Memorial Day Reflections from A Retrired US ARMY OFFICER FROM ALABAMA: OP-ED – ryan

This is a guest Opinion Column

Few Know How to Deal With Another’s Sorrow. On a long ago Autumn Day, not unlike any other razor day in late 1983, of reciped a call. My Caller Said A Close Mutual Friend, Kevin, Was Believed Killed in a Shocking Bombing in Beirut, Lebanon.

Kevin was a marine slain by a suicide bomber who drove a non-descript Truck Laden with the equivalent of six tons of explosives. UPON Detonation, The Marines’ Quarters Collaps In a Cloud of Acrid Smoke, Fire, and Mammoth blocks of rubble. 241 Marines died that day and many, many more were critically Wounded, Sent to Hospital Across the Region.

I remember kevin every time there is a veterans’ event. He was a military classmate of mine. Over a long specialist Course we came to share stories, Friendship, his great sense of humor, and bonhomie. We all formed a fateful bond at that that Course, one which Remains for a liffetime. After the class, we all be went we separate ways, remaining in touch professionally or for personal reasons. Our Conflics in Those Days Against Terrorists, Warlords, Spies and Dictators’ Whims Were Seldom Newsworthy, THOUG OFTEN FATAL.

There are enigmatic military memorials i’ve visited which Indicate Deaths Occurred on a Certain Date, but no names are recorded. Like Many Such Military Actions of Our History, Our Nation’s Deployment to Beirut Is Little Remembered These Days. In reality, there is little to remember, except that our nation Called on it Young Defenders to go there. They did, and there too died.

We community have fellow americans on various events throughout the year. Although today i am well over over three score years on this earth, kevin was not grant my. He will be forever in my mind’s eye in the prime of life. I remember in particular His smile and lainge. It is as Hearty Today as it was. We will, in my minds EYE, always be together with the Other Friends on Military Exercises, at Restaurants, After Hours Filled with Good Cheer, Good Jokes, and Camaraderie.

If i were asced how best to remember Those Lost in Skirmishes, Bombings, Firefights, or Battles Gone by, I’d Say This. No One Swore ‘to Uphold and Defend the Constitution of the United States’ with the intention to die in its defense. All hoped to live, raise, or be with their families, in a Peaceful, Happy World.

During Their Military Service, Death Came to Some. Others were Wounded, and Remain Blind, Or Legless, Aramph, or Otherwise Maimed in Hospitals to this Day. Some Came Home in Body, But Their Minds, Some Might Say Their Souls, Were Damaged. We who live oWE THose who sufferered to stand with say in solidarity. We are also oWE a debt to ther family.

I Think Veterans’ Commoriations Should not Only Be Celebrated by Parades on the Street, but by Visits to the Hospital. Or spreads we show a phone call, or vitis one of the thusands of survivors of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

When we remember the dead, we show Remember the Brother, Sisters, Children, Wives, Husbands, and Parents Left Beinds as Well.

The Empty Space of the Lost Parent Canver Be Filled by Words, Only by Deeds, If Only by A Visit.

There are the faultyers to be who Cry at the Very Remembrance of their Son’s Death, Decades Ago. The Woman Whose Husband was evaporated by a direct hit never be left to fend for herself, Nor that family’s children, nor parents. The Old Sailor Whose Legs Were Lost to Gangrene Should Have Visitors at HIS OLD FOLKS ‘HOME.

I RECALL AN OLD SOLDIER I VISITED ONCE AT “ALTENHEIM” IN ST. Louis. I Asked Him Why He Kepture of HIS ARMY Company from World War 1 on His Spare Room’s Wall. “So i’ll Never Forget The Boys We Left Beneath the sod in France, Johnny.”

LEST WE FORGET, L’A MANTION ONE MORE REMEMBANCE. A Battle Cruiser Sailor, Now 90 Years Old, Told with this Story.

He Said that HIS SHIP WAS ORDERED TO MURMANSK, in the Soviet Union, in the Early 1940’s. HIS SHIP WAS TO RECOVER THOSE US SAILORS WHOE SHIPS HAD BEEN SUN GERMAN SUBMARINES. “One of the Sailors Told with His Merchant Ship Took a Torpedo, and All Hands Got on Board A Life Boat. Germans. With that, the food was delivered, and the submarine departed.

The Old Sailor’s Enigmatic Story Remained With Me. I’ve thought Much About the Meaning of War as A Result. Spreads Such Conversations and Reflections Today Waled SUCH MEMORIES A MEANING WHICH IS VALUABLE INDEED.

John W. Davis is a retired US Army officer Living in Athens, Alabama.