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Salute to Veterans!

SpaceBadger

SOC-14 1K
Today, November 11, is Veterans' Day here in the USA. I offer my salute and gratitude to all of our veterans, whether on active duty, retired, or honorably discharged. Thank you for your service, placing yourself between your homeland and the desolation of War.
 
Thank you SpaceBadger, and I echo Major B with a thanks to all that have serviced, even the Air Force.

Do not forget to remember as well those that had served and were serving on November 11, 1918. None of them are still with us, but their memory should be honored as well.
 
Today, November 11, is Veterans' Day here in the USA. I offer my salute and gratitude to all of our veterans, whether on active duty, retired, or honorably discharged. Thank you for your service, placing yourself between your homeland and the desolation of War.

To steal a quote, "You're welcome for my service!"

Forgive me - I couldn't resist.

But thanks - and, here's to my brothers and sisters still holding the line.
 
To all who serve, to all who have served, and to all who will serve, Thank you for your service.

And to those lost to service: may their sacrifice be remembered.

And especially to those who hit the beach on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, my thanks.

My grandfather, may he rest in peace, was in Pacific theater on D-Day. Battlegroup Enterprise. One of the DEs. He was there when big E missed the massacre, and was still there when the war ended. After the war, he went to work for Boeing.

My father, may he rest in peace, served in the 'Nam war, in the medical service corps. My mother was a CO of a WAC detatchment in 1967-68.

I tried, but the Army decided I wasn't suitable for service.
 
I was reading through Robert Service's Spell of the Yukon, and came across this poem. He clearly wrote it for the 2nd Boer War at the turn of 1900, without knowing that a far greater and deadlier conflict was approaching. What he writes would hold true for World War One and World War Two as well. With Veteran's Day just past, I thought that it would be appropriate to post it.

The March of the Dead

The cruel war was over — oh, the triumph was so sweet!
We watched the troops returning, through our tears;
There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet glittering street,
And you scarce could hear the music for the cheers.
And you scarce could see the house-tops for the flags that flew between;
The bells were pealing madly to the sky;
And everyone was shouting for the Soldiers of the Queen,
And the glory of an age was passing by.

And then there came a shadow, swift and sudden, dark and drear;
The bells were silent, not an echo stirred.
The flags were drooping sullenly, the men forgot to cheer;
We waited, and we never spoke a word.
The sky grew darker, darker, till from out the gloomy rack
There came a voice that checked the heart with dread:
"Tear down, tear down your bunting now, and hang up sable black;
They are coming — it's the Army of the Dead."

They were coming, they were coming, gaunt and ghastly, sad and slow;
They were coming, all the crimson wrecks of pride;
With faces seared, and cheeks red smeared, and haunting eyes of woe,
And clotted holes the khaki couldn't hide.
Oh, the clammy brow of anguish! the livid, foam-flecked lips!
The reeling ranks of ruin swept along!
The limb that trailed, the hand that failed, the bloody finger tips!
And oh, the dreary rhythm of their song!

"They left us on the veldt-side, but we felt we couldn't stop
On this, our England's crowning festal day;
We're the men of Magersfontein, we're the men of Spion Kop,
Colenso — we're the men who had to pay.
We're the men who paid the blood-price. Shall the grave be all our gain?
You owe us. Long and heavy is the score.
Then cheer us for our glory now, and cheer us for our pain,
And cheer us as ye never cheered before."

The folks were white and stricken, and each tongue seemed weighted with lead;
Each heart was clutched in hollow hand of ice;
And every eye was staring at the horror of the dead,
The pity of the men who paid the price.
They were come, were come to mock us, in the first flush of our peace;
Through writhing lips their teeth were all agleam;
They were coming in their thousands — oh, would they never cease!
I closed my eyes, and then — it was a dream.

There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet gleaming street;
The town was mad; a man was like a boy.
A thousand flags were flaming where the sky and city meet;
A thousand bells were thundering the joy.
There was music, mirth and sunshine; but some eyes shone with regret;
And while we stun with cheers our homing braves,
O God, in Thy great mercy, let us nevermore forget
The graves they left behind, the bitter graves.


Emphasis Added.
 
(shrug) immediate surrender is always an option.

