Memorial Day, what don't people understand?

[MtnMan]

What the hell don't people understand about the significance of Memorial Day?

We went out earlier today and met with a number of friends over a beer. Three of us at the table are veterans, and one person made a point of thanking each of us for our service. I kinda pissed them off when I responded; "no, this is not my day, this is the day for those that cannot be here because the fucking died". Thank us on Veterans Day if you must, but not today. The other two vets voiced the same sentiment, after I spoke up.

I have a college classmate that died in Nam, an uncle that died in WWII. The wife has a high school classmate that died in Nam, and my daughter has a classmate that died in Iraq.

Now 9:30 at night and I can hear people setting off fireworks. WTF?

 

[brianmanahan]

nobody really did anything around where i'm at. some people in town wanted a parade and got ticked off that nobody organized one this year.

oh and some dude out in the rural area shot his gun for about 2 hours straight.

 

[skyking]

I don't know what people think. The news had a group of people who run every year and active service people who run for your family member who gave their life. That was an appropriate story. They had folks from every war and action represented.
Somebody said those vets die twice, the day of and then the day when people no longer remember their sacrifice.

 

[BoomerD]

It also irritates the fuck out of me when people say "Happy Memorial Day "
There ain't NOTHING happy about today.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

At least us Veteran's are acknowledged from the plebes these days...

You'd think they would understand as the wreath ceremony at Arlington has been going on every year for decades...

 

[mikeymikec]

nvm

 

[snoopy7548]

Maybe people are setting off fireworks because of all the sales. They can get $40 off a robot vacuum; that doesn't happen every day, you know!

 

[deadlyapp]

I think it's lost a lot of its importance and meaning over the years as people age and entire generations are exposed to very little extensive combat during their lifespans. Even Iraq/Afghanistan vets are in their 30s and 40s now and that conflict was not nearly as impactful to gen pop as Vietnam and WWII. I personally don't know of anyone who lost their lives in war (I'm 33) so its very hard for many of my generation or younger to even realize.

The extent of what I do these days is a memorial workout, however we do them regularly throughout the year in memoriam to anyone in the armed forces or first responders who lost their lives in the line of duty.

 

[IronWing]

In doing some historical research, I've been visiting cemeteries recently and I now I have a question about unknown soldiers. One cemetery I visited has a couple graves of unknown soldiers. These are simple, individual grave markers, not fancy monuments that would be used for civic ceremonies The death dates indicate that the soldiers died during the Civil War. The odd thing is that the town didn't exist until the late 1880s and the graves certainly weren't laid at the time of the Civil War. I could see remains turning up well after the war as old battlefields were cleared for other purposes. Did the War Department have a program for allocating out unknown remains as they were discovered? The town in southeastern Arizona was far from any action so the presence of the graves there would have required the shipping of remains from the east.

 

[Kaido]

when people say "Happy Memorial Day "

I say Happy Memorial Day, but I have a slightly different perspective on it. I have/had a lot of family in the military, so we view it as a day to celebrate the freedoms they fought & died for, so it's kind of like a birthday celebration...we get together with family, we eat food, we have a good time, etc. in recognize their efforts & to honor their memory for allowing us to enjoy the lifestyle we have because they protected our country.

I also think it's appropriate to thank veterans on Memorial Day because a lot of people I know went out there, and while they didn't die physically, they died emotionally & mentally from things like PTSD, and many of them lost their innocence from the things they had to do on their deployments. I have a lot of buddies who are still pretty messed up from things like Iraq & Afghanistan, who will never be the same again, so I view thanking them as a memorial to who they used to be.

 

[skyking]

I watched a show last night on PBS
A final Landing on Iwo Jima

Dad made it back, but he suffered from PTSD his whole life. 6800 US soldiers and 21000 Japanese soldiers lost their lives.
I think of those men who did not make it home.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I think it's lost a lot of its importance and meaning over the years as people age and entire generations are exposed to very little extensive combat during their lifespans. Even Iraq/Afghanistan vets are in their 30s and 40s now and that conflict was not nearly as impactful to gen pop as Vietnam and WWII. I personally don't know of anyone who lost their lives in war (I'm 33) so its very hard for many of my generation or younger to even realize.

