I was going to post this yesterday, but ASM826 posted about the victims of that day. But this story is exceptionally well-told and deserves to be remembered.
No training. This was just what people did that day.
- One of the captains that evacuated Manhattan on 9/11
It's
not quite fair to call this "America's Dunkirk", since the English
Channel is a lot wider than the Hudson River. And the Luftwaffe had
something to say in 1940, that they didn't have in 2001.
But this
is a great story, well told by Tom Hanks. About the time that the Coast
Guard sent out a radio message to all boats that can help evacuate
Manhattan. This is the story of the boats who responded, and evacuated a
Million people in a day.
I've posted about this before. But this seems somehow apropos. And click through to that post to see the comment from Friend Of The Blog Paul, Dammit! who knows a bunch of the people interviewed in this. It's worth your time.
82 years ago was the battle of Midway. The torpedo bombers sacrificed themselves almost to a man but that opened the way for the dive bombers to rip the heart out of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
106 years ago the Marines went on the assault at Belleau Woods in the Great War. It was one of the costliest days in Marine Corps history, and took heroes like First Sergent Dan Daly to rally the men: Come on you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?
Memorial Day is the traditional start of summer. Beach, swimming pools,
and backyard barbecue is the agenda for most. But that's not what the
day is about. I posted this twelve years ago and it still captures the
spirit of this weekend. Christian Golczynski is around twenty five years old now.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Memorial Day isn't about barbecuesfor
Christian Golczynski. He was eight years old when LTC Ric Thompson
handed him the flag that had draped his father's coffin. That was five
years ago.
This
weekend will be the fifth Memorial Day where he won't be thinking about
barbecues. Next month will be the fifth Father's Day with an empty
chair at the dinner table.
That is what Memorial Day is about.
I've
posted this song a number of times over the last year or two, as it
captures in music the sound of a heart breaking. The song alternates
between memories of the loved and lost, and the stumbling emptiness as
the singer tries - and fails - to make sense of the loss. It's not your
typical sentimental Country music song, it's pure, 100 proof grief.
For some, that is what Memorial Day is about.
There
is no official music video for this song; Messina is no longer the
chart topping singer that she was in the 1990s. But people have taken
this music and found photographs that amplify the music and make it
personal. The second picture is one that I found particularly moving -
nearly as much as the one of young Master Golczynski shown here.
I came by today to see you Though I had to let you know If I knew the last time that I held you was the last time, I'd have held you and never let go Oh it's kept me awake night wonderin' Lie in the dark, just asking "why?" I've always been told you won't be called home until it's your time
I guess Heaven was needing a hero Somebody just like you Brave enough to stand up for what you believe and follow it though When I try to make it make sense in my mind The only conclusion I come to Is that Heaven was needing a hero like you
I remember the last time I saw you Oh you held your head up proud I laughed inside when I saw how you were, standing out in the crowd You're such a part of who I am Now that part will just be void No matter how much I need you now Heaven needed you more
'Cause Heaven was needing a hero Somebody just like you Brave enough to stand up for what you believe and follow it though When I try to make it make sense in my mind The only conclusion I come to Is that Heaven was needing a hero like you
Yes, Heaven was needing a hero...that's you.
Abraham Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby is justly famous:
Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.
Dear Madam,
I
have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the
Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons
who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and
fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you
from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from
tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the
Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage
the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory
of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have
laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln
Christian
Golczynski also laid a sacrifice on that same altar of our freedom, a
sacrifice costly beyond our reckoning. I hope that the fullness of time
will ease his anguish as well. I fear that it will not.
That
is what Memorial Day is about. Not a barbecue in sight, just pure, 100
proof grief. This weekend as you go about your normal business of
life, remember SSgt Marcus Golczynski. And Christian. And what that
sacrifice means. May this Republic be worthy of them.
As you'd expect, Dwight has the skinny. Moving from battleships to naval aviation, he flew 200 combat missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Then he came back for Korea.
Go read his story. Giants strode the face of the earth back then.
Fair winds and following seas, Lieutenant Commander.
SGT Chuck Mawhinney - the greatest Marine Corps sniper ever - has reported to the final muster. As always, Dwight has the writeup (highly recommended).
