i expected to be abused for my comment. I'm really damn sorry i wasn't. there...ya feel better now!!!
memorial day isn't for "all vets who served their country." it's for those that were killed doing so. exactlly it's not the time for painting every single vet--from swabbie on the deck of the uss minnow on up as a hero--it's to memorialize all the people that actually died in the armed service of their country. exactly again!
i was in a war and know people that were killed. exactly!i walked american cemeteries in europe and the pacific, and i was color sergeant during the 50th d-day anniversary along normandy beach back in 1994. We traveled in our dress blues in a big white chevy van from american embassy paris to places where us veterans were going to honor their dead and participated in flag and wreathe ceremonies. The french and very keen on these things and do a lot to protect the memory of american, british and canadian lives lost on their land in ww2.
They might be dead now, but the french indochine veterans recognize my bosses ribbons and knew he had served in vietnam. Every little village we showed up in had a groupl of older veterans that would come out in their blue blazers and their ribbons. French people lay wreathes at every monument.
The d-day 50th was an amazing year to be who i was and see what i saw. The numbers of us veterans in france and to stand in front of them, along with the 3 other members of our colors team, was incredible. The little fact that our other flag was the marine corps flag mattered nothing. The us marines didn't land on d-day, but since we were the only us military presence in france in 1994, it didn't matter.
Besides, who is going to walk up to a 200# marine sergeant with 4-rows of ribbons and carrying a 12' spear with an american flag attached to it and tell him he doesn't rate to be here? exactly!