A song for Memorial Day
I’ve posted this song before, but I think it bears repeating, especially on Memorial Day.
It’s Tim McGraw’s extraordinarily moving song “If You’re Reading This“:
If you’re readin’ this
My momma’s sittin’ there
Looks like I only got a one way ticket over here.
I sure wish I could give you one more kiss
War was just a game we played when we were kids
Well I’m layin’ down my gun
I’m hanging up my boots
I’m up here with God and we’re both watchin’ over youSo lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul
Is where my momma always prayed that it would go.
If you’re readin’ this I’m already home…
The first time I ever heard the song I got the chills as the lyrics unfolded and I realized what it was about, and then again and again as the heartstrings were jerked harder and harder as the song went on.
Most of us do, or should, feel a very strong gratitude to the men and women who sacrificed their lives to defend liberty here and abroad, and a very strong sorrow that it was necessary. On Memorial Day, we thank them.
Thank you to each of your daily readers who served their time in the service of our Nation on this – Memorial Day -. I have had the privilege of visiting a lot of battlefields and military cemeteries including Arlington, Gettysburg and the Luxembourg American Cemetery where Patton is buried and it really is good to take time out and remember. I walked through some of the WWI battle grounds in France and saw Great Memorials to what was thought to be the last great war that ended on November 11, 1918. This is a good day to take time to remember and it totally sucks the way our nation looked at the men and women who served during our military time, the Vietnam Years where we were not celebrated.
I was fortunate to spend three of my four Army years in Europe, leaving the US in May of 1967 and and returning in June of 1970 to a USA full of hippie, commie, anti-war, crap and a few insults when I was leaving the New York City airport flying back to Houston, Texas where I was greeted by lots of family.
My dad and uncles served during WWII and they were hurt by the way our nation and the media were treating those of us who served in the Viet Nam era. I was lucky because most all of my close guy friends from High School served in that time, including a half dozen who were in Viet Nam, and they all came home with just some bumps and bruises, bad memories and funny stories.
Today, this Memorial Day, I am thankful for my brief military experience and most grateful for our special Nation, The U.S.A.
I don’t think it happened on Memorial Day but I am reminded of the time Big Mike* said to Barry, and one doesn’t need to be a professional lip reader to see it clear as day, “All this for a flag?”
*I don’t hold the belief popular among many right-wingers that Michelle is a tranny. Just a tall, muscular, not terribly attractive black woman with an unappealing personality.
“So lay me down in that open field out on the edge of town . . .”
that line has always tugged at my heart.
Every Memorial Day I remember our visit to Normandy and the US cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach. Sobering place where one is easily moved to tears at the flag lowering ceremony at the end of the day.
I’m thankful for all our military men and women who paid the ultimate price for our country. May God bless their families and loved ones!
OldTexan, I too have walked the Battlefields of France and Belgium. Seeing all the cemeteries of those that have fallen. US, Brits, French, others. even German, is very sobering. Battlefields from Waterloo, Ypres, Verdun, those in between from WWI. Normandy, Bastogne, and in between from WWII.
I came home in 1970, to a much different US, even though I was away just 2 yr.
Welcome Home, OldTexan
A beautiful tribute.
There are197 countries with populations exceeding 500,000 people. Only 24 of those are truly democratic. Democracy and freedom are a rather new development in human history. The ancient Greeks tried it. They could not keep it. So too with the Romans.
Democracy as we know it today started with the Magana Carta and slowly developed into a king sharing power with the parliament. Our Founders went much further and gave us a representative republic. Today, kings no longer share power with parliaments, but real democracy has not swept over the world as we might expect.
Our freedoms are rather rare and precious. There are always authoritarian elements, both here and abroad, who want to end them. And there’s a long line of patriots that stretches from Bunker Hill to the mountains of Afghanistan who have stepped forward to protect them.
Today, I especially remember:
My uncle, 1st Lt. Larry Goreski KIA over Germany in WWII.