What struck me was what he did when he came back from Vietnam. Seeing how other veterans were treated, he pretty much dropped the whole military thing - he got a job with the Forest Service, hunted and shot trap, married and had kids, and seems to have been one of the solid, quiet, dependable community guys.
Then his story came out in the 1990s when the country was ready to treat the 'Nam vets right. He got some much deserved recognition then, but the years before strike me as nothing so much as a sniper knowing how not to be seen.
103 confirmed kills with another 216 probables. Wow.
Rest in peace, Sargent.
Now get on over to Dwight's place and read the amazing story.
Yesterday was Veteran's/Remembrance Day, a day we honor those who have served. Many don't, and for those we have the words from the Bard of Avon, who described the bond between veterans better than anything ever written in the English language.
The 1989 film is a masterpiece. If you haven't seen it you are in store for a treat. Not only was it an all-star Shakespearean cast, but Patrick Doyle's score is a tour de force. one made more impressive because it was his very first film score.
Film critic (and notorious grump) Roger Ebert wrote of Kenneth Branagh's St. Crispin's Day speech:
There is no more stirring summons to arms in all of literature than Henry's speech to his troops on St. Crispan's Day, ending with the lyrical 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.' To deliver this speech successfully is to pass the acid test for anyone daring to perform the role of Henry V in public, and as Kenneth Branagh, as Henry, stood up on the dawn of the Battle of Agincourt and delivered the famous words, I was emotionally stirred even though I had heard them many times before. That is one test of a great Shakespearian actor: to take the familiar and make it new.
I've posted this scene many time here on this blog, and it never gets old or stale. It is, after all, the best description of the bonds between veterans ever penned in the English language.
This day is less somber in the USA - we have our remembrance day in May with Memorial Day (which pre-dates Remembrance Day by some 50 years). Today on these shores it's "Thank a Veteran" Day.
But in Europe and the ANZAC nations, this remembers when a whole generation was butchered and damned.
You can visit young Willie McBride in the Authuille Military Cemetery, grave A.36.
You can clearly see the inacurate opening salvos of Hood well ahead and aft of Bismark, using the slow and fatally time losing Royal Navy technique of stradling the target.
Using the Ziess optical range finding system Bismark opened up very accurately almost on target with her first salvos. This was referenced by Esmond Knight, who was fall of shot spotting for Hood, from his position on the bridge of Prince of Wales.
Mr Knight said the first falls of shot from Bismark on Hood were "far too close for comfort."
Having "disposed of the Hood, Bismark turned her devastating fire power on Prince of Wales and a 15 inch shell from Bismarck passed directly through Prince of Wales' bridge killing everyone except the Captain , a couple of other crew" and blinding Lt Esmond Knight RNVR.
In the film Sink the Bismark (clip available on You Tube), Knight (an actor before WW2 ) actually was asked by the Director to act the role of Captain of the Prince of Wales, and duffle coated in the film on the bridge of the Prince of Wales removes the binoculars from his blind eyes having watched the destruction of Hood. Immediately after this moment he was blinded in the real action.
No training. This was just what people did that day.
- One of the captains that evacuated Manhattan on 9/11
It's not quite fair to call this "America's Dunkirk", since the English Channel is a lot wider than the Hudson River. And the Luftwaffe had something to say in 1940, that they didn't have in 2001.
But this is a great story, well told by Tom Hanks. About the time that the Coast Guard sent out a radio message to all boats that can help evacuate Manhattan. This is the story of the boats who responded, and evacuated a Million people in a day.
I've posted about this before. But this seems somehow apropos. And click through to that post to see the comment from Friend Of The Blog Paul, Dammit! who knows a bunch of the people interviewed in this. It's worth your time.
And you do read his blog every day, don't you? Thought so.
Once the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor and then Adolf Hitler declared war on us the following day, that ship had sailed. These men fought because we had been attacked, and because Hitler had thrown his hat into the ring with Tojo.
As Big Country likes to say, period, dot.
Having stood at the top of that ridge at Omaha beach, and having walked the grounds of that cemetery, remember the men of that day.
Enjoy your day but spare a thought for these heroes.
