Memorial Day Honor Roll:

[AbsntMndedProf]

[font="Times New Roman"]To all the veterans out there who seved during war, or during peace, or those currently serving, thanks to you for your steadfast service to the cause of liberty. If you don't mind a civilian's humble request, how about posting which service you were in and when, so that we all can thank you and acknowledge your part in keeping our country free?

Eric Maietta[/font]

[Tac2i]

My Uncle Benford whom I never got to meet:

88th Infantry Division, Killed in Action May 12, 1944

http://flickr.com/photos/roy/442474/in/set-55943/

[Sarge]

Lance Corporal Nick Larson

Nick was killed in the battle of Fallujah. A heavy loss and deep sadness for me

[W Thorne]

We owe all our vets a lot. Sarge you two serve together?

[olperfessor]

OK, to answer your general question, I was in the U.S. Army artillery (1/29, attached to the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta). But because I was in the Viet Nam War I cannot claim to have fought to keep our country free. [:(] I have thought and read a great deal about that war, and believe it was an unjust and unnecessary war -- not the only wrong war that we have fought.


I appreciate your general thanks, but hope that you will come to understand that quite a few of us are not comfortable with being thanked when the unstated premise is that any American war is a war defending freedom. As you well know, some veterans agree with me and plenty of others do not.

[KG Erwin]

To the memories of two of my uncles:

George L. Young -- US Army, Korea
Dennis Thornton -- US Army, Okinawa WWII

[olperfessor]

I feel very bad not just for the war dead that several of you have mentioned, but also for those WWII veterans who came home and (if my reading of history is correct) were essentially told to be quiet, to not talk about what they had experienced. [:(]

I also, to be honest, feel bad not just for the American dead but for every soldier who *honorably* served and died for his country. In fact, it is probably a greater tragedy for a soldier to die for a bad cause (e.g. Nazi Germany, imperial Japan) than to die for a good cause.

How nice that we gamers can play War in the Pacific, sink a carrier, and kill only pixels.

And for the record, my earlier post mis-identified my unit. I was in the 1/84 in Viet Nam (1/29 was my stateside unit for many months before I was sent to Asia).

[Rooster]

To the memory of Sgt. Thomas Lamb (my father's cousin) on the far right of the photo below.

451 Bomber Squadron History:

An incident which stands out in the memory of the squadron, along with the dis astrous night mission, occurred at Beauvais one Sunday morning in March, 1945, when the planes were forming up for a mission. Through an apparent error in judgment two planes collided and exploded, bringing one down with the explosions. All the crew members of the three planes were killed with the exception of one pilot, Lt. Alexander Cordes, who was thrown from his aircraft and parachuted to safety.

[diesel7013]

US Navy

Ltjg - Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 74 during the '94 Haitian refugee crisis - built a bunch of refugee camps - then worked in brigade for a year or so. I got out 'cause I thought that nothing was ever going to happen again and there wasn't really any need for me to continue to serve - and a couple of years later - here we are...

I wish I'd have stayed in but having a couple of kids kept me in and stopped me from risking my neck ( that and the boss of my house - me wife - told me I couldn't go back in ) - but, sometimes I think I'd rather go to Iraq and live in the sand than raise kids!