Re: Memorial Day

[walter boyne <wboyne@cqi.com>]

Very moving indeed!


ResareRC@aol.com wrote:

> I lurk.  This my first post to your list.  The following text was sent to
> another mailing list to which I am a member.  I just figure you might pause
> from your academic pursuit of the meticulous research of the Korean War to
> reflect on Memorial Day for a moment:
>
> I have a tool drawer in my garage.  In this tool draw is a pair of bandage
> shears issued to me as a Corpsman (medic) with the Marine Corps.  Each time I
> open the drawer and see the shears I am taken back 49 years to the Korean
> War.  The shears are of toughened stainless steel.  They can cut through
> metal, and other materials, but they mostly were used to cut through Marine
> combat uniforms to get to the wounds, and get there quickly to stop the
> bleeding.  Memorial Day has special meaning to each of us.  On  past Memorial
> Days I have gone into bars and bought a round in memory of Marines fallen in
> battle.  At other times I have sat quietly at home wondering what the hell
> happened.  For me, Memorial Day is a day of reflection, respect, wonder, and
> regret.  Regret for the inability of mankind to recognize the stupidity of
> settling arguements  by the use of "War".  I still remember the sound of
> incoming artillery, the hiss of shrapnel flying sidways through the trench
> line, the slick feel of half-coagulated blood on sand bags, the sight of a
> pair of human lungs hanging from the stacking swivel of an M-1 Rifle, the
> smell of rotten urine thawing in the bottom of the trench when Spring comes,
> a company commander counting the beads on his rosary before the concussions
> of artillery explosions blow out the candle in his crab hole and I can no
> longer see him.  And on and on........
> War Really Is Hell On Earth.  May God bless every service man who ever lived.
> Robert Resare in Tigard, Oregon, United States of America