I was flying to Dad's memorial service back in 2011. This was the view out of my airplane window:
I'll reproduce here what I liveblogged from my phone:
My flight to Detroit just touched down. The flight attendants came on the PA asking everyone to remain seated when we reach the gate, so some soldiers returning back to Afghanistan.
Everyone clapped. Everyone.
Then the Captain came on. He said we were taking a fallen soldier home. You could have heard a pin drop.
God Speed, whoever you are. I can't imagine any thanks can possibly fill the void your family feels.
We're at the gate, and the plane is clapping for the soldiers again. Out the window, you can see the cars lined up on the tarmac for our fallen hero. Everyone' crowded around the windows.
It feels like you're in church - that you're in the presence of something holy.
That weekend Dad was much on my mind that weekend, but this wasn't an old man coming home to lie with his brothers, it was someone in the flush of youth. Someone who didn't get the chance to bury his father; on the contrary, someone whose father met him on the tarmac on his last flight.
Maybe Donald Trump is doing something to end the endless wars we've been in these two decades or more. At least we've brought the fallen home.
This weekend I don't think that the fallen would begrudge you your time with family and friends. But remember them.
Amen! Well said, BP!
ReplyDeleteRest in Peace Joe, Harry, Marty, Rob, Ed, Ross, Amb Stevens and all the rest lost on their mission to keep America Free. I pray we don't let your sacrifice be for nought.
juvat
Well said.
ReplyDeleteDang, made me cry and I'm a 74 year old Viet Nam era vet. Too many have died, even after the wars, from Agent Orange, Sand Box burn pits, depleted uranium, materials handling, suicide and who knows what else.
ReplyDeleteOur leaders (rulers) are wretched.
Agreed.
DeleteI love you Yanks but hells bells… you guys really, REALLY gotta start taking a hard look at the kind of firefights you’re getting into, what has been accomplished and who your friends and enemies really are. No disrespect to the squaddies… but I’m developing a true contempt and hatred for the people that have spent their lives literally for nothing.
I think your most dire and serious enemies are now inside the perimeter, so to speak. Your best people are literally getting killed in foreign dumps while your dregs and turdies run amok at home…
Always remember those who made it possible with their lives. We owe them that much...
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