The extent of what I do these days is a memorial workout, however we do them regularly throughout the year in memoriam to anyone in the armed forces or first responders who lost their lives in the line of duty.

-100%.

Combat medicine/doctrine/logistics has vastly improved since Korea and Vietnam and our military's understanding that popular support for foreign invasions is heavily dependent on how many body bags there are has really shifted our perspective on wars in general and Memorial day specifically.

I have two buddies who are combat veterans, one got his leg blown off by an IED in Afghanistan as a convoy driver and the other basically treats his PTSD from his FOB being mortared every day in Iraq with booze. But they're both alive, neither knows anyone else that died although they each know a few people that were wounded with what could have been life threatening in another war but wasn't in this one.

Guy who got his leg blown off still has both legs, docs were able to reattach the severed limb.

 

[Torn Mind]

-100%.

Combat medicine/doctrine/logistics has vastly improved since Korea and Vietnam and our military's understanding that popular support for foreign invasions is heavily dependent on how many body bags there are has really shifted our perspective on wars in general and Memorial day specifically.

I have two buddies who are combat veterans, one got his leg blown off by an IED in Afghanistan as a convoy driver and the other basically treats his PTSD from his FOB being mortared every day in Iraq with booze. But they're both alive, neither knows anyone else that died although they each know a few people that were wounded with what could have been life threatening in another war but wasn't in this one.

Guy who got his leg blown off still has both legs, docs were able to reattach the severed limb.

It's more than while there was a GWOT, it didn't change the civilian lifestyle that much nor was it flooding the TV all the time.

Vietnam vets got no warm welcome when they came back from the general public that were not related by blood or friendship to them

 

[Muse]

I watched a show last night on PBS
A final Landing on Iwo Jima

Dad made it back, but he suffered from PTSD his whole life. 6800 US soldiers and 21000 Japanese soldiers lost their lives.
I think of those men who did not make it home.

I think my dad had PTSD from his ~2 year stint in Burma in WW II. His aunt said he was not the same guy after the war. He never talked about it but he wrote a memoire at age 80 that documented his life and he started with the war pretty much. I think I picked up on my dad's PTSD. When the Vietnam War broke out the last thing I wanted to do was be inducted. I failed my physical (1Y) because I'd had a pretty bad back injury a year before and a bunch of therapy and treatment drugs too. Where I was the Vietnam war was very unpopular to boot from the get go.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

They just recently found the USS Harder that sunk four Japanese ships before being taken.

WWII submarine USS Harder located 'relatively intact' near Philippines - UPI.com

The legendary World War II submarine USS Harder has been located off the Philippines island of Luzon by an organization dedicated to finding the subs the United States lost during the conflict, officials said Friday

www.upi.com

 

[skyking]

This show from 2018 was on tonight.
I find it very difficult to seperate the veterans from those we memorialize today. The veterans were there, they bore witness to the sacrifices. In this show veterans speak candidly about their experiences and feelings. It is well worth the time.

Going to War

 

[nOOky]

My older brother was in the Nam. He knows friends that were killed, but never talks about it. I visited him yesterday, and I always try and get him to talk at least a little bit about it. He always says that he hates being thanked for his service, because he was forced to go, he didn't volunteer. He feels for the guys that died over there, because you have to wonder what it all was for. He hates Biden, but I asked him how may soldiers were dying in Afghanistan these days, and that ends that.

 

[StinkyPinky]

my grandfather was killed in WW2, hit by a mortar blast. It had a huge impact on my grand mother, she suffered PTSD from his death. Never got over it from what I hear even though she lived another 45 years. This of course impacted my fathers life who was a baby at the time.

Also had a Great Uncle that died in the Battle of the Somme in the British army in WW1, and another one that drowned when his ship went down in WW1.

We like to think we're more civilized these days, but look at what is happening in the Ukraine. We are still doing it.

 

[Muse]

Also had a Great Uncle that died in the Battle of the Somme in the British army in WW1, and another one that drowned when his ship went down in WW1.

We like to think we're more civilized these days, but look at what is happening in the Ukraine. We are still doing it.

Don't blame everybody for what the Russians are doing. They are international pariahs now.

 

[skyking]

@StinkyPinky is right. Ukraine is just one of the recent example of how shitty people can be.