A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

[Suzie]

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20020527/i/1022506843.2348810258.jpg
President Bush walks through the Normandy American Cemetery, where some 9,000 American war dead from the Second World War D-Day landings are buried, on a Memorial Day visit, May 27, 2002. Bush paid homage to American war dead on Monday and vowed that his generation was ready to make the same sacrifice in the U.S. war against terrorism. Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters source (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020527/170/1luso.html)

A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

Originally Titled, "JUST A COMMON SOLDIER"

by A. Lawrence Vaincourt ©1985

He was getting old and paunchy
and his hair was falling fast
And he sat around the Legion
telling stories of the past,

Of a war that he had fought in
and the deeds that he had done
In his exploits with his buddies;
they were heroes, everyone.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors,
his tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened,
for they knew whereof he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer,
for old Bob has passed away
And the world's a little poorer,
for a soldier died today.

No he won't be mourned by many,
just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary
very quiet sort of life,

He held a job and raised a family,
quietly going on his way;
And the world won't note his passing;
'tho a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing
and proclaim that they were great,

Papers tell of their life stories
from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier
goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution
to the welfare of our land
Some jerk who breaks his promise
and cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
who in times of war and strife
Goes off to serve his Country
and offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate
to the services he gives,

While the ordinary soldier,
who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal,
and perhaps a pension small.

It's so easy to forget them,
for it was so long ago
That our Bob's and Jim's and Johnny's
went to battle, but we know

It was not the politicians,
with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
that our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger
with your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out
with his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a soldier
who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin, and country,
and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier
and his ranks are growing thin
But his presence should remind us,
we may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict,
then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor
while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
at the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
in the paper that might say:
OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
FOR A SOLDIER DIED TODAY.
________________________________________


Remembering them all, as we mark this Memorial Day.

[Suzie]

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American lives, America’s loss



Army Rangers from Hunter Airfield in Savannah, Ga., carry the coffin of fellow Ranger Marc A. Anderson, who died with seven other soldiers during a firefight, trying to rescue an injured Navy SEAL.




May 27 -- A military bugler plays "Taps" at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery during Memorial Day Service on Monday.



ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 26 — When Marc Anderson was born, the doctor told his parents the baby was so strong, they should give him a strong name. So they borrowed from Roman times and named him Marc Anthony. When Marc Anthony Anderson was killed in Afghanistan in March, the 30-year-old soldier from Brandon, Fla., left a legacy as daunting as his name.

ANDERSON, an elite Army Ranger, died with seven other soldiers during a nine-hour firefight, trying to rescue an injured Navy SEAL.
He left memories of his bravery: He was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal and Purple Heart. He left examples of his generosity: The former math teacher, who planned to return to teaching, had stipulated that part of his life insurance benefit go to pay college tuition for an exceptional student.
But most of all, Anderson left memories of his spirit — the strapping soldier who personified the Ranger code by dying while trying to help a fellow warrior.
At his funeral he was eulogized as “a beautiful soul.”
This Memorial Day, as flags fly at half-staff around the nation and military graves are adorned with flowers, many beautiful souls will be remembered — men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice, in past wars, in faraway lands.
But the freshest memories, and some of the most poignant, will be of those who have died most recently in Afghanistan.

‘TWO GENES,’ ONE SOLDIER
In Morgantown, W.Va., they will remember Gene Vance Jr., the 38-year-old mountain biker who spoke Farsi and who kept his military life such a secret that even his closest friends didn’t know until after his death that he had received a Bronze Star in 1993.
“There were two Genes,” said his best friend and biking buddy, Ed Evans. “And we lost both of them.”
There was the newly married Vance, a perennial college student, who managed the Whitetail Cycle & Fitness bike store, loved the Grateful Dead, and was starting a new life in a small ranch house with his wife, Lisa.
And there was the military Vance, whose honeymoon was cut short last summer, and whose life was cut short this month. The U.S. Special Forces soldier died May 19 in a gun battle in eastern Afghanistan.

DANIEL AND DONNIE
In the small town of Cheshire in western Massachusetts, they will remember 32-year-old Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Petithory, the altar boy turned prankster, who donned Elvis glasses on parachute jumps and once wore a grass skirt on a canoe trip. He died last December, when an American bomb, carrying 2,000 pounds of explosives, mistakenly landed about 100 yards from his position.

He grew from a lanky boy to a man; from a wisecracking teen-ager to a soldier of boundless courage,” his uncle Henry Petithory said at his nephew’s funeral. “From a humble small-town neighbor arose a hero for the nation.”
The same might have been said of Petithory’s comrade, 39-year-old Master Sgt. Jefferson Davis, who died in the same accident.
In the tiny town of Watauga, Tenn., where Davis grew up, he was known simply as “Donnie.” They named a bridge for Donnie in Watauga, to immortalize the quiet Tennessean who loved fishing and motorcycling and his family.
“My father was a great man, and I love him and I’m proud of what he did,” his 14-year-old daughter, Christina wrote in an open letter that lay next to his flag-draped casket. “He died defending the U.S. He died defending YOU.”
Her pride has been echoed by family members of fallen servicemen and women around the country.

