Here it is Memorial Day 2019. I am sitting here having some breakfast chow and thinking of the young man who died while serving in Iraq with my son back in 2006. I knew another young man who died in Iraq. And when I was a small boy , a local young man who graduated from the school I was attending died in Viet Nam. While we enjoy family, camping, fishing, day off work, etc.... I hope we all take time to remember those who gave their life so we can live ours in freedom. Without fear of being punished for doing something we love. Who in here knew someone who "gave all" serving this great nation? I know of 3 who touched my life or my hometown. May God Bless America.... may we as a nation give Him reason for doing so!!!

I have a Uncle who was KIA in WW2 .I have his flag that they had use the to buried him finally ,after being move 5 times to where the family wanted him to be. My mom use to talk about him alot. The flag have 48 stars on it .

An empty truck seat .

Someone should be sitting there . They were there earlier. They started out the day with you . They should still be manning that seat , but they aren’t anymore. And it’s so surreal driving back with that seat empty.

When you return home , you’re expected to attend cookouts and go to the lake . And you will, cause that’s life at home. Your friends and family also are owed time so you go.

But you’ll never forget the myriad of feelings calling in your “ RTB” ( return to base) short one person , or how different the environment in the truck is now as opposed to when you left hours earlier.

Its hard, I am in a resident 90 day PTSD program with the VA. Yesterday they took us to a Memorial Service in Virginia. I got really sarcastic because the memory of one guy in particular was getting to me. There are so many with scars who need help and so much ignorance with these programs, please pray for our veterans to find peace.

Remembering many family members who served and made it home, and my uncle Victor J. Willson who was MIA in Holland. He was a paratrooper, and made his last jump during operation market garden. The movie "A Bridge Too Far" was made about this operation. His remains were found by a local man who had made it his mission to find him. He had picked his name while he was a boy. and researched where he was lost. He rode his bicycle out whenever he had a chance and searched. On the day that he decided would be his last search, he found my uncle. In 1992 we went to Arlington for my uncles funeral and burial. My Dad who served in the Pacific has been gone for four years now. Missing him to tears as I write this.

Two young men from my home town in the last twenty years have paid the ultimate sacrifice for us all . Remember when they brought the one home i was coming back across the meadow from doctoring yearlings when his procession went by i stopped my horse and removed cover as they went by thats when it really hit me that none of what we do would be possible without these fine young soldiers huge thanks to all that have served . As the procession passsed by a photographer took a picture of me and my horse and in the pic my horse was trying to remove a fly from his chest looks like he is bowing for the young man . That pic hangs in my house as a reminder of what the cost of freedom really is . if i knew how to load pics on here id try to put it on for you guys

Very neat picture

Today, I honor my brother in law SSG Steven R. Tudor, and so many others that have given the ultimate sacrifice. My heart goes out to the friends and families of ones lost. Let them never be forgotten, and talk about them every chance ya get.

My Grandpa, Homer U. Webster, Army, kia okinawa ww2.
That middle name has been past down four generations now.

Some great comments in here. That is a super picture sandhills. Lots to stop and think about.... the days meaning.

This is what Memorial Day now means to me. Lost my father on May 9th of this year. He was a WWII vet. Not many left. They say the greatest generation, I say that they are right. He served aboard a Gleaves- class destroyer that was converted to a high speed mine sweeper. She swept mines in the Yellow Sea. Thank you for your service Dad. Rest in peace.

It's one of many days that I remember my brothers and sisters that will never get to come home. Today is the hardest of them all!

Haerter, Yale, Jordan, and Mercardante. All heroes to me.



https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/6248451

Hugh McGrady WW2 and John Freal Webb Viet Nam

50 years ago my friend Bill died in Vietnam think of him often

Freedom!!!! Paid for by a lot of people.

Good post. I haven't missed a service in over 30 years-and never plan on missing one. It is a sad day for me thinking about all the people that will never come home!!!!

Memorial Day



This weekend, there will be lots of BBQs with families and friends gathering together to celebrate a long weekend, but let’s not forget what it’s really all about.

We live in the Greatest Country on earth and our Constitution is the longest lasting in history. This is not by accident and has not come without price.

First of all, regardless of what some people may say, we were founded on Judeo-Christian principles by men and women who had a strong faith in God. Secondly, our freedom has been protected and preserved by men and women who have paid the ultimate price with their lives. Their sacrifice has kept us free to worship, do and be all that we desire to be.

As we go about our celebrations this Memorial Day, let’s not forget what it’s really all about and the Great People who’ve made it possible. Let’s take a minute to remember the one's that sacrificed with their lives and pray for their families. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our freedom with family and friends.

John 15:13 “ Greater Love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

It's the one day out of the year, that is the most difficult for me. Where most people are doing their cookouts, I am at the Cemetery , putting flowers on my Grandparents Graves, It's a promise I made when I was 10 years old. and a promise I have kept, every year since then. I am now the last person in my Family that puts the flowers on the Graves. Everyone else, has died off.