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Not sure who else would care, but just wanted to add a personal memorial day remembrance here. Feel free to add on. We must never forget.

Josh Meadows, my son's best friend and flying partner in Iraq (Josh piloted a UH-1, my son an AH-1 Cobra). Along with being true wingmen, they were a rowdy pair when off duty as well. Josh helped give my son the bug to start running, and was his running partner on many long distance runs. Josh was killed in action in Afghanistan the Farah province on September 9th, 2009, just a couple weeks before his only child was to be born.

Last year my son ran a 100 mile endurance run in the desert in Arizona, wearing the number 959 in memory of him.

Josh, we remember you.

http://www.forcerecon.com/Capt-Joshua-S-Meadows.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RIP and God bless our troops.

Remembering all who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for us. Especially remembering my cousin SP4 Richard Ferguson who was KIA in Vietnam, December 13, 1970 http://www.virtualwall.org/df/FergusonRL01a.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LCPL Paul Graff USMC
27 August 1949 - 25 May 1969
RIP Paul.

http://www.virtualwall.org/dg/GraffPA01a.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RSJ wrote:RIP and God bless our troops.

Can't say it better.

Wow, just heard on the news today is the 50th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam war.
I went to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. at age 9 and was still moved at a young age.
We never gave them the true welcome home they deserve. Never Forget.

Not all Texans, but I'm remembering my friends and teammates killed in action in RVN:

2Lt. Gordon Hughes (OCS roommate) - KIA 1968
CW2 Clifford Poe (TX) - (best UH-1 pilot I knew) - KIA 1970
CPT Tschann Mashburn - AH-1G pilot/Platoon Leader - KIA 1970
CW1 Stephen Finke - AH-1G Pilot - KIA 1970
CW2 Gary Bullerdick - AH-1G Pilot - KIA 1970
CW2 Johnnie Ishmael - AH-1G Pilot - KIA 1970

You will always live in my heart, and the hearts of your family and friends forever.

Many days and nights I wounder why my family gets the chance to recognize the 11th of NOV each year with me, and not the last Monday of May for me.. Many days, I wish it was different.... that a young man with life ahead of him, baby's at home 2.5 cars and a picket fence to look forward too, could not have come home, and let a tired old mans family remember a day in May.

To my fallen brothers and sisters in arms, you will never be forgotten, not this day in May, not any day of the year.

bronco78 wrote:Many days and nights I wounder why my family gets the chance to recognize the 11th of NOV each year with me, and not the last Monday of May for me.. Many days, I wish it was different.... that a young man with life ahead of him, baby's at home 2.5 cars and a picket fence to look forward too, could not have come home, and let a tired old mans family remember a day in May.

To my fallen brothers and sisters in arms, you will never be forgotten, not this day in May, not any day of the year.

Because without fine career soldiers like yourself, with vast combat experience, to command and guide the younger troops, a lot more would not come home to their families.

My preacher is a US Navy chaplain, attached to a US Marine Corps unit when he is deployed.
He has current day involvement with the marines, and always honors the memory of the fallen each Memorial Day.

On the closest Sunday to Memorial Day, our church service includes "The Reading of the Names".
For each Texan killed between the previous Memorial Day and the current Memorial Day, a small slip of paper
is printed which contains the name, age, and hometown of the person.

Each slip is given to one man (or woman) in our congregation. As our preacher reads each person's name, age,
and hometown a low bell is rung and the church member holding that person's slip leaves the sanