Community | May 30, 2011 | 54 comments

Good Morning! It's Memorial Day. Do You Know What That Means?

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/opinion/30mon4.html?_r=1

Radical_Centrist
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. Service Members who died while in the military service. Originally enacted by formerly enslaved African-Americans to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War, it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.

What Is Memorial Day?

And yet by the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as ordinary people visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family get-togethers, fireworks, and trips to the beach.

For Many Families, A Time Of Mourning

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/opinion/30mon4.html?_r=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOih0MHNmZU
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54 comments // Good Morning! It's Memorial Day. Do You Know What That Means? // Video

  • samthesixth
  • Radical_Centrist
  • samthesixth
  • lightningthunderfox
    • -4
      lightningthunderfox  

    • The smartest thing the government did was take away the draft. Now the media and most people commenting on here can go on talking about how their Heroes and dieing for their country.
      There all still kids who made a bad choice after being lied to or they are to poor to do anything else. I respect someone for their actions not who they are or what cournty they live in. I feel pride in my actions not my color creed or nationality.

      bigotry, racism, hatred, facism, all start from 'pride' in a stupid shit like being part of a group or country

      Bring Back the DRAFT. bring back the angry parents who wont send their kids to wars.

      Bring back the DRAFT. end pointless national pride, end poitless wars

    • 12 months ago
  • remanns
    • +1
      remanns  
    • lightningthunderfox:

      The pragmatic positive results, do not outweigh the abstract ethical "wrongnessesses" .

      ( I know "pragmatists" will have diffrences with this from the get go,....but so be it. Me, - - NOT a pragmatist. Despondent cynical idealist.)

    • 12 months ago
  • samthesixth
  • lightningthunderfox
    • -1
      lightningthunderfox  
    • samthesixth:

      again why have pride in something as stupid as just being born somewhere.

      Be proud of your actions, how you treat others, and be proud of what you pass on to your kids. Dont be proud of your nationality, creed, or race.

      "listening to NOFX -Jaundiced eyes"

    • 12 months ago
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • lightningthunderfox:

      It's beyond where someone is born. It's about sacrifice and freedom. Some of the staunchest, flag wavingist Americans I know were not born in the US. They appreciate the US way more than the average grad degreed American. Perhaps it is because they lived in a worse place and have something to compare it to.

      Again, if you take no pride in being an American, why live here?

    • 12 months ago
  • lightningthunderfox
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • lightningthunderfox:

      I am not saying love it or leave it. I very much dislike some of what my govt is doing, but I still have pride in being an American. I am upset with some of the things we did in our past, but I still have pride in being an American. I am saying if you take no pride in it, why choose to live here when you can choose to live wherever you like? I would like to live in a better neighborhood. But I take pride in the one I live in and do the little things that go along with that. Is there a place you would prefer to live where you would feel more pride than in America?

    • 12 months ago
  • SIBob
    • +5
      SIBob  
    • Image

    • At the Staten Island Memorial Day Parade today we all put aside our political differences to honor the military dead, the military veterans and those serving overseas in current theaters of conflict. Both Democrats and Republicans marched in support and they were on their best behavior, no politicking took place. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo was there as was Representative Michael Grimm. This day is for the members of the armed services, both living and dead. They are not the ones who make the decisions to go to war. That is why we should continue to support them. We should also continue to get involved in the political process so we can prevent the needless loss of life in the future. http://sibob.org/wordpress/?p=4796

    • 12 months ago
  • letsliveinpeace
  • letsliveinpeace
  • letsliveinpeace
  • uShine
  • Radical_Centrist
  • Radical_Centrist
  • NothingIsAbsoluteTruth
  • letsliveinpeace
    • +6
      letsliveinpeace  
    • Image

    • Tuskegee Airmen: A Legacy of Heroism in The War Abroad and in The U.S.

      In all, 996 pilots were trained in Tuskegee from 1941 to 1946, approximately 445 were deployed overseas, and 150 Airmen lost their lives in accidents or combat. The Tuskegee Airmen were credited with the following accomplishments:

      –15,533 combat sorties and 1,578 missions

      –112 German aircraft destroyed in the air and another 150 on the ground

      –950 railcars, trucks and other motor vehicles destroyed

      –A nearly perfect record of not losing U.S. bombers.

