Memorial Day | Syracusefan.com

Memorial Day

My Dad was on Iwo Jima. He was in a foxhole talking to his Colonel when a shell hit on the other side of the foxhole. The Colonel had just said "This is SOME day!" It was the last thing he ever said. He took the brunt of the explosion. My Dad got superficial wounds. My mother got a telegram that he had had been "wounded in the head". No details - for two weeks. Dad survived the war and my brother was born in 1946, I in 1953. I don't know if the Colonel got the chance to have kids.
 
My Dad was on Iwo Jima.
"OK on the count of three, I'll take the 'upside' of the flag, you take the 'downside' of the flag." -SWC's Dad

Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima%2C_larger_-_edit1.jpg
 
On the Channel 3 morning news program a millennial, (Amanda Hull, reading from something she may not have written), said D-Day was "Operation Overload".

I read a book once about d-day,it had a different name at the time but Overlord is the given name now.. Never really found that book again to see what it was and I cant remember anymore.
 
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, began in the United States after the Civil War to honor soldiers who died in the conflict. The first widely recognized observance was on May 30, 1868, when General John A. Logan, leader of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Union veterans’ organization, called for a nationwide day to decorate soldiers’ graves with flowers. This date was chosen because it wasn’t tied to any specific battle, and flowers would bloom.
Source: Grok


The flowers referenced by Grok were the spring roses in my great-great-grandmother's garden. She was John A. Logan's cousin and suggested the flower connection when General Logan told her he wanted to choose the proper date for the holiday.

My great-great-grandfather served in the Union Army and was captured by the Confederates. He was eventually shipped to the notorious POW camp Andersonville. One day, the guards lined the prisoners up and picked several, including great-great-grandad, out of the crowd. He thought the Union prisoners were going to be shot, but they had been chosen to be orderlies in the nearby rebel hospital. Great-Great-Grandad said he wasn't much for taking care of rebs, but at least they feed us.

That random act may have saved his life. Memorial Day is meant to honor all those who were not as lucky as he was.
 
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My Grandfather served in the 310th Machine Gun Battalion in the Argonne Forest fighting the Germans in the First World War. In his specific company over 1000 dead and over 5000 injured. He was one of the lucky ones who made it home alive.
 
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My Grandfather served in the 310th Machine Gun Battalion in the Argonne Forest fighting the Germans in the First World War. In his specific battalion over 1000 dead and over 5000 injured. He was one of the lucky ones who made it home alive.
My uncle (18 years old) landed on D Day and during the Battle of the Bulge freed a bunch of American prisoners. During WWI my grandfather won the Croix de Guerre (I own it) for heroism as an ambulance driver.
 

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