My Air Group, squadron members, and friends all KIA in North Vietnam:
LTJG David Christian
LTJG M.D. McMican
LTTJG Gerry Romano,
ATR-3 Bill Amspacher
ATN-2 Tom Plants
LCDR Gerry Roberts
LCDR Bill Carey
LCDR Hal Gray
I honor them by saying their names and being vigilant in the defense of freedom and democracy.
Have a great day. And God bless America.
I still get misty eyed when I hear the ballad. I lost a first cousin in Korea and am aware of its effect on a family. I was too young to truly know him, but his two sons would make him proud.
JJ, I see you served on the Midway. My Brother did too, not a pilot. Did Air/Sea Rescue.
I was on sister ship, CVA 42 Franklin D Roosevelt, not a Pilot.
Are you a Pensacola grad?
and
WELCOME HOME
“Are you a Pensacola grad?” – Shirehome
Yep.
Never was aboard FDR. I was always PACFLT, and she was, except for one tour, an Atlantic Fleet ship. I read her history. Too bad she never got the upgrade that Midway and Coral Sea got. FDR might be a museum today, like the 41 Maru. 🙂
It’s one thing when a cop, out of the blue, knocks on your door and says there’s been an accident and your son is in ER.
It’s another when every waking second hopes with agonizing intensity that there is never an unannounced knock on your door.
The first time I notified, there was no doubt in her eyes. She told the little dog that Daddy wasn’t coming home. No doubt, either, among the half dozen neighbors coming up the sidewalk behind me.
Richard, you did one of the hardest thing a person could do. I don’t know what else to say
JJ, I was there Aug, 1968. I got through the 10 days, but I was worn out. Not use to the humidity, not in good shape. But, really no excuses. So went Enlisted for 2 yrs.
What did you fly?
We owe a debt that cannot be repaid, so we hold a moment and say a prayer of thanks.
Shirehome. You come around on the roster, you do it. Very hard, but….I guess you deal with it later. Still see it. Still wonder how she’s doing.
We’re a Gold Star family and I figure that, for her, as for us, every day is Memorial Day.
But to multiply that by 58,000…. I didn’t think about it until later. There are 58,000 guys like me, too.
Got a friend, we go back to Jump School in 70. He spent a lot of time in the Reserves. One of his acquaintances recently received an Arcom (Army Commendation Medal) for performing CPR on the father who passed out when seeing him at the door.
But, as I say, every waking moment is hoping against hope for no unannounced knock. Military families generally know to call each other before dropping in for something. If you happen to be driving in family quarters areas, you take off your hat.
Every Memorial Day I compare it to Memorial Day here in Israel – and I can’t help feeling that American vets and their families are much more isolated in their experiences and their grief… maybe that was different during wartime, when there was a draft in the US.
Here in Israel everybody is connected to military service, or has experienced that loss within their intimate circles. Perhaps that makes it easier for the families that have made the ultimate sacrifice.
I don’t know if any of your readers are NASCAR fans, but the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte revived something last Sunday they did a few years ago for Memorial Day. At the halfway point of the race, all the cars stop in the pit lane for a moment of silence to honor Memorial Day. It’s extremely moving to see 50,000 fans remove their hats and take a moment to remember the fallen. NASCAR races are always preceded by an invocation as well. It’s nice to reflect that at least one American cultural institution is still unapologetically patriotic!
“What did you fly?”: – Shirehome
In the Navy – SNJ, T-28, SNB, T-33, A-1 all models, C-118. Most of my time was in the A-1s.
I went with an airline in 1968. The BUPERS detailer, who was an old friend of mine, told me in 1967 that my squadron days were over. I was too senior, had done two combat deployments, and had no ship’s company or desk job billets in my record. The Navy wanted its officers to be well rounded in experience. He opined that I would be flying a desk or be ship’s company for the next few years. I wanted to keep flying. (I was a stubborn sort.) So, I asked to be released from active duty (I was a Reserve.), and took a chance that an airline would hire me. It worked out. Thirty-eight years of flying fora living. One lucky guy, and very appreciative of those who didn’t make it home.
Charles: that particular line from the song always clenches my gut and brings tears…