 vets avoided physical contact with idiots many times and I did all I could to keep guys off their back. But one day a guy tried to tap one vet on the shoulder and woke up on the floor. They fired the vet, the other vet and I tried to stop it. We could only quit in protest. Never tap someone on the shoulder, always call to them so they know you are there. That person may have those survival reactions of kill 1st think second. I sure have turned into a blubbering mouth sorry. As a kid I looked forward to Memorial day weekend and as vet It's a difficult time. A war hero is a person who so loved his brothers at arms that he couldn't stand to see them killed and wounded so he acts. If he lived through his heroic actions He nevers wants to be honored for it only left alone in solitude in the hopes that he can forget he is still alive and he could not have saved more of his brethren. He doesn't believe he deserves a pat on the back, he only wants peace and solitude. I wish all the vets peace and the joy that comes of being loved by family and your brethren in arms. 
 
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Farrah, who were you with in the Corps? I'm 24MEU Scout. Anyway I hate the fact that most people think Memorial Day and Veterans Day is just a day off from work or school or did you just have a picnic and forget to realize or don't understand that it's to remember to show appreciation something it's just like Christmas and all the other single holiday that schools take off of we're giving off at work. They just think it's a day to get presents or shoot fireworks still remember Independence or day you know Jesus Christ was supposedly born on Christmas day you know and so on and so forth and I could go on and on about this what is pointless sometimes. I just wish people would know why they're getting off or taking off of school. Oorah brother
 
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