Roll Call for Memorial Weekend 2011

[*Teach*]

Just gotta get through one more work day and then on the road to Scarby!

*Rum would make the day go faster but for some reason they won't let me have it at school*

[Ryk Rakham]

Looks like we will only be there Saturday, but will stay form opening cannon to closing gate and say our early farwell to all. Hoping to make TRF once this season. You know, one quick comment...the economy cut into our "faire" budget this year. We both have great careers, but it just seems there's less money for fun leftover at the end of the ole payday. Anyway, looking forward to a great day Saturday...and we'll spend too much money!

[Merlin the Elder]

We wish we had been there.  We were on hand last season for Memorial Day. I couldn't march because I'm not a vet (I don't think JROTC counts...  ), but I attended the gathering post-march, mainly in my Dad's memory, and partially in my namesakes memory. I was named for my Dad's best friend, and they joined USAAC together before WWII broke out. They were both at Clark Field, Philippines, which was attacked a few hours after Pearl. Pop and Tommy Hale were both captured later, and "participated in" the Bataan Death March. If you aren't familiar with it, you need to be, so look it up.

Tommy didn't make it back. He died in one of the camps in Luzon province. Pop spent a couple years at Camp McConnell before being shipped to Japan on one of the death ships. He survived the trip—ships on either side and behind were blown out of the water, as they were not marked as prisoner ships—, and worked in the coal mines for the next year near Fukuoka. He was about 130 miles from Hiroshima, and 60 from Nagasaki when the bombs fell.

I personally hate war. I don't hate the people who serve, and I hope you can see the distinction. The damage done to, and loss of, our young people (excuse me...I'm getting "advanced in years" these days...) is terrible. I would so much rather see all of you in garb at the faire than in a pine box because of some warped ideology. I went and saw Pop the other day. He's staying at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery. He died 4 years ago. He might have lived longer if he hadn't been reduced to 95 pounds by starvation in the camps, but I want to tell you something positive in this: He held no animosity for the Japanese people. For some of the guards that beat him, sure! he wasn't happy about that... But we need to keep in mind that not every person of every country that we end up fighting (there have been so many) are our enemy.

Memorial Day should also be for those who died just because they "got in the way." The civilians at Pearl, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Iran, New York City... I could go on, but you understand what I'm saying.  Y thinks Z is bad, so they destroy them. X thinks Y is bad, so they destroy them... pretty soon there no one left.  Don't only memorialize your own fallen comrades...memorialize those young men and women who thought they were protecting their homes as well. They aren't any different.