Never Forget

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OEF-Vet

New member
Memorial Day

This Memorial Day weekend I wish to honor my brothers and sisters in arms who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may continue to enjoy our freedom and rights as Americans.

To keep it fire arms related I'll point out our right to keep and bear arms is among the many rights these young men and women have given their last for.

Their selflessness and bravery is an inspiration to all of us who serve and the driving factor behind my signing the dotted line.

I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU!

MemorialDay2012_450x250.jpg


Image from google images
 
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carprivershooter

New member
+1

I as a Veteran would like to express to my brothers and sister in arms those who gave all and those past and present who have severed and still serve a thank you for your service, you gave more and sacrifice more than the average person knows. The men and women stand at the ready to protect this nation and preserve it's freedom. I know that Thank You can never be enough to reward you or give you back what you so willingly gave the people of tis nation.

May God Bless each Sailor, Soldier, Airmen, Marine and Coastie.

it line with the firearm theme. M1 granade, M14, M16, AR 15, M4, 1911.
 
D

Detachment Charlie

New member
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.
 
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Doyle

New member
I remember talking to a WWI vet when I was a boy. Our Cub Scout Pack went to see him and he told us his experiences. I remember bits and pieces of that conversation.

Of all the wars that have been fought for foolish reasons, that one takes the cake. Way too many young lives lost over someone's hurt pride.
 
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Smokey Joe

New member
Flanders fields...

I'm often the guy that posts that poem, so I'll just say THANK YOU for getting to it yesterday.

All gave some...Some gave ALL. Today is the day we give thanks and remember those who died fighting for our freedom.

And I'll add Jefferson's statement: "The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants...."

Thank you, fallen defenders of our freedom. Rest easy--We still have defenders.
 
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sgms

New member
Most of us here know, or know of, those that have given their all for our country. Sometimes these memories are very personal and pain full, however it is our duty to them and to their honor that we keep what they have done to preserve or freedom known and alive. Should we fail this task and what they did is forgotten we shall have failed them and their personal sacrifices will have been in vain. Please do not let this happen. Tell your children and your families about them, take them to the memorials, teach them what they really mean not just what is politicly correct for the moment. They must understand the true cost of the freedoms we have. I will stop here and hope you understand. Pray for those in harms way and for the ones they have left behind, being a soldier is even harder for the loved ones left behind.
 
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bikerbill

New member
Saluting those who didn't come back ... and those who did ... thank you for your service and your sacrifice ...

Sgt. USAF 1965-1969
 
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Buzzcook

New member
The first Memorial Day.

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20090524/PC1602/305249938

Charleston was in ruins.

The peninsula was nearly deserted, the fine houses empty, the streets littered with the debris of fighting and the ash of fires that had burned out weeks before. The Southern gentility was long gone, their cause lost.

In the weeks after the Civil War ended, it was, some said, "a city of the dead."

On a Monday morning that spring, nearly 10,000 former slaves marched onto the grounds of the old Washington Race Course, where wealthy Charleston planters and socialites had gathered in old times. During the final year of the war, the track had been turned into a prison camp. Hundreds of Union soldiers died there.

For two weeks in April, former slaves had worked to bury the soldiers. Now they would give them a proper funeral.

The procession began at 9 a.m. as 2,800 black school children marched by their graves, softly singing "John Brown's Body."

Soon, their voices would give way to the sermons of preachers, then prayer and — later — picnics. It was May 1, 1865, but they called it Decoration Day.

On that day, former Charleston slaves started a tradition that would come to be known as Memorial Day.
Click to expand...

I remember stories told to me by my grandma about her uncles, veterans of the Civil War. She referred to the holiday as Decoration Day.
For most of my life I had heard that Memorial Day started with the wives and mothers of Union, and later Confederate, dead tending to the graves of the slain.
I only recently learned about the former slaves of South Carolina honoring the men who gave their lives to give those slaves freedom.
 
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Smokey Joe

New member
Those who gave their lives...

I hadn't heard about the Charleston former slaves myself. When I too was young, older people still spoke of Decoration Day.

BTW, TFL'ers, don't lets turn this honoring of our dead heroes into any sort of rancorous discussion of the issues for which they died. The grunts in the trenches in the Civil War/War Between the States/call it what you will--fought valiantly--and they are ALL American casualties!

My own generation is still unsettled about the issues of Vietnam. Every war, I guess, brings its own questions of propriety and morality. To someone who, themself, has to face the bombs and bullets and booby traps, those are quite beside the point. The guys who died over there were fighting for America, beneath our flag, and deserve nothing less than our sincere honor and respect.
 
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TXAZ

New member
++1

Thanks to all of you who, on behalf of this great country have carried a firearm, stood up for those who couldn't, worked in the shadows or supported those who do.
(And to my daughter-in-law who starts AF OTS tomorrow.)
 
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BGutzman

New member
Many gave a lot, some gave all...

I know I paid a high price and my family did too but every time I walk into the VA I see people who make me feel like Im not injured at all... But if I could do it all again I would and I know many others who say the same... I remember all my friends living and dead and thank the countless people who supported us every step of the way.

I think sometimes some people say it wrong.... They seem to think we only fought for each other..

Yes, we certainly always fought for each other but we also fight for our flag and our people. For myself I never deployed without a US flag on my person or in my gear... Sometimes we hide the flag in our tents as to not make whatever nation angry but the service was always for our nation and Old Glory.

Thanks to all those who served, lived and died and all those who support us at home every day... And my personal thanks to my family who at times lived for months with only a voice patched over a radio to a phone once or twice a month.
 
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Achilles11B

New member
Glad to see that not everyone sees today as another excuse to barbecue or to finally get their pool open.

Here's to the men that didn't make it back.
 
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