poprad

Tomorrow I hope everyone can make time to visit a cemetery where some folks who served our country are laid to rest. I will have the honor of laying a wreath at the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery in northern France tomorrow, which is the largest American WWI cemetery. If you're not near a place of remembrance maybe just take a minute to thank those who fell in the line of duty wearing the uniforms of our country.

I took this at the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial and Cemetery this morning. American volunteers who fell in service to France as pilots in WWI are laid to rest in the crypt below the memorial itself.



The service men and women buried at all of your American Cemeteries abroad fell doing their duty, I imagine all they ask is for us to remember them.

Semper Fi and I wish everyone a safe and reflective Memorial Day

79pmooney

I learned recently where Memorial Day started. It wasn't on foreign soil. After a battle (in Florida I recall but could be wrong), the Black towns people went to the battle site to honor and properly bury the Union troops.

poprad

I've read that too, there's a lot of stories how it began but in general most agree that it was a day that folks went to the Union cemeteries in the years immediately after the war and picnicked at the graves of their loved ones. I'm lucky to work where I do and have the opportunity to participate in our ceremonies to honor the fallen in foreign lands. Seeing a field of 14,000 crosses with a small American and French flag at each one is s sobering sight.


Pre dawn fog at the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery, Memorial Day 2019

The Golden Boy 

Mike Deblois- C Co 1/508 (ABN)- Operation Just Cause- Panama.

zandoval 

https://www.uso.org/stories/2990-wha...e-u-s-military

I personally do not dwell on those I may have helped or saved in the defense of my country but rather i think often of those who kept me alive to see these future days. Memorial day reminds me that I swore an oath...

steelbikeguy

I was just visiting the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery last Sunday, in addition to visiting the Missouri Civil War Museum nearby. These are located at the southern portion of St. Louis, Missouri.
per the wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffer...ional_Cemetery
"Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery is an American military cemetery located in St. Louis County, Missouri, just on the banks of the Mississippi River. The cemetery was established after the American Civil War in an attempt to put together a formal network of military cemeteries. It started as the Jefferson Barracks Military Post Cemetery in 1826 and became a United States National Cemetery in 1866.The first known burial was Elizabeth Ann Lash, the infant child of an officer stationed at Jefferson Barracks.

The cemetery is administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs on the former site of Jefferson Barracks. It covers 331 acres (134 ha) and the number of interments as of 2021 is approximately 237,000."

to be clear, while some graves are those of war time fatalities, many are for veterans who went on to live a full life.









Steve in Peoria, known for a while as Sgt. Steve, USMC

StanSeven

As you all know only cycling related posts are allowed in the forums here. The exception is P&R. However this thread is about a noteworthy cause. We will let it continue but leave out political content. We already deleted one political comment.

John E

I'll bring it back to bicycling, since I have the bike for it.

Nothing like riding a red, white, and blue made-in-USA Schwinn on a national holiday. I even bought it from a San Diego firefighter.

On Memorial Day I think of my maternal grandfather, who survived a shrapnel wound in France during WWI, but sustained resulting blood poisoning and permanent kidney impairment.
Recommended Memorial Day soundtrack: Home Free and Lee Greenwood singing "God Bless the USA" together.

79pmooney

My paternal grandfather; my most beloved relative. Went over as cannon fodder; a corporal in a company of corporals to replace fallen corporals. Knew they weren't coming home. Only two did. His first son; my dad was born on the real Memorial Day, May 30th (that we get to honor this year).

msalvetti

Boston Common, over 37,000 flags. One for each service member from Massachusetts that gave their lives defending our country since the Revolutionary War. About 4,000 from the Revolution; 13,500 in the Civil War; 3,500 in WWI; 13,100 in WWII; 3,000 from Korea through Vietnam; 388 since.

bamboobike4

I ride there infrequently, but will get my paving stone there, eventually. Just a marker, while some med school student dissects me like a frog.

Peruano

One of the best bike tours I've done was a bike and barge tour from Paris to Bruges on the Elode.. It was basically a WWI era barge outfitted to accommodate 4 couples and crew. The route primarily through northern France went by and allowed stops at innumerable military Cemetaries. Some were small, some were huge, all were sobering. The tour involved the barge moving ahead each day and the cyclists catching up in the afternoon sometimes by a circuitous route. No bags to move, waterside room every night, and a relatively inexpensive way to see Europe, its countryside, and its history.