    • 12 months ago
  • remanns
  • letsliveinpeace
    • +4
      letsliveinpeace  
    • Image

    • Tuskegee Airmen: A Legacy of Heroism in The War Abroad and in The U.S.

      Airmen who did not go overseas and trained at Selfridge Field, Michigan as bomber crew in the 477th Medium Bombardment Group experienced a great deal of racism. The officers were treated as “trainees” and denied access to the base officers’ club, which was an act that contradicted Army regulations

    • 12 months ago
  • letsliveinpeace
    • +4
      letsliveinpeace  
    • Image

    • Tuskegee Airmen: A Legacy of Heroism in The War Abroad and in The U.S.

      Four hundred and fifty of the pilots who trained at TAAF served overseas in either the 99th Pursuit Squadron (later the 99th Fighter Squadron) or the 332nd Fighter Group. The 99th Fighter Squadron trained in and flew P-40 Warhawk aircraft in combat in North Africa, Sicily and Italy from April 1943 until July 1944 when they were transferred to the 332nd Fighter Group in the 15th Air Force. The 332nd earned an impressive combat record. The Allies called these airmen “Red Tails” or “Red-Tail Angels” because of the distinctive crimson paint predominately applied on the tail section of the unit’s aircraft.

    • 12 months ago
  • bundlebear
  • remanns
  • bundlebear
  • remanns
  • remanns
    • +2
      remanns  

    • Memorial Day is about the citizen soldiers. NOT about the prediliction of man to make war. Its value is weighed by MAN,....to MAN,....to MAN .

      One MAN at a time

      EDIT - make that "one man or woman,...one brother or sister, son or daughter",....at a time .

    • 12 months ago
  • lightningthunderfox
    • -4
      lightningthunderfox  

    • I have many friends in the military. They do not join for freedom, or national pride or anyother reason besides they are young, poor, have a criminal record, or didnt go to college. I do not respect people who are in the Army but i tell my friends i love em and please try not to kill anybody when they leave.

    • 12 months ago
  • samthesixth
  • lightningthunderfox
  • samthesixth
  • lightningthunderfox
    • 0
      lightningthunderfox  
    • samthesixth:

      BEcause anyone can be in the Army, Im not gonna respect someone just because they joined some group. I wouldnt respect a police man, a teacher, the president of the United states until that individual did something I find worth respecting.
      I feel bad for people in the Army I wish them well.

    • 12 months ago
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • lightningthunderfox:

      Not everyone can join the Army.

      Respect the teacher because he/she teaches. Respect the President because he provides leadership to the people. Respect the police man because we are a nation of laws. Respect the soldier for he protects the nation.

    • 12 months ago
  • wolfess
    • +3
      wolfess  

    • I am dedicating this day to my firstborn -- he lived but 2 days before succumbing to the cancer that grew in him while he was growing in me.
      Wars are pointless and I want ALL our soldiers to come home!

    • 12 months ago
  • Radical_Centrist
    • +3
      Radical_Centrist  
    • wolfess:

      Memorial Day is "NOT" about Wars it is about the brave Men and Women who gave the last great measure of devotion to this Country! I am as anti-War as anyone, but I have enough sense to know there is a "BIG" difference between hating War and hating the Warriors who have no choice, but to serve in them!

    • 12 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • Radical_Centrist
    • +4
      Radical_Centrist  
    • JanforGore:

      " I do not respect people who are in the Army" This sounds hateful to me. Every Military action this Country has engaged in since WWII has been an unjust action that I am 100% opposed to. Memorial Day however is the day that we STOP to appreciate the SACRIFICE so many have made over the years. You and I would not be able to sit on Current and talk crap about the Government if it was not for Men & Women willing to fight and die at a moments notice to protect our right to do so. I say again Memorial Day is about the Warriors not the bone head Wars they are FORCED to fight!

    • 12 months ago
  • Roldan
    • -1
      Roldan  
    • Radical_Centrist:

      What do you mean. . .

      "the Warriors who have no choice, but to serve in them!"

      Doesn't the U S have an all voluntary army (so far)?

      The majority of soldiers may enlist due to their precarious situation (unemployment, high cost of education, etcetera) and the government [who, in my opinion creates these situations for more than one purpose] promises these kids the heaven and the stars but delivers none (as a matter of fact, delivers THEM to the heavens, unfortunally)

      But technically, anybody has a choice, which contradicts your statement above.