That depends on your opponent. Read up on the Japanese treatment of prisoners in World War 2. European prisoners overall had a 27% death rate, but in some areas, prisoners were killed on a routine basis. Take a look at the Australian WW2 history for details on the Australians. Alternatively, find a copy of Knights of Bushido, which summarizes the Tokyo War Crime trials. If you were Chinese and for some strange reason surrendered, you were shot out of hand.
 
That depends on your opponent. Read up on the Japanese treatment of prisoners in World War 2.

One example of many: Iwo Jima. Or perhaps the occupation of China (1937-45). If you think atrocities are bad, then their treatment of non-Japanese was decidedly bad.
 
One example of many: Iwo Jima. Or perhaps the occupation of China (1937-45). If you think atrocities are bad, then their treatment of non-Japanese was decidedly bad.

Rape of Nanking. Enough said. You do not, REPEAT DO NOT, want to see all of the National Archives pictures of Nanking.
 
Rape of Nanking. Enough said. You do not, REPEAT DO NOT, want to see all of the National Archives pictures of Nanking.

WW II was an absolutely horrendous war on all fronts. Even in the US Territories.

But reliving the horrors of the past really doesn't honor the veterans who served. Remembering that some gave their lives, others somewhat less, but ALL were changed by the experience. From the Heroes with the high medals to the lowest undecorated paper-pusher private, they all served is what matters.
 
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WW II was an absolutely horrendous war on all fronts. Even in the US Territories.

But reliving the horrors of the past really doesn't honor the veterans who served. Remembering that some gave their lives, others somewhat less, but ALL were changed by the experience. From the Heroes with the high medals to the lowest undecorated paper-pusher private, they all served is what matters.

thanks for all who have served. And thanks for the reminder of what this posting was originally for.
 
even the Air Force.

Burn, My Father was Army Air corps in WWII as a tail gunner, then some 32 years in USAF as a (CH-19 and HH-43 rescue) pilot with 18 outstanding unit citations, 17 as the commander of the unit getting the award.

My Brother was USAF KC-35 pilot retired in Aug 1 month before the 9-11 attack hit the wall in the pentagon where his office was, and I also served 6 years enlisted in the USAF.

I say that the USAF has the smartest enlisted people.
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They have set up things such that they send the officers out to fight and die.

My father - in - law was front line infantry in the Pacific WWII having enlisted in 1939 he was already trained and shipped out to the pacific Dec 1940, the two companies he served in took in 1200 replacements through 4 1/2 years of wartime duty. only 4 men survived the war in his first company. Me, I enlisted just before they called off Vietnam, so had never been shot at.

The point is everybody that signs up for service writes a blank check written in blood for the government to enter the price to be paid.
 
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My Dad, the son of two immigrants, was a veteran of WW II in the Pacific. He enlisted in the Army the week after Pearl Harbor. While serving in the New Guinea campaign and the Philipines, he was wounded (sniper bullet in the leg), and caught malaria (of which he suffered occasional bouts for years after the war). With his example before me, I was in Army ROTC in college (at tail-end of the Viet Nam war), and was commissioned in the Infantry. I was in my Infantry Officers Basic Course at Ft. Benning when Saigon fell, and thankfully didn't go to war. The closest I came to his experience was Jungle Warfare Training School in Panama (and that only lasted a truly miserable month). After serving out my 3 years active-duty commitment, going to law school and then three years in a Manhattan law firm, I rejoined US government service (with a civilian agency) in the national defense and retired last year after 30 years.
 
Just saw this, and in the spirit of the New Year ahead...

This former USAF Staff Sergeant (married to a former USAF Captain) would like to say thank you to all of you who stayed home and helped build a nation I was proud to serve, as did men and women of my family of every generation going back to the American War for Independence.

Keep building for good my fellow Citizens, be proud you did.
 
From a former USAF SSgt, thank you to our brothers and sisters in arms.

To those who work to keep America great, thank you. We all have the opportunity to serve our fellow humans; neither skin color, culture, or native tongue make any of us more, or less, than any other.
 
Thanks to all those now serving America in dangerous places, absent from their families during this holiday season, in order to keep us safe.

“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” And, increasingly, women.

Not all of them wear uniforms. And we also must remember that not all of them are there to do violence - some represent our country overseas, in an effort to forego violence (and that can be the bravest act of all).
 
One uncle lost in WW2, one survived and served out 30. Dad served one term after the war for the college benefits. One brother served on a boomer in the '80s and retired from reserves. For all the rest of you, thank you.
 
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