Not all of the fallen are found on the battlefield.
Some don’t turn up until later.
Less of both sorts, please.
Toward that end, what say we give our men and women in uniform better civilian leadership? It’s not much to ask of those of us here in the rear with the gear where there is no fear.
Mad Blog Media 
Col. Joe was about my Uncle Ralph’s age. Ralph was born in ’17, oldest of five kids (my mom was the middle kid). Joined the Army Corps of Engineers in the late ’30s to escape the Great Depression, as grandpa Louie managed to auger his motorcycle into the side of a Buffalo streetcar, leaving Mom alone with five mouths to feed. So they had to improvise.
Ralph ended up being an aide to Army Corps of Engineeers Gen. Raymond Wheeler and deployed to India and the Far East. That was his meal ticket to then working on the Mt. Morris Dam in Upstate NY. Ralph remembered a bit of Hindi from his stint in India that when he first met Meena, he greeted her in Hindi.
Roy, born in ’20, did manage to get shot at as he worked his way across Europe rebuilding railroad lines that either we or the Germans had blown up. He never talked about it until the two of us were drinking after my mom’s wake (what else do you do after a wake?) and he pulled out his war scrapbook. First time I had ever seen it. Lots of pictures of blown up shit.
Both returned to civilian life unharmed by the war, which was fortunate. They might be both turning in their graves thinking about the current C-in-C.
Now, I guess I will go out and raise the flag on the garage hook.
Thanks, Khal, for the flag reminder. Just put ours out.
Patrick, where is Col. O’Grady interred? I have visited a few U.S. military cemetaries in the states and abroad, and each visit is a sobering rebuke to a reprobate neer-do-well like me.
Thanks! Dale
Dale, the colonel is stationed at Fort Logan National Cemetery in the Denver metro. Mom joined him there in 1995.
I haven’t visited them in many a moon. I should check in next time I’m in town.
I can’t imagine what the West Point graduating cadets thought when cadet bonespurs, wearing that idiotic ball cap, bragged about himself at their commencement. Seeing him salute is disgusting. Talk about stolen valor.
I will raise a glass of Guiness stout this afternoon to all the folks who lost their lives in war or from the after effects.
Dude has all the class of a moped at Sturgis.
The same folks who jumped on Obama for wearing a hoodie on a weekend are totally cool with a ball cap at a graduation. That’s the secret to the GOP’s success: assume everyone is a gold fish and only talk in bumper sticker slogans, and the other side wastes their time pointing out all of the hypocrisy.
And that is officially way more time than I want to spend thinking about that half of the country on Memorial Day.
My flag is in tip top shape but the mounting bracket apparently does not like Northern Colorado winds (Kansas sucks and Wyoming blows, and we’re stuck in the middle) or direct morning sunlight, which freeze/thaw/melt/refreeze/rinse/repeats until everything wobbles and nothing stays in place. So the old Betsy Ross is flying high, but I’m on wind alert to lower her as needed. And these days, lowering the flag is always in fashion.
A salute to all of those gone and to all of the families and friends who still remember them.
Obama! DEI! Woke! Her email! Pizza Pederasts!
Some gave. Some gave there all. Cadet Bonespurs went to the podiatrist. Jus’ sayin’
There is in error!! I guess remedial English is warranted.
I have n one of those for Archie L Levy in the Masonic Cemetery i Walsenburg Colorado. It took about 24 years but we finally got our acts together. God I miss the man 38 years later. A Jimmy Buffett song ” The Captain and the kid”. AS for the poltroon in the Red trucker hat; the moron has no class or decorum or sense of propriety. I am just amazed ag the number of people he attracts. Even more amazed that the media or what is left of it lets him get away with the lies, insults, slanders, libels and don’t call him to task.
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I’ve stopped by here quite a few times over the years on this Day of Remembrance, and I don’t recall if ever saw the image of your Father’s marker. I’m saddened to see that he was quite young when he passed. Only 62. I suspect from your kind and respectful words about him over the years that you might have wished to have him around longer to converse with him when time benefited yourself with more experience and wisdom. I had the benefit of being around my Father into my late 30’s. I’m really thankful for it.
October of 1980. I recall that time. I was in the Denver area at that time trying to get my act together to head off to college. My Dad had a health issue then and I recall visiting him in the hospital. The issue was something not chronic but certainly serious enough that could have easily caused us to only think of memories of him in the past. I didn’t appreciate the time then as much then as I do now.
The area where your Father is at appears to be pleasant. With the exception of the growth of the Denver metro area, I hope that when you do get a chance to visit him, that it’s nice and not too busy. My Father grew up in the Southern California area and wanted to be buried in that area. The VA cemetery out there (near March AFB) is reasonably nice, but as with any trip into that region, the mayhem of the populace is quite a mental blast for me when I go there.
Here’s hoping that no matter where our Father’s, Mother’s and other fine relatives that deserve our praise are interred at, that perhaps it’s comfortable and the views our good. Cheers to all of them !
P.S. Did you remember to bring your flag in ?
Both my parents died young; dad at 62 (vodka), mom at 70 (Alzheimer’s). And yeah, it would’ve been interesting had they hung around a little longer. My sister and I could’ve tackled a few more adult conversations with them, learned more about the family’s past, gotten some idea of what they thought about their kids’ futures.
Last night we watched Mike Birbiglia’s latest standup special, “The Good Life.” And while I’ve always enjoyed his work, this time around I really felt some kinship with the guy. He wrote something of an explanatory piece about it for The New York Times, , as though he might have had some second (or third) thoughts about the direction he took with the special. Myself, I found him spot on.
One observation from the performance really rang my bell: “My whole life I wanted to be my dad, and at a certain point I decided I wanted him to be me.”
