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Lest We Forget

S

SteveP

Alien With an Attitude
Monday is Veterans Day here in the US, Remembrance Day in Canada, Great Britain and Commonwealth nations.

Take a moment at 11am to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice - from the trenches of France to the mountains of Afghanistan. Personally, I think of my Uncle Jack. My mother's brother was a signalman on HMCS Raccoon, an armed yacht torpedoed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

There are now no living soldiers of the Great War and those of The Greatest Generation are leaving us all to quickly. Among them are the surviving members of the Doolittle Raid.

Known as the Doolittle Raiders, the 80 men who risked their lives on a World War II bombing mission on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor were toasted one last time by their surviving comrades and honored with a Veterans Day weekend of fanfare shared by thousands.

Three of the four surviving Raiders attended the toast Saturday at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Their late commander, Lt. Gen. James "Jimmy" Doolittle, started the tradition but they decided this autumn's ceremony would be their last.

"May they rest in peace," Lt. Col. Richard Cole, 98, said before he and fellow Raiders -- Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, 93, and Staff Sgt. David Thatcher, 92 -- sipped cognac from specially engraved silver goblets. The 1896 cognac was saved for the occasion after being passed down from Doolittle.
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Re: Lest We Forget

In a bit less than 9 months from now we will remember the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I. About 9 months after that, Col. McCrae gave us this:

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.

And, let us take heart from the immortal words of our 16th President:
...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
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Re: Lest We Forget

On Memorial Day I think of Lt. Col. Pio, an Army chest cutter in the Pacific who made it possible for many wounded boys to come home, alive.
 
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Re: Lest We Forget

I salute those who served. Total respect. Nothing more, nothing less. They are the true heroes.
 
Brenthoven said:
I salute those who served. Total respect. Nothing more, nothing less. They are the true heroes.
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My brother was in Vietnam, my dad signed up for the Marines after my uncle, his older brother was shot down over English channel, my mom went into the Navy, truly the greatest generation
A salute to all that have served
 
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