The flag is up, the flag is waving….

[Norman]

Written about Memorial Day Saturday, which makes raising the flag very special.

Why am I just looking up at my flag, it is a perfect sailing day!

I do have an excuse or two.
I sold my sailboat last fall.
My son, his wife, and two granddaughters are here.
My sailing friends are all busy with their Memorial Day activities.
My other son’s daughter just married yesterday, and all the planning for this weekend is related to that event.
No sailing, but that is just a side light to the real focus of this weekend.

A busy time, a great time, and this is just being posted on Sunday, when things have slowed down.

The flag is up again today, but hanging limply, no a breeze stirring.  Today is going to be hot, and I suppose that if I were out on a sailboat it would be a frustrating day.  Who knows, not I, for I have not looked at the forecast.

Edited to add:  Wind 0 to 2 all day today, maybe 4 during the night, then 0 to 2 Monday.  Fishing, not sailing conditions on the Chesapeake Bay.

The flag will be up again tomorrow, wind or not, rain or not, all day, because I remember.

One relative that I never met.
One that left his leg behind.
One who is living without an arm.

Many, who like myself, came home complete, and thankful for the good luck of time and place.

Have a good Memorial Day, all of you still standing tall on this weekend, and enjoy the life that others have assured that we can have.

[Norman]

Sunday brunch at the American Legion, with new friends and old. :)

I wore my "Election Judge" tie, with small American flags all over a midnight blue background.  Judge, then Chief Judge were another duty served for my country, with fairness for all.  In current events, that is a very important service.

Short chat with two Viet Nam veterans, whom I had not made acquaintance with prior.  They had a very much different adventure in the drafted man's Army than mine.  They would have happily exchanged with me.  They were all too aware that they were fortunate to make it home.

To me, 65,000 is just a number, to them it is the friends that are included.

For a long time, the Viet Nam vets did not feel welcome at the Legion, as they incorrectly thought that the 'real veterans' had similar attitudes with the small part of our population that was heaping ridicule on them.  Today, they are a very active part of our organization.

[CapnK]

I've a great Uncle (I think that's what he would be called) who drove an Army "deuce-and-a-half" truck onto Normandy Beach on D-Day +3. He eventually drove that truck into Germany, and came home to finish his life. His best buddy didn't make it; one day stopped for lunch and sitting right next to Uncle Frank, a sniper found him.
One shot.

Three of my regular Uncles served in various capacities during Korea and 'Nam, and Thankfully, they all made it back. Dad tried but couldn't get in due to health reasons, but his brother Roger was an Air Force SP. On Mom's side my Godfather Bill was an Army medic in Japan. Her other brother Walt, he went career in the Navy, joining UDT 12 in 63' (a frogman), he later transferred into SEAL Team 1 starting in '66. He had 6 tours there in the next 6 years as one of the Green Men of the Mekong. One of his commanding officers in a book he wrote gave my Uncle Walt total credit for the fact that during his tour commanding Walt's unit, he lost not a single man.
Walt came back and was a "Leapfrog", jumping out of the back of Fat Albert at airshows and competitions. He retired after 26 years as a Master Chief. He's the only Uncle still alive, and I think it is good that after serving as he did, he has lived long enough to see the ridicule et al by those who stayed behind to end, and respect to have grown in it's place.

Personally I am humbled, incredibly grateful, and fortunate that so many people I do not know sacrificed like they did to protect Freedom for the rest of us, and I try to keep it in mind every day. We owe them an incalculable debt.