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Author Topic:   Veterans Day 11/11/11
flippa posted 11-10-2011 10:55 PM ET (US)   Profile for flippa   Send Email to flippa  
I just wanted remind everyone to remember to thank our friends and family that are currently serving or have served our country. This day is about thanking these individuals who have sacrificed so much defending our freedom. To all of the members out there that served our country: Thanks

(I am not looking to start a political discussion or debate here. Please no BS in this post; keep any wise guy comments and soap-box political speeches to yourselves! I really don't care to hear anyone's opinions on politics or current events.)

Mambo Minnow posted 11-11-2011 06:08 AM ET (US)     Profile for Mambo Minnow  Send Email to Mambo Minnow     
Thanks Flippa! The best way to thank these young soldiers, airman, sailors and Marines is to offer them a job. Unemployment among young enlisted veterans returning from Southwest Asia is very high.
conch posted 11-11-2011 07:16 AM ET (US)     Profile for conch  Send Email to conch     
Thanks Flippa, and thank you to friends and family for your support.
Chuck
RevengeFamily posted 11-11-2011 07:20 AM ET (US)     Profile for RevengeFamily  Send Email to RevengeFamily     
Flippa,

Glad you started this thread. Whaler fans--Spread the word. If you enjoy your freedom, please take time today and everyday to honor our Veterans. Without those that have gone before us and those that are on active duty, there would be no United States of America.

Norm

egres posted 11-11-2011 09:52 AM ET (US)     Profile for egres  Send Email to egres     
Remembrance Day,

The rainy day to call and honor the brave and departed ones.
A moment to ponder about the present hour.
Of all that we are taking for granted
And foolishly squander at times.
Time and Tides will wait for no Man and a very few Women indeed.
Let us give thanks for all the selfless actions from all the forgotten heroes that; by their losses and sacrifices;
Allowed us to be here today..
Enjoying the road that is our personal lives.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/444/fremembrancedaycp584.jpg/
Lest We Forget.

lizard posted 11-11-2011 11:51 AM ET (US)     Profile for lizard  Send Email to lizard     
I was happy to hear that the Senate passed a bill that included incentives for employers to hire returning and unemployed Veterans.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

frontier posted 11-11-2011 12:02 PM ET (US)     Profile for frontier  Send Email to frontier     
Thanks for freedom, Veterans.
Sal A posted 11-11-2011 01:22 PM ET (US)     Profile for Sal A  Send Email to Sal A     
Thanks Vets.

Lizard thanks for the poem. I love it when Jim posts it every Memorial Day as well.

gnr posted 11-11-2011 01:37 PM ET (US)     Profile for gnr    
God bless!
Tohsgib posted 11-11-2011 01:46 PM ET (US)     Profile for Tohsgib  Send Email to Tohsgib     
As an Officer of VFW Post 9226 Ellenton, Florida I wish to thank all that have served or are still serving our country. For those who do not stand behind our troops, you are more than welcome to stand in front of them!

Tomorrow I am escorting a young man from this war who is paralyzed from the neck down due to being shot multiple times. We are taking him for a ride in a side car and then back to our post for a welcome home party for everyone. I want to thank American Legion Post 325 Ellenton, Florida for coworking with us on this, especially our rider's group.

If anyone is in this area, please stop by as it is open to the public.

lizard posted 11-12-2011 10:17 AM ET (US)     Profile for lizard  Send Email to lizard     
My grandfather was a Merchant Marine. My aunt (his daughter) says that they were not recognized as Veterans, though he was in Germany in WWII. Can anyone comment on this?
Mambo Minnow posted 11-12-2011 02:42 PM ET (US)     Profile for Mambo Minnow  Send Email to Mambo Minnow     
Yes, it took many years to give these brave sailors their just due, but the U.S. Merchant Mariners of WWII were eventually recognized as veterans. Every year at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C. there is a public wreath laying to honor them.

I surmise most of the reason they were initially overlooked was the perception that they put salary ahead of valor, but every member of the armed forces gets paid something, no matter how little.

The most treacherous merchant convoy route were the Lend Lease military supplies sent to Murmansk, USSR. The entire Norwegian coast was Nazi occupied, so they had to deal not only with U-boats, put land based aircraft and surface ship raiders as well.

elaelap posted 11-12-2011 06:09 PM ET (US)     Profile for elaelap  Send Email to elaelap     
Actually the percentage of those merchant mariners killed in World War II compared with those who served is higher even than the Marine Corps, and is more that twice the percentage of all the other U.S. forces combined:

http://www.usmm.org/casualty.html

I first learned this from a WW II Merchant Marine vet in a tanker I shipped out in during the mid-1960s, who was annoyed by the disregard he and his comrades felt from veteran's organizations such as the VFW.