UPDATE 29 MAY 2023 13:23: Dwight takes a day off from his regular fare of obits and which sports coach got fired, to remind us of combat casualties as well. Remember their stories.
The last of the World War II Medal of Honor recipients has reported for the final muster. Here is a 4 year old video of his recollections of that day on Iwo.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a day for reflection on those who gave everything they had and everything they would ever be for something larger than them. That something is us, and the world is filled with the graves of the fallen, and will likely see new ones until the World is remade.
A lot of people seem to think that Memorial Day is "thank a veteran" Day. I guess that could work, but only if you were at a cemetery. The roots of Memorial Day go deep, all the way back to the American War of Southern Independence*, where "Decoration Day" was reserved to take flowers to the graves of the Fallen. Late May was chosen because flowers would be in bloom in every corner of the Republic.
Nowadays it's the long weekend that starts the summer season. Trips to the lake, grilling out, and cold beer push the original meaning aside. Few take flowers to the graves anymore, which is a damn shame. The Fallen deserve a day of remembrance.
This weekend, we are called to reflect on these fallen. Art at its best is there to help lead the way. Classical music used to offer many selections for solemn days like this before it was degraded like all modern art. Fortunately, Classical music has found a niche where it yet thrives, with talented composers writing new music for the cinema. Perhaps the greatest of these in our age is John Williams. He wrote this for the film Saving Private Ryan, where it played during the final credits. This is a tour of those graves. Sadly, many Americans have not been to any of these places.
The Fallen remain forever 20 years old. Remember them tomorrow as you fire up your grill. I don't think they - or the boys from Gettysburg or Fredericksburg or Cold Harbor or Pearl Harbor or Normandy or a thousand other hallowed grounds - would begrudge you your family enjoyment. But remember them. That's what Memorial Day is about.
* It is vulgarly called the "Civil War". It wasn't. The South didn't want to take over the North, it wanted to leave it.
The doors to America's Temple of Janus remain open, and will continue to be open as long as war is good for business. That's a quite cynical reading of the current situation, but the old expression "Rich man's war, poor man's fight" remains as fresh today as it was back in the middle of the 19th Century. The meditation for this weekend is that while sometimes this Republic needs to fight, we should be sober about which fights need fighting. Because some don't come back from that fight.
That's what this weekend is for. It's not barbecues, it's not "Thank a Veteran" Day. This weekend is for the ones who answered the call and who laid the most costly sacrifice upon the Altar of our Freedom. Remember them, and the families they left behind. Justin Moore did with this song, which currently has over 20 Million views on Youtube so I guess that he's not the only one.
Suggested by The Queen Of The World, who knows a thing or two about the sacrifices of those in Service, and their families.
The Ones That Didn’t Make It Back Home (Songwriters Paul DiGiovanni, Chase McGill, Justin Moore, Jeremy Stover)
Tour was up, middle of June She was planning a welcome home barbeque Green bean casserole, Grandma's recipe There was a knock on the door 'round two o'clock Two uniforms and her heart stopped Yellow ribbon 'round an oak tree Blowin' in the breeze
Here's to the ones that didn't make it back home The ones we ain't seen in so long The hold up a beer ones, the wish they were here ones The not forgotten but gone They're in a better place up there But they sure left a hole down here We just go on livin' and go on missin' the ones The ones that didn't make it back home
The whole town shut down, the whole town showed up Sang Amazing Grace, watched a slideshow of His 22 years There was laughs and there was tears And that preacher talked about sacrifice And traffic stopped for them Cadillac lights Johnny sold beer half price that night And everybody raised 'em high, singin'
Here's to the ones that didn't make it back home The ones we ain't seen in so long The hold up a beer ones, the wish they were here ones The not forgotten but gone They're in a better place up there But they sure left a hole down here We just go on livin' and go on missin' the ones The ones that didn't make it back home
Back to that front porch Back through that front door To the life they were fightin' for
Here's to the ones that didn't make it back home The ones we ain't seen in so long The hold up a beer ones, the wish they were here ones The not forgotten but gone They're in a better place up there But they sure left a hole down here We just go on livin' and go on missin' the ones The ones that didn't make it back home
