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A song for Memorial Day — 7 Comments

  1. Today is a day for honoring all those who gave their lives in defense of our country and the freedom we love.

    Here is a list the names of my uncle, a WWII bombardier/navigator, and my Navy friends and squadronmates who died in Vietnam. They hold a special place in my heart and are remembered this day:
    LCDR Gerry Roberts
    LCDR Hal Gray
    LTjg M.D. McMican
    LTjg Jerry Romano
    ATN-2 Tom Plants
    ATR-3 Bill Amspacher
    LCDR Bill Carey
    1st Lt. Larry Goreski

    As long as we remember them they still live as the young, courageous, good men we knew. Freedom isn’t free. No finer way to honor their memory than to continue to nourish and defend the freedom for which they died.

    IN FLANDERS FIELDS
    By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army

    In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
    Between the crosses row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
    Scarce heard amid the guns below.

    We are the Dead. Short days ago
    We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved and were loved, and now we lie
    In Flanders fields.

    Take up our quarrel with the foe:
    To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
    If ye break faith with us who die
    We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
    In Flanders fields.

  2. I’ve heard it said that country music is maudlin. Well, hell. Life is maudlin, if you’re paying attention.

  3. Richard Aubrey:

    I’m not the least bit interested in ironic post-modern detachment. Country music isn’t my favorite genre, but I like lots of country music nevertheless, and I’m especially impressed with some of the lyrics.

    This song is one of the finest in that regard. It rips your heart out and absolutely forces tears from your eyes, but I don’t think it’s maudlin, which has connotations of cheap and fake and foolish and/or self-pitying sentimentality. This song’s lyrics are emotional and very accessible, yes, but the power of the lyrics lies in the lack of self-pity in the speaker/singer and his relative stoicism.

    Not that you meant the word in that sense. But I just wanted to clarify.

  4. Neo. You’ll note I said, “I’ve heard it said….” Doesn’t mean I think it. This song, like a number of others having to do with war and death,
    “All gave some….
    “American soldier
    “Letters from home’
    and others could be and, if I were interested in looking around, probably have been called “maudlin”.

    It’s also been said that country music’s themes are:
    Play hard.
    Don’t mess around on your significant other.
    Take care of your friends.
    Work hard.
    Never back down.
    Get right with The Man.
    Children and old folks rule.
    Show up for the war.

    Not much for the hip, self-detaching ironic folks there, no?

  5. In compiling our family tree, I found that my husband’s great uncle Naino, a first generation American born of two Finnish immigrant parents, died a prisoner of war in a Philippines concentration camp during WWII.

    That’s the kind of person–and family–to whom America owes an unpayable debt of gratitude. A young couple who came to the United States in the steerage of a ship, speaking no English, bringing with them little more than their hopes. They worked hard, and raised their children to be Americans, to the point where when war came about, their boys enlisted in the military, fought, and in Naino’s case died for their country.

    The least we can do is remember.

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