Honor the Fallen this Memorial Day
Submitted by Wes Clark on May 26, 2007 - 2:29am.
Call to Action | Military Families | Veterans
On Monday, our nation will observe Memorial Day -- a day which is incredibly solemn and sacred, especially to those of us who served our nation with military service.
For one day, WesPAC and our friends at VoteVets.org and the National Security Network will put politics completely aside, and stand in solidarity with the rest of our nation to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the United States.
Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or of another party or no party at all, we are all still Americans, and on this day, we should solely be focused on honoring those who died in service. We're also asking that people not protest at Memorial Day events; we have 364 other days to argue policy and politics, but this day belongs to the fallen and their memories.
Today, please consider making a donation to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (http://www.fallenheroesfund.org), which is dedicated to helping the families of those who died in service. The Intrepid Fund has already provided $60 million in aid to families, but can only continue to do so with your support.
Above all, take a day to learn more about someone who died in defense of America. If you're at a parade or prayer service and you see a veteran or military family member, ask him or her who they are honoring. Learn more about that hero, so their memory can endure. Too often, we talk about the fallen in terms of numbers. We forget, each of those numbers were real people, with real lives, and real families. The names on the thousands of memorials across America are more than letters etched in stone -- they are lives lost with honor. The best way we can honor those who sacrificed their lives is to ensure that the memory of who they were as human beings is never forgotten.
Please, on Memorial Day, do your part to ensure their memory lives on.
Thank you for your support of our troops and veterans.
Sincerely,
Wes Clark
Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran, VoteVets.org
Rand Beers, USMC (ret.), National Security Network
The day before their son died, Fran and Robert Dembowski Sr. received a white and blue U.S. Army flag specifically made for Robert Dembowski Jr. while he served in Iraq.
They put it on display at the Northampton municipal building alongside the flags of other Northampton military personnel serving in the Middle East.
It was supposed to stay there until Robert came home, safe and sound.
But on Thursday, the news came. Robert was killed somewhere around Baghdad, perhaps by a sniper, but the information is still sketchy, the family said.
Dembowski is the fourth soldier from Bucks to die in four weeks. He is the 15th Bucks soldier to die in Iraq since the war began in 2003.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-05262007-1353186.html
"It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak and one to hear." - Henry David Thoreau
Every Memorial Day and Veterans Day, I get up early and walk the walls at the Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It is located up in the West hills of Portland. After my walk to the top, I play Amazing Grace on a tin whistle. I never go to the "official" ceremonies, as they just piss me off with the militaristic rhetoric and platitudes mouthed by politicians.
When I walk the walls, this song goes through my head.
These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms
Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms
There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones
Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms
"The one thing I never want to see again is a military parade".
-General Ulysses S. Grant, eighteenth President of the United States
Someone once asked me if I had learned anything from going to war so many times.
My reply:
Yes, I learned how to cry.
Joe Galloway
The organization you've cited merits our support.
Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
Amount: $xx.xx
Transaction Number: 227525
Donor Information: Donna
This year, as it does every year, my tiny town will come out for our Memorial Day parade. We gather at the cemetery that plays host to graves that pre-date our revolution. All of our wars with the exception of this one are represented among the interned. I'm sure there are many small towns like mine that however small have given so much: those they loved.
Again, thank you for writing, and as always, thank you for your continuing service to our country.
You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.--J. V. Marley
Thank you so so so much for your efforts, General. This weekend is a wonderful moment to participate in & try to expand what is left of our democracy. I still think about your speech at the Winter Meeting often.
I've just listened to the SAIS speech for the first time- and I'm almost breathless with thanks. In particular thank you for actually calling for justice inside this odious excuse of an Administration & in the Pentagon & intelligence arenas. Thank you, thank you, and again, THANK YOU for this clearest of clarion calls.
Indeed I've wondered these long years when ANY sort of accountability would come to bear, we must make it so. And this, from those who would set a grammar school's BUDGET based on benchmarks, measurements & teaching to the test!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It may well be just a reading aloud of the Zeitgeist, but you have clearly articulated THE critical step America MUST take to get back on her feet.
It seems far too many people are so deeply asleep or immersed in their own affairs & pursuits who just don't comprehend the dangerous moment we are in.
I also appreciate the clarity surrounding your comments about accepting benchmarks or some kind of timeline in order to expedite diplomatic efforts here at home regarding Iraq.
----
By the way, I really believe that we need to get you paired up with leaders in other disciplines, international & abroad, & have you really hunker down with some bright lights & do some serious years long teaching- The Wes Clark Institute of ____________________: please, fill in the blanks.
Leadership and Responsible Government.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
...everyone here at CCN, and all who've worn the uniform.
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for all you continue to do for our country.
Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
transaction #:227572
amount xx.xx
in memory of the veterans of all wars from my family
Thank you for your guidance on this, General Wes. We needed the countervoice, the higher level.
Memorial Day brings too feelings of caring for those in the military now, and those veterans who are still alive and who lost friends, as was so of you going way back to your classmates at West Point in the Vietnam days. As I recall reading, your class lost more men than any class at that time.
The same thing happened to a close relative of mine and I know that Memorial Day is not easy for him. I plan to telephone him tommorrow, aas I've done on some past Memorial Days.
Bless you, Wes, You and your friends and Gert's friends will be in my prayers on Memorial Day.
Clearsky
Indeed.
...and my check to Intrepid Fallen Heroes went out in yesterday's mail.
Thank you, Sir!
C'mon General Clark...let's give them something to talk about!
Bush has 603 days left. 3,439 U.S. confirmed deaths in Iraq. Over $429,200,000,000 spent on the Iraq war.
A free press is supposed to function as our democracy's immune system against gross errors of fact and understanding. - Al Gore
to that Place of Rest
by Devilstower at Daily Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/27/115436/633
Lovely dairy...and some lovely comments as well.
"...Above all, take a day to learn more about someone who died in defense of America."
Casey grew up in my town. His father, Pat, still resides here. In March, I ran across this article.... In his father's words (excerpted): "Finding out that he was turned away and then pretty much pulled rank and insisted that he was going, it just showed me that that this wasn't some random act," Pat Sheehan said. "He knew full well what he was doing and it was an adult decision made by an adult. And I think that's honorable. "But it wasn't just about his country or freedom for Iraq. At that time it was as simple as helping his fellow soldiers and helping someone else in need," he said. < Learn more about Casey's final hour: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/18/INGO0OEM1F1.DTL Army Spc. Casey Sheehan had the heart of a warrior....he also had a father.
I read an article about a fallen Navy Seal, Michael Monsoor, and I had posted it on 14 Oct 2006 on CCN blog. Since then he would come to my thoughts and prayers because for some reason he represented many fallen soldiers who have fought in Iraq; and of course my thoughts and prayers would extend to all those who have fought in previous wars and did their duty to serve our country.
The article/picture:
SEAL falls on grenade to save comrades By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer Sat Oct 14, 1:39 AM ET CORONADO, Calif. A Navy SEAL sacrificed his life to save his comrades by throwing himself on top of a grenade Iraqi insurgents tossed into their sniper hideout, fellow members of the elite force said. Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor had been near the only door to the rooftop structure Sept. 29 when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor, said four SEALs who spoke to The Associated Press this week on condition of anonymity because their work requires their identities to remain secret. "He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it," said a 28-year-old lieutenant who sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. "He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs' lives, and we owe him." Monsoor, a 25-year-old gunner, was killed in the explosion in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. He was only the second SEAL to die in Iraq since the war began. Two SEALs next to Monsoor were injured; another who was 10 to 15 feet from the blast was unhurt. The four had been working with Iraqi soldiers providing sniper security while U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted missions in the area. In an interview at the SEALs' West Coast headquarters in Coronado, four members of the special force remembered "Mikey" as a loyal friend and a quiet, dedicated professional. "He was just a fun-loving guy," said a 26-year-old petty officer 2nd class who went through the grueling 29-week SEAL training with Monsoor. "Always got something funny to say, always got a little mischievous look on his face." Other SEALS described the Garden Grove, Calif., native as a modest and humble man who drew strength from his family and his faith. His father and brother are former Marines, said a 31-year-old petty officer 2nd class. Prior to his death, Monsoor had already demonstrated courage under fire. He has been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions May 9 in Ramadi, when he and another SEAL pulled a team member shot in the leg to safety while bullets pinged off the ground around them. Monsoor's funeral was held Thursday at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. He has also been submitted for an award for his actions the day he died. The first Navy SEAL to die in Iraq was Petty Officer 2nd Class Marc A. Lee, 28, who was killed Aug. 2 in a firefight while on patrol against insurgents in Ramadi. Navy spokesman Lt. Taylor Clark said the low number of deaths among SEALs in Iraq is a testament to their training. Sixteen SEALs have been killed in Afghanistan. Eleven of them died in June 2005 when a helicopter was shot down near the Pakistan border while ferrying reinforcements for troops pursuing al-Qaida militants. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061014/ap_on_re_us/navy_seal_killed_6;_ylt=AotQetz7qQHsQ8i10mAZhUrlWMcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGVna3NhBHNlYwNzc3JlbA
A prayer:
May all soldiers who fell in Iraq be blessed and praised for giving the ultimate sacrifice. May our Lord be holding all in his arms, and bring peace and comfort to their families.
Beliefnet member shaner
the greatest way to honor our men and women in uniform is to require their sacrifice the least."
General Wesley K. Clark