I should write an actual blog post about this and make it all about me, because of course everything is, which was part of the problem between my parents and me. In the meantime, watch the special, read the NYT piece, especially if you’ve disappointed your parents — and they have disappointed you.
That was a little tough to read, Patrick. Interesting. Birbiglia’s solace with his Old Man came in his comedy. Mine came in being as different as I could. Walking into the Clean Lab and closing the door behind me. There, I had all the whistles and bells and the comfort that I knew what I was doing and it was my own “safe space”, I suppose. Even when it was chock full of dangerous reagents, high voltage, hifalutin assholes from prestigious schools, and Plutonium. The irony was the one thing that made me somewhat indispensable was being able to take apart a million dollar instrument, fix it, and have it running again without waiting six weeks for a tech from England to fly to the U of Hawaii. I had to admit to where I learned that…..the Old Guy.
I guess we all eventually figure it out, and I’ve only taken about sixty or so years to do so. My wife once gave me a sorta funny cartoon once when I was having a bad head period. It was one of those New Yorker cartoons: two women staring at a headstone and one says to the other, “I told him it wouldn’t kill him to try to be nice once in a while, but I was wrong.” Found it!
“Most of the jokes tonight are for you, but some of the jokes are for me. This is a coping mechanism. And I hope it is for you too.”
Yeah, he pretty much nailed it.
There’s a line I use a lot that never gets a laugh, except from me
My dad was married three times and he didn’t invite me to any of them.
Ooo, that is a good one.
I was never hungry or homeless. I had good clothes, friends, and a good public education. I lived in a nice neighborhood. My Dad struggled with alcohol, as did his father and some siblings. But, there was also war experience mixed in with three of the brothers from Korea and WW2. Quien sabe? In spite of this, there was kindness and freedom in my childhood. The only hard rule was stay in school. You quit high school and you move out. We all listened. My father taught me much about life in his last ten years. His compassion towards and acceptance of people were in full bloom during that time. He enjoyed every day and didn’t complain. The people working in the nursing home all missed him when he left. My Mom shared a room with him for three years, and followed his example until dementia took over. Khal is right, we all eventually figure it out. I fully know how fortunate I am. Simplicity, Patience, and Compassion are your three treasures. Guard them well.
Yeah, we were cared for. I’m just sure we were cared for, y’know? I mean, after we stopped being all like cute an’ shit.
Especially me. I was a fun lil’ puppy who turned into an ugly-ass dog that barked back, occasionally bit, and regularly jumped the fence, coming back whenever and all stinky, too.
I’da had me put down. The old man never made that call. It helped that we didn’t have guns in the house.
Patrick, was your dad still flying in Korea or Vietnam? Or flying a desk by then? He certainly earned his DFC in WW II.
I’m not sure. He never talked about his service. I vaguely remember him being gone a lot when we lived in Canada (1959-62), but I think that was TDY in places like Greenland and Alaska. He was always getting his flight time in for the extra pay (and I expect for the fun of it).
For sure by 1962 he was flying that desk at Randolph AFB. But I think even then he still got to fly a winged vehicle from time to time.
IIRC, it was/is common on tombstones to list the wars that occurred during the decedent’s military career.
I would have been surprised if he was flying during Vietnam, but a lot of WW II folks were called back up when the SHTF in Korea.
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever.
Yeah, not so sure about that forever part
It’s a shame that we can’t commit species suicide without taking the all the other species with us. And, delusional old men are trying to speed up the process.
We could if we wanted to. It’s just that that Chinese lab didn’t do a good enough job (allegedly) making that Covid-19 virus.
Not possible. Nothing can kill Keith Richards.
Keith, Dolly Parton, maybe Dick Van Dyke. (Dude is 99 but was still cutting a rug just a few years ago. Survived his car (once) and house (twice) catching on fire.)
And Mel Brooks! Still at it. I bet movie night is kind of a drag since Carl Reiner shoved off, though.
Word. The guy is totally pickled and preserved.
OMG. Keith Richard..Lately I’ve kinda given up on hair management and let it do WTF it wants. But recently my buddy said I’m starting to look a lot like Keith. Especially when wearing the headband when doing yard work to keep the sweat off the sunglasses lens. Oh Lord if I only had his money. I’d give the guitars to POB.
And, I would take them buddy, especially the acoustics. My hair is getting long, but maybe no long enough. Thinking about just letting it grow until a certain dipshit is out of office, as in the oval office. What say you Herb?
Apparently, during his West Point graduation address, the doofus said that everything is better for the military now that he is president, the biggest example being, nobody wanted to join the military under President Biden
Every single person in the audience joined the military under President Biden
He thinks a lot of himself. I guess somebody should.
Well given that he’s let one criminal after another out of jail… I held up a liquor store this morning, stole two cars, beat up a few folks for the hell of it. But I ain’t worried…no sir…had my MAGA hat, Trump watch and shoes on so the cops will likely look the other way. Or the judge, or I’ll go in the slammer, brag it up and get out before you can say “GOP”.
He wants to empty the prisons of actual criminals in order to turn them into one-star “hotels” for “guests of the nation.”
Just start a reality show, stay on for a couple of years, steal from the poor and give to the rich, and you get a “get out of jail card.” Then you can do whatever you want. Bob’s your uncle, or dumpster is your daddy. I’ll take Bob.
File under “No Shit, Sherlock.”
It took about 2.5 milliseconds of looking at his bat-shit crazy ass eyes to know this.
Dude was right about one thing. We’re probably living in a simulation. Neither evolution nor intelligent design could come up with this shit.
Yeah, I didn’t even bother reading that one. I remember seeing a pic of him burning one with Rogan. Cheech and Chong be lookin’ at him and goin’ all like, “We ain’t got nothin’ to do with it.”