Memorial Day - Remembering the Ultimate Sacrifice

[scubacruiserx2]

 Every Memorial Day we remember the men and women who paid the ultimate price , to give their lives in the service of our country . It is remembered and honored every day in the Arlington National Cemetery by the Old Guard and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier .

 

 

 

  Every day because of the deaths of ongoing conflicts and aging war veterans , there are currently about 25 funerals a day there . My wife's uncle's remains , along with those who died with him in a bomber flight over enemy territory during WW II , are buried there in a mass grave with a single headstone with their names on it . Together in life and after life .  He was my mother in law's , twin brother Charles who she never met . He died at the age of 19 .

  I had a friend the same age as me who was a neighbor that died in Vietnam and is buried there also . 

 Some how as a veteran I can help remembering my father who is dead now , but flew in the Navy during WW II . Especially when we visited the San Diego Air and Space Museum during a cruise on HAL . They had a model and a plane like the one that he was in as a Radioman  during WW II .

 

 

 Notice the pontoons on the ends of the wings that are not shown on the plane  for landing in the water . It was used mainly for rescue but carried machine guns in the nose and the side blisters .

 

 

 

 

https://sandiegoairandspace.org/collection/item/consolidated-pby-5a-catalina

 

 

 

 

 This plane is in the largest hall in the museum - The Pavilion of Flight where we ate lunch in it's shadow .

  My wife's mom and dad met in Germany after the war where he was stationed and she worked at the USO there . I served in the Navy during the Vietnam era as a Corpsman , but it ended before I was deployed in the field . Instead I was assigned to the Camp Lejeune Marine base hospital . The closest that I came to combat was the Yom Kipper War in October 1973 .

  The war began on 6 October 1973, when the Arab coalition jointly launched a surprise attack against Israel on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, which had occurred during the 10th day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in that year.^[67] Following the outbreak of hostilities, both the United States and the Soviet Union initiated massive resupply efforts to their allies (Israel and the Arab states respectively) during the war,^[68][69][70] which led to a confrontation between the two nuclear-armed superpowers.^[71]

 Wikipedia

 

  I was in the process of being deployed with a Marine Company when the war ended in less than 3 weeks .

I thank God everyday that I didn't have to see combat , and for the men and women still serving our great country , the land of my birth .

  The Bible says in John 15:13 " No one has greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends. "

[happytotravel]

Thank you for sharing and reminding everyone of the great sacrifices of those served and of those who still serve.

God bless them all and you as well, happytotravel

Edited May 27 by happytotravel
spelling

[ski ww]

Thank you for your service and all those who served, past & present

[PROCRUISE]

Some lose their lives immediately, some die later.

In memory of my best friend, a decorated Vietnam veteran, who died in 2016 from Agent Orange exposure.

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

We visited local cemeteries today, as we do occasionally on Memorial Day… 

[greensprout]

As a Canadian military veteran, I appreciate your post.  Here we tend to commemorate the fallen on 11 Nov (Armistice Day WW1).

Edited May 27 by greensprout

[Haljo1935]

Humbled by your story and beyond appreciative of all those who made the ultimate sacrifice so I may enjoy freedom. 🇺🇸

[scubacruiserx2]

12 hours ago, greensprout said:

As a Canadian military veteran, I appreciate your post.  Here we tend to commemorate the fallen on 11 Nov (Armistice Day WW1).

 

  First of all , thank you for you service . We have Veterans Day on 11-11 ( Armistice Day ) which acknowledges veterans that are living as well as fallen . Memorial Day is more for the fallen , but I got off topic . For me , seeing the planes of many nations in San Diego reminded me of my childhood in Miami in the early 50's . They had  planes from the war parked at MIA and we used to go inside of them as my father would tell us about his plane as we would go inside of the PBY through the open blisters .

[scubacruiserx2]

11 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Humbled by your story and beyond appreciative of all those who made the ultimate sacrifice so I may enjoy freedom. 🇺🇸

 

 Thank you . And like @AroundWithMAPTravels , we sometimes visit graveyards around the world as we travel . We use to home school our kids until High School and one Fall we went to New Hampshire . We visited a graveyard there and they had tombstones showing and dating back to our War of Independence . We were humbled there at their sacrifice to establish this country , separate from Europe .