      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      [current background noise: Sky Pilot ~Eric Burdon & The Animals ]
      ໘ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_VJoDOdJH0 ໘

    • 12 months ago
  • Radical_Centrist
  • wolfess
    • +1
      wolfess  
    • Radical_Centrist:

      Don't tell me you are really that clueless! My husband went to Vietnam in 1971 and returned in January of 1972. Our first son was born October 6, 1972 and died 2 days later of cancer. Wars are pointless because my child DIED because agent orange was sprayed while my husband was there. Wars are pointless because they are NEVER won. Wars are pointless because too many of our warriors don't come home, and too often when they do come home who they were when they left is gone, never to return.

    • 12 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • -1
      JanforGore  
    • Radical_Centrist:

      May be hateful to you, and I might not agree entirely with it either, but isn't it part of that free speech people claim others fought for? Or is free speech only to be convenient for only a few? You deny what this military industrial complex does to so many of our children now? Perhaps we should make a pledge each successive memorial day that we will not add anymore names to the list. But you simply cannot turn off the reality for one day when there are people now living in a hell made by it every day who are also dying inside. I most certainly understand what this day is about, and I mourn for so many who thought that what they were doing was noble and good while being lied to. I can't separate the two just because you say so.

    • 12 months ago
  • Radical_Centrist
    • +3
      Radical_Centrist  
    • JanforGore:

      I do "NOT" support War or the Military Industrial Complex! Memorial Day is not about supporting War it is about HONORING the Warriors. I am not sure what more I can say to make it any clearer. I never said lightningthunderfox was not entitled to express their opinion, I simply said I found it hateful.

      FREEDOM IS NOT FREE!

      I watched the flag pass by one day,
      It fluttered in the breeze;
      A young Marine saluted it,
      And then he stood at ease.
      I looked at him in uniform,
      So young, so tall, so proud;
      With hair cut square and eyes alert,
      He'd stand out in any crowd.

      I thought ... how many men like him
      Had fallen through the years?
      How many died on foreign soil?
      How many mothers' tears?
      How many pilot's planes shot down?
      How many died at sea?
      How many foxholes were soldiers graves?
      No ... Freedom is not Free.

      I heard the sound of Taps one night,
      When everything was still;
      I listened to the bugler play,
      And felt a sudden chill;
      I wondered just how many times
      That Taps had meant "Amen,"
      When a flag had draped a coffin
      Of a brother or a friend;
      I thought of all the children,
      Of the mothers and the wives,
      Of fathers, sons and husbands ...
      With interrupted lives.

      I thought about a graveyard
      At the bottom of the sea,
      Of unmarked graves in Arlington ...
      No ... Freedom is not Free!

      ~ Kelly Strong© 1981 ~

    • 12 months ago
  • samthesixth
  • theknopfknows
    • +1
      theknopfknows  
    • Image

    • TELL ME IS IT IN MEMORY OF FALSE FLAG VIET NAM,
      56,000 dead soldiers a million people dead,
      on a LIE!
      HA HA OR DO WE REMEMBER yesterday´s,
      40 killed in OBAMA drone ATTACK.
      SUFFERING FROM SELECTIVE MEMORY USA
      OR JUST STUCK ON STUPID!

    • 12 months ago
  • Radical_Centrist
  • Pfailblog
    • -2
      Pfailblog  

    • Current day military personnel are no hero to me. Stop the murders, stop the lies. End the wars, stop glorifying death and killing. Obama is a fraud. The military does not defend my freedom by killing people on the other side of the planet. Let's take the day to remember the 1,000,000 + people who have been killed as a result of our "War on terror".

      OBAMA IS A FRAUD, WAKE UP SHEEPLE! DO NOT GIVE HIM ANOTHER VOTE IN 2012!

    • 12 months ago
  • lightningthunderfox
  • Radical_Centrist
  • remanns
    • +3
      remanns  

    • "featured" at "Culture".

      Memorial Days were initially occasions of sacred bereavement, and from the war’s end to the early 20th century they helped forge national reconciliation around soldierly sacrifice, regardless of cause. In North and South, orators and participants frequently called Memorial Day an “American All Saints Day,” likening it to the European Catholic tradition of whole towns marching to churchyards to honor dead loved ones.

    • 12 months ago
  • remanns
  • ArchDruid
  • remanns
  • Radical_Centrist
  • remanns
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