John E

That sounds like a delightful way to travel, and an improvement over standard river cruising.

John E

Thank you for your service before and -- I hope a long time from now -- after death. One of my cycling friends donated his body to the UCSD medical school, and I later attended a very moving memorial service in which various med students and doctors paid heartfelt homage to their respective "first patients." I have told my wife and sons that I want to go that same route after I no longer need this mortal body.

poprad

poprad

poprad

Thanks for leaving this one up, and for the leeway. I figured I was on thin ice with just the Singer pic.

The pics above are all from our ceremony today, well-attended by French folks who still respect the sacrifice of so many young warriors.

bamboobike4

We can only hope that, had the battles been on our lands, we’d act the same. Perhaps that’s the key. We lost men and women. They lost so much more, yet are able to honor strangers they never met.

I used to go to a memorial that includes the names of men that were in in my charge. Then I tried to do what they’d do, which was normal stuff; bike ride, drink a beer, try to kiss a girl. We’d all discussed the “ifs” and the underlying agreement was, “no biggie, don’t burn the barbecue.”

I was fortunate enough to chaperone real heroes to the dedication of the WWII Memorial, decades late. Section M. Few know what that means.

I learned a lot from those guys. Now, I definitely don’t burn the barbecue.

poprad

Thanks for sharing that. I have to admit I'm not familiar with that (Section M) and would love to hear more about it. Thanks for your service and I'll join you in raising a glass to lost friends today. Maybe someday our descendants won't need to, at least not from personal experience.

If anyone wants to see the full album from yesterday:
Meuse Argonne American Cemetery, Memorial Day 2022

Thanks for everyone's comments on this thread, and for the service of those who have been in harm's way for your country. I don't mean that in a war-glorifying saber-rattling kind of way. I mean it as a heartfelt appreciation for those who fell, and for those who survived and get to remember them. It's our collective privilege.

Warmest Regards and Semper Fi,
Mark

Choke 

Something that I think many people forget is that not all who make the ultimate sacrifice do so during wartime. Training for war is dangerous and sometimes things go wrong.

On 20 March 1989 a CH-53 crashed near Pohang, South Korea during Team Spirit (an annual exercise). 18 Marines and 1 Navy Corpsman lost their lives in that crash and a number of others were seriously injured. The Marines being transported were members of Charlie Co, 1st BN 5th Marines and in 1988 I had left Bravo Co 1/5 for other duties. I knew 4 of the people on that helo; LT. Wooten had been my old Plt Commander/XO, LCpl Gomez had been in my PLT, LCpl Pesuti was a friend from ITS and PFC Decker had been in another PLT in my Company.

RIP Kevin Wooten and Kurt Decker.

A full list of the names is at - https://usmcronbo.tripod.com/id98.htm

Deal4Fuji

True - On the way home from Wilmington yesterday my wife & I stopped by the Lejeune Memorial Gardens. This memorial park started out as a memorial to those lost in the '82 Beirut Bombings where 241 US servicemen lost their lives in a "peacekeeping" mission.


They have also added other memorials including Viet Nam





The Montford Point Marine Memorial honoring the 1st African-American training facility




Also some recognition of those wounded but thankfully not killed


The civilians uprooted from their homes to make way for an ocean front military base

Deal4Fuji

......and civilian first responders lost as a result of terrorism

poprad

Point well made. I was in Okinawa with 7th Comm Bn at Camp Hansen when that happened, I remember hearing about it. We also lost an LAV with all crew on board during our deployment workup in '90 before Desert Storm even started. I was in the 26th MEU and the LAV went off the ramp in deep water, no one ever came up. Every deployment i was on saw at least one training related death. Dangerous business indeed.

poprad

True, and even in the course of their normal duties. I have two friends on the law enforcement memorial wall killed in the line of duty. I'll never forget them.

BFisher

PFC Carpellotti Memorial, Old Forge, PA.



Memorial service in Taylor, PA today:


Thank you to all who have served.