As a wounded Casualty of War of Vietnam, uppermost in my emotions there has always been a special melancholy for those wounded in my war, but, especially for the families of those who were Killed in Action in my war. There is a never-ending pain of the loss for all those family members, who visit the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. It will be with them until their own deaths. For me the history of all warfare in the past and uppermost for the current conflicts is that of the losses of mostly young men, who never had the opportunity to live out normal lives. The families of war dead always live with holes in their hearts.
A Linked In connection for me is Justin Roberts, Film Director for Echo Bravo Productions. He visited Kyiv, Ukraine recently and posted his thoughts on his experience there. I relate a part of his touching words with his kind permission. Rarely have I read such touching words!
"I walked in downtown Kyiv and came across a statue of a Cossack overlooking a field of flags of the fallen. As I walked I saw two young women who were lighting candles and laying down flowers. They were crying.
What we always miss in these moments is the scale of it all. Every flag is a mother and father in unimaginable pain. A spouse and child broken. A soldier who could have had a life. Times thousands upon thousands and for nothing. Nothing but greed and ambition.
Every generation faces great evil and how we respond to it tells us about ourselves and our generation.
And while we as a nation debate what we will stand for and are pushed left and right by the winds of propaganda the sea of little flags continue to grow. And the Cossack watches."
This past Memorial Day I was invited by my niece Charlene Miseli to present remarks at a ceremony she planned as a representative of the Travis Manion Foundation at the DFW National Cemetery in Dallas, Tx. Volunteers of the Foundation paid respects at numerous gravesites at the cemetery. It was an especially poignant and memorable time for me, since thirty years ago I had recommended this be the site for the cemetery, when I was serving as Director, National Cemetery System at the Department of Veterans Affairs. My wife Linda, sister Betty and grandchildren Brooke and Beau were able to accompany me to the ceremony. As I spoke I looked out over the straight rows of the crosses over the graves, obviously not only war dead, but graves of Americans, who served our nation in uniform and died normal deaths. The setting is beside a lake and its closest neighbor is Dallas Baptist University.
My closing remarks included;
Freedom flies in your heart like an eagle
Let it soar with the high wind above
Among spirits of soldiers now sleeping.
Guard it with care and with love.
Audie Murphy
They shall not grow old
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.
Laurence Binyon 1914
Americans and our allies in WWI, our brave in wars since, as well as those Ukrainians memorialized in that field of flags sacrificed for freedom. We who cherish and enjoy freedom will never be able to repay the debts we owe them for what they did for us all and their fellow citizens.
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