Memorial Day Debate

[funked]

I'm putting this here because it doesn't belong in the other thread.

I just wanted to say that I have sympathy for soldiers of all countries who were wounded or lost their lives in the war.  With some obvious exceptions, when you get down to the level of the individual soldier, they were just normal guys doing their duty for their people and their comrades, not for their government.  I pray that the Lord takes good care of them all.

[Ripsnort]

I concur, "to those who have fallen whatever  their beliefs were..."  after  all, who am I to determine if they were right or wrong?

<S>

[StSanta]

Thanks guys for saying it better than me  



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StSanta
II/JG2

[qts]

Hear hear. Your comment compares well with the arrogant parochial attitude of other Americans.

[qts]

That should say *some* other Americans.

[Citabria]

flag waving is only popular if its your own countries flag i guess  

I concur with funked though, they weren't fighting for freedom or beurocracy or government, they were fighting for eachother and to stay alive.

[Lethrnek]

Thanks Funked.  As a 3 tour veteran of the Viet Nam War, I appreciate your sentiments.  In the early days of this conflict, many of my fellow Marines and I felt we were fighting for our country to stop communist aggression in that small country.  Later, during my final tour, we fought for our buddies and our personal survival.  No matter what kept the front line "Grunt" going, most of us felt the futility of war and the utter disbelief that our countryman back home did not support the sacrifices being made by ordinary men in unordinary circumstances.  Semper Fi

[Hangtime]

Disparity; unreality..  There was the Nam, and there was the World.

That was a diffrent place.. abstract concepts like 'god and country' were something to shake your head and wonder about when you got a letter from home, or a new copy of Playboy.

Of the guys I served with in the field, I can remember some faces.. very few of the nicknames. None of the given names. As the guys you came over with went home in bags, you tended to not seek out new freindships..

Someone told me that we fought for each other, that; like all troops from all countries in all wars, God and Country was an abstract concept, that the guy in the foxhole next to you was 'god and country'.

Half right.. We were professionals; we did the job; and expected the guy next to you to do his well. And I fought to stay alive and go home. So did everyone else I knew.

[Ghosth]

Well said Funked!

And thank you for bringing it too a new thread!

I think most are aware that in most wars people are given very little freedom of choice.

In the case of Germany I think the options were all too clear. Do what you are told or go to the Concentration camps.

Like our soldiers in Nam, I believe the Germans were fighting for their buddies & survival by the end of the war.

No matter how you cut it it's long since time to forgive & forget.


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Maj Ghosth
XO 332nd Flying Mongrels
 

[This message has been edited by Ghosth (edited 05-30-2000).]

[JENG]

Like many countries... in Belgium 11 November is Remembrance day. I posted something on the Memorial day topic, I'll do the same on 11th November.

What my good buddy ghosth said only one slight difference... To forgive but never to forget.

Forgetting is letting it happen again.

Bee

[This message has been edited by JENG (edited 05-30-2000).]

[bloom25]

IMO we should honor all those who put their lives on the line on the field of battle, regardless of country.  Memorial day is just one of many days across the globe for the purpose of honoring those who served their country.  Perhaps looking back (hindsight is always 20/20) there may have been some causes we should not have fought for, but that in no way detracts from the suffering endured by those who participated.  (The same is true for any country.)  It is important to remember the ultimate cost of war is paid in human lives.  If we forget this we are dooming ourselves, our children, and our children's children to an endless cycle of suffering.  Let us not forget.



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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

[Luckyone]

Yup, <S> to Them one and all.
The wife knows I don't really Die here but she still consideres herself a widow.  

[Luckyone]

Yup, <S> to Them one and all.
The wife knows I don't really Die here but she still consideres herself a widow.