Real Life Heroes Are Hard To Come By, Today We Honour Them…
Tuesday, November 11, 2008Posted in: Armistice day
To those who gave their lives, to save ours, and to those who fight to keep our shores safe from harm, we shall never forget.
Posted in: Armistice day
Tuscan Capo
November 11
6:26 pm
Amen.
Ebony
November 11
7:48 pm
So many have died or putting their lives on the line for our freedom and they deserve to be honored. It’s raining here so we couldn’t put up the flag, but I have my small flag hanging outside my cube to honor the veterans.
Shiloh Walker
November 11
8:08 pm
Amen. I just left my son’s Veteran’s Day play at school-small bragging moment-he had a speaking part and nailed it!
Back to my original point, it was poignant and very touchy. I got teary-eyed.
AztecLady
November 11
9:34 pm
I just read an account by a former SEAL, Tom Rancich (real life inspiration for Suzanne Brockmann’s SEALs, by the way) about how poorly attended the parade in his hometown was. Why?
Why do we so often ignore those who put themselves between us and those who would harm us?
Dee
November 11
10:24 pm
All veterans, active and past, sacrifice a lot when they service. Yes, many have given their lives and many today are serving in harm’s way. But even those who never get near the front lines give up much in the name of duty, honor, country. Low pay, long hours, separation from family are just the start of the list.
When you serve, your professional obligations must come before all else. Imagine being a single parent of a young child who is sick and suddenly being called in for unexpected duty. You have to go and you can expect those call-ups to last for days, if not months.
Your political opinions must be kept to a minimum. You are required to support your Commander in Chief, whether you agree with him or not.
You must hold yourself to a higher standard of behavior than the average citizen and never bring discredit to yourself, your branch of service or your country. Yes, we’ve seen stories in the news of those who did not uphold this. But you can bet, they were dealt with swiftly and severely.
Serving in the military requires a tremendous amount of self-discipline and self-sacrifice. Not everyone is cutout for it. I served for ten years.
Today, with the wars going on, we tend to think of active military members in terms of lives. But when the wars are over, don’t forget, there are still those on active duty. They sit on mountaintops, in bunkers, on ships and subs in the middle of the ocean … in places far away from home and family. There may not be live fire where they are, but they are still serving and sacrificing so we can have so much.
Shiloh Walker
November 12
1:33 am
Aztec, quite possibly it’s timing. I had a choice-I could go to my son’s program honoring vets or I could go to a parade honoring vets. I chose my son’s.
Plus, sadly, too many people who would probably love to go are unlikely to be allowed time off from work to do so.
People show their respects in a variety of ways-some simply by bowing their heads in thanks, others by visiting the graves of loved ones, going to a parade, and some by going to completely adorable and very touching programs put on by gap-toothed 6& 7 year olds.
Nothing could ever be done that would express enough gratitude. The best we can is for each of us not to take for granted what our vets have given us.
tom
November 12
2:21 am
Hi Shiloh et al,
Thank you for passing my message along—but I don’t know why I wrote that passage—-it was just what I felt—mostly bad for the WWII guys that literally struggle to participate—and like I said, my friend Ted, 86, bomber pilot who stood at the microphone embarrassed because he needed to refer to his notes, and tried to tell a crowd of 60 why it was important to do this thing–not for him, or any of us old bastards–but for the kids in harms way now and their children who will follow them—-now, I don’t really think much of Vday—more of a Memorial Day guy myself—but at least where I live you can’t help but notice that 50,000 people watch the parade—and take in the associated entertainment–on the 4th and juxtapose it to the group that showed up today—but–really–I am not expressing this well sorry—the sad little parade had more to do with the forlorn hope of those aging warriors that were struggling against the wind and the tide of memory than it had to do with the turnout—-
thank you
Shiloh Walker
November 12
3:14 am
Tom, I think you expressed yourself beautifully. And now I’m wishing there had been a way for me to be in 2 places at once. 🙁
Dawn
November 12
10:12 am
We observed the 2 minutes of silence in the office yesterday, and the girls that I work with discussed why the histories of the world wars should be taught in schools so that kids today know the symbolism of the poppy that we wear.
There has also been several programmes on the telly about the Great War. Very moving.
M E 2
November 12
2:42 pm
“””So many have died or putting their lives on the line for our freedom and they deserve to be honored.”””
They are, every year, it’s called MEMORIAL DAY! @@
I am so disgusted by the number of people, my fellow Americans in particular, who don’t know the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day.
You don’t hold memorials for the living. @@
Ebony
November 13
1:17 am
Ha Ha ME2 – I think most people know the difference. On Veterans Day I think about my father, who served this country in war and he is no longer here. Veteran’s Day was special to him and its still special to me because yes, on Veteran’s Day, he is the first person I think about. I also think about all of my relatives who have dedicated their service to our country in several branches of the military.