‘THE PERFECT PERSON’
“If you wanted somebody to go to war and represent you, my son was the perfect one,” said Bob Bancroft of Redding, Calif. “He was tall and straight and proud. He was the perfect person to represent this country.”

His son, Marine Capt. Matthew Bancroft, was so proud of his hometown of Burney, the father said, that he couldn’t resist “buzzing” by the remote Northern California area in a KC-130 refueling jet after he earned his pilot’s wings.
But perfect sons die, too.
In January, the military tanker Bancroft was


MORE HERE (http://www.msnbc.com/news/756935.asp)

[Suzie]

The Meaning of Memorial Day

by Fred Langston

The custom of placing flowers on the graves of the war dead began in 1866 and in 1868 General John A Logan declared May 30 would be a day to decorate with flowers the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country.

After World War I the day was extended to pay homage and honor the Dead of all wars. The most solemn ceremony conducted on Memorial Day is the placing of a wreath at the "Tomb of the Unknowns" located in Arlington National Cemetery.

Memorial Day had a more popular name called Decoration Day as it is the day when we offer flowers to our soldier dead and lay flowers on the hallowed ground where these heroes sleep after having given their lives in the causes of our country.

The parades, floats, marching bands and the lines of veterans from World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm all pay tribute to those gallant men and women who willingly answered their country's call And who paid the ultimate price.

We of today's America owe them so much and seem to appreciate them so little. Many of us have only the foggiest notion of the real meaning of Memorial Day. Because of their valor and deeds we do not have to tremble at the sound of Nazi jackboots pounding down our streets, nor have to humble ourselves at the feet of a communist commissar, or pay tribute to a demi-god wielding a samurai sword. Nor do we need to fear any one of the long line of dictators and war lords who have paraded themselves across the pages of recent history.

It would behoove us to humble ourselves for just one moment each year and return to the old American tradition of slowing our pace at 11 A.M. on Memorial Day, pay reverence and thank those honored dead for what they did. Far too often our nation takes for granted the freedoms all Americans enjoy.

Let us remember these freedoms were bought and paid for by the lives of others few of us actually knew. They came from all walks of life and regions of the country. But they all had one thing in common - love and loyalty to country.

By honoring the nation's war dead, we preserve their memory and thus their service and sacrifices in the memories of future generations.

Frederick G Langston

State of Washington Legislative Officer

The Veterans of Foreign Wars

POB 3111, Wenatchee WA 98807-3111

509-662-7288 FAX 509-667-2016

[**DONOTDELETE**]

A SOLDIER'S LETTER HOME - A TESTAMENT TO ONE WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE.


Washington D.C.
May 25, 1865


Friend Eliza,

I rec'd you letter of the 17th about one hour since and will haste to answer it. Russel is on guard today with the rest of our Co. and I suppose that I shall be on in the morning. The duty is very heavy at present but we are in hopes that it will be lighter now that this Grand Review is over.

You spoke very feelingly of poor Frank and how can I comfort you, the loss is felt by every man in the company and he is spoken of often and always with great respect. He was brave, not recklessly, but steady and firm. The morning of the 19th of Oct. no man in the whole army carried himself firmer than did Frank. I heard the ball that hit him and knew that he was hit before I looked around, for he was the only one standing there. But that is a sad subject, I will try and tell you about it when I get home.

That likeness (photograph) that Frank had, I retained at his request but I think you are the proper person to have it and with your permission will send it to you. We had often spoken about the likenesses (photographs) that we had and if either of us were injured, the other was to take them and do as he thought proper. The picture is Mary Van Sykes and I sent that home with a request that it should be preserved. The case that belonged with it is here in my knapsack. If you wish it, I will mail it to you and write our folks to let you have the picture or you can show this to them and they will let you have it.

Frank was more than a brother to me and I miss him. Sadly after passing through so many dangers, to have him fall in our last fight seems doubly hard. If he had passed the crest of that hill he might still have been alive for we lost but very few men after that.

Would to God that I could return him to your arms Eliza, how gladly I would do it but I cannot wish any more accept this.

From your sincere friend,
E.J. Leggett
116th NY Infantry Regiment

(Frank Burlingham was Eliza's brother. A soldier in the 116th New York, he had served with his unit from 1862. He was killed at the Battle of Cedar Creek Virginia on the morning of October 19, 1864. He rests forever with his comrades in the National Cemetery at Charlestown West Virginia).