There was some truth to the fact of ill-feeling between troops/naval personnel and merchant mariners because of the large wage disparity. But a more sinister reason for conflict between the services was because the East Coast Merchant Marine union, the NMU (National Maritime Union) was integrated while the other services weren't (until the end of the war, that is). It's a sad fact that the Pacific Coast Merchant Marine union that I was a member of, the SUP (Sailors Union of the Pacific), was essentially a "pie-card" (owner-created and controlled) union which refused admission to African-Americans until the late 'sixties. Things were so bad in the SUP for a while that many racist members referred to the NMU as "Niggers, Misfits and Undesirables." A sad commentary on supposed union solidarity...

Tony

P.S. Veterans Day is a relatively new appellation for what used to be celebrated as a day of peace: Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, the end of World War I.

sosmerc posted 11-12-2011 07:57 PM ET (US)     Profile for sosmerc  Send Email to sosmerc     
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiTGW_Q0ugI&feature=related
In honor of all that have served......
rsantia posted 11-12-2011 09:07 PM ET (US)     Profile for rsantia    
My father retired from the Merchant Marines. He passed away in August 1988 and was buried as a veteran at Calverton National Cemetary in New York. Since veteran status for WWII Merchant Marines was relatively new at that time we, nor the funeral home staff, knew how to proceed. The National Matitime Union (NMU) was instrumental in helping us establish my father's veteran status. They provided us and the Veterans Administration with a list of all of the ships my father served on during WWII. As a family we were very proud that he received veteran status.

Thank you Veterans for your service to our country!

Ralph

WT posted 11-12-2011 09:33 PM ET (US)     Profile for WT  Send Email to WT     
My father was a veteran and was a member of the VFW. He was stationed in Iceland and was discharged in 1945. Dec 3, this year, he would have been 100 years of age.

Thanks to all the vets.

Warren

lizard posted 11-13-2011 10:24 AM ET (US)     Profile for lizard  Send Email to lizard     
Thanks for all of the responses regarding the Merchant Marines.
jimh posted 11-13-2011 11:23 AM ET (US)     Profile for jimh  Send Email to jimh     
My father was not in the service in WWII. He was a bit older, in his thirties, was married and had a young child, and was employed by the local Edison utility as an journeyman electrician, which I think was deemed a critical skill. Those factors combined to keep him out of the active military, but he did participate in the civilian defense corps as a radio operator.

My (ex) father-in-law was in the Navy and served as mechanic in a ship engine room. His ship was sunk by a torpedo and he had a harrowing escape, or so I was told. He would never talk about it--not one word in all the years I knew him--and he would never watch any sort of movie or television drama that featured naval action, especially submarines. I think he was deeply affected by those experiences, and in today's world he might have been diagnosed with post-tramatic distress disorder. Although he had plenty of seniority at his work, he preferred to always work the graveyard shift, midnight to eight. I think perhaps this might have been due to difficulty sleeping at night, and again perhaps related to the wartime experiences.

I used to work with many guys who were WWII veterans, including one crazy photographer who joined up as a 17-year-old and came ashore on D-Day shooting a camera instead of a rifle. Another guy I worked with was Sonny Elliot--anyone from Michigan will know the name--a famous television weather man. Sonny was an officer in the Army Air Corps in WWII, and his plane was shot down over Germany. He was in a German POW camp for over a year. When the Nazis found out he was Jewish, he was segregated from other prisoners and given different treatment. Again, I can't recall that he ever spoke about it. I learned the details from other guys at work.

My best friend while growing up in grades one to three was a guy named Craig. In the fourth grade our school districts changed and we went to different schools, but we remained friends. He was very interested in aviation, and after high school graduation he joined the Army in 1968 to learn to fly. He was killed in a helicopter crash in Texas during training. He was the first person of my age that I knew who died. I remember going to his funeral and the burial with a military honor guard.

elaelap posted 11-13-2011 01:28 PM ET (US)     Profile for elaelap  Send Email to elaelap     
Fascinating post, Jim. My wife Edie is Jewish and was named after her uncle (her mother's brother) Edal who was a navigator in a bomber shot down over Czechoslovakia in 1944. The rest of the crew survived in German prison camps until the end of the war, but Edal, identified as a Jew, was separated from the rest of the crew, killed by the Nazis and buried in an unmarked grave. My wife prizes post-war letters from the bomber's skipper and crew describing what happened, as well as the posthumous air medal and documentation Edal's family received. Not religious, my wife still lights a candle every year in memory of her namesake, who of course she never knew. BTW, Edal was 22 years old when he was killed.

Tony

lizard posted 11-13-2011 07:53 PM ET (US)     Profile for lizard  Send Email to lizard     
My uncle Joe was a working man, owned a roofing business, had 7 Irish kids, a great laugh and a penchant for brandy alexanders at the holidays. He was a very happy-go-lucky guy on the surface.

He never spoke about his Naval service or the Battle for Savo Island. My aunt said it really changed him. I think he may have been on the Quincy.

egres posted 11-13-2011 09:49 PM ET (US)     Profile for egres  Send Email to egres     
Two Uncles and brothers on the Matriarch side did fall at the "Battle" of Dieppe for the Glory and Honor of the Royal 22 Regiment.
I think of them every year.

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