MEMORIAL DAY 2017

FLAGS PLACED ON MOUNTAINS OF AGRICULULTURAL LIME

Monday, Memorial Day, 9:00 AM.  56 degrees F at the ferry dock, 64 on the back porch.  Wind WNW, light with moderate gusts. The sky is mostly cloudy, with some overcast, the humidity 84%.  The barometer is beginning to rise, now at 29.62", predicting clearing skies with cool temperatures for the balance of the week.
  I was something of a wise guy at 21 years of age when I was in basic training, but I was put in my place, gently but firmly, by Sergent Arpin, an avuncular figure who replaced a succession of inept drunks as my platoon sergeant.  He was rather rotund, out of shape, and more of a father figure than a military presence. How and why he ended up with our bunch of troublesome misfits was a mystery.
   Sometime after Sergent Arpin's  arrival, the commandant, doubtless sensing an overall lack of military decorum,  issued orders that the entire post would stand retreat at the end of each day.  That involved changing into clean fatigues, polishing boots, and standing at attention and saluting while taps was played and the flag lowered.  All that was viewed as unwelcome nonsense by myself and many others, and I had the trepidation to ask Sargent Arpin why all this was necessary, although I considered it merely a rhetorical question.
   The sergent, who took all this very seriously for some reason unbeknown to me, answered in full, his rheumy eyes suddenly clearer, his middle-aged stance fully military:  "Private Ode," he said, calmly but  sternly, "We stand retreat to honor my buddies who got their asses shot off on Iwo Jima."
   Sarge, I am sure you have long since gone to that great muster in the sky, but you live on in the memory at least one of your charges, himself now an old man.
   I sincerely hope someone had the good sense to bury you in a military cemetery, next to your old buddies, and I hope they play taps over your graves today.
   With a real trumpet, and not one of those tinny-sounding, tape-playing fakes.
Reprinted from the Memorial Day 2015 post of The Almanac.

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN

Lee Greenwood

If tomorrow all the things were gone
I'd worked for all my life
And I had to start again
With just my children and my wife

I'd thank my lucky stars
To be living here today
Cause the flag still stands for freedom
And they can't take that away

And I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me

And I gladly stand up
Next to you and defend her still today
Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA

From the lakes of Minnesota
To the hills of Tennessee
Across the plains of Texas
From sea to shining sea

From Detroit down to Houston,
And New York to L.A
Well there's pride in every American heart
And its time we stand and say

That I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me

And I gladly stand up
Next to you and defend her still today
Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA

And I'm proud to be and American
Where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me

And I gladly stand up
Next to you and defend her still today
Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA

THE GADSEN FLAG, IN USE BY THE AMERICAN MILITARY SINCE 1776