« Special Notice: The Freedom's Zone Mission Is Expanding | Main | On 'Europe's Weakness For Russia' - Implications For The U.S.? »

May 29, 2006

On this Memorial Day wekend, I think back ...

On this Memorial Day weekend, I think back to a few specific events in history, and I marvel at the courage and selflessness displayed by our men and women in arms.

First comes to mind the heroes on Bataan and Corregidor in WW2. They were surrounded and outnumbered and eventually captured by a fanatical enemy that worshiped a heathen god and had no moral decency (remind you of anyone today?). Their treatment on the Bataan death march and in the death camps of the Philippines was unimaginable. Many died from murder, disease, and starvation, yet the remainder stayed strong and proud, taunting the Japanese effort until General MacArthur's forces finally came back. Some even escaped into the hills and waged guerilla war until liberation day. These men and women are true heroes. The liberals and nay-sayers today have no concept of such sacrifice.

I think of the warriors of Dolittle's Raid. These guys did what many of the day probably thought impossible, flying a B-25 land based bomber off a carrier. The flight had to take off early because they were spotted by the Japanese. This meant that they would not be able to make it to their proposed landing bases in China. Now think about this for a minute. They did not know if they would even get off the deck of the ship. They DID know that they would have to bail out, crash land, or ditch in the ocean. They DID know that their bombing raid would have little meaning from a military standpoint. It would only suffice to give a small morale boost to America in the dark days following Pearl Harbor. In spite of this they flew the mission anyway. Some died, some were captured, most made it back home eventually with the help of the Chinese. What courage! What sacrifice! How many of us would launch out into an apparent suicide mission when the military objective was meaningless? The folks of those days WERE the greatest generation. They grew up in the depression and had to fight and win that awful war.

I think of the heroes of D-day, June 6, 1944. I think of the airborne troops parachuting into the night into Nazi occupied France. I remember watching the opening to Saving Private Ryan and thinking how terrifying and horrible that day must have really been.

I think of the troops at Gettysburg on both sides of the struggle and how they witnessed the greatest military carnage in American history, with the corpses of fallen soldiers, dead horses, and amputated limbs piled as high as the windows of the houses. What a horrible scene that must have been on those hot summer days of 1863.

I think of the warriors of the revolution and especially those men that signed the Declaration of Independence. By a simple signature they risked it all. They risked losing their property, their families, their very lives!

Don't forget our guys and gals today fighting the fanatical enemy, an enemy who hates us just because of who we are. An enemy who would slit our throats just because we won't worship their heathen god and their false prophet.

I type this with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. Somehow "thank you" is just not enough!

-- Thomas Hamilton

These beautiful words were left as a comment to yesterday's post, "In Memory of our fallen heros". They deserve to be highlighted here for everyone to read on this Memorial Day weekend.

Cross posted at Right Truth

Posted by Debbie at May 29, 2006 11:55 AM