Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Memorial Day: The Funeral of John Smith



MamaM said...
What came up for you when you thought a lot about this Memorial day?
I thought about a lot of things.
I thought of Mike the guy who lived on the top floor of the brownstone on Tompkins Place in the 1960's when I was a kid. He was the coolest guy I knew. He had a Mustang Convertible. Dated cheerleaders and the hot daughter of one of the local mob guys. He went to Vietnam and had both of his legs shot off.
I thought of the quiet guy who I used to say hello too at Church. He was quiet and unassuming and helped when we had to stack chairs or bring in Christmas decorations even though he was in his seventies. He never talked about his life. When he died we found out that he was a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attacks and served on the Arizona.
I thought of my Uncle V who served in the Navy during World War 2 and was stationed on Guam for a year. He developed a fondness for Spam and fish that he tried to pass on to his nephews even though it never took. He did give me a peacoat and a machete/saw that I have to this day.
I thought of my Dad who ran away to join the Army when he was sixteen and had to use his brothers ID.  He spent a lot of time in Korea as an MP. Served in Alaska and Hawaii. Never talked about it. Never bragged about it. He just served. 
I thought of all the guys who are represented by Trooper John Smith. I have posted that video before. It is instructive how Confederate soldiers were looked at when John Ford made that movie. They were considered gallant foes who were terribly wrong but still our brothers. Now they would be destroyed by the social justice warriors. Captain Brittles would lose his commission for honoring him. It beggars belief.
I thought of where we are today. Where Karen's and social justice warriors with I-phone cameras call the tune. Where honor duty and country were important. Where we honored our warriors.
Yeah I thought about a lot of things.
I think about them every Memorial Day.

3 comments:

edutcher said...

A gallant soldier and a Christian gentleman.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Well said.

ndspinelli said...

My Uncle Dom was in the Battle of the Bulge. He was shredded w/ shrapnel and spent 6 months in a London hospital. He was buried w/ shrapnel in his body in 1997. His wife, Lucy died on this Memorial Day weekend. She was 95. Dom never talked about the war. It left physical scars all over his body but the psych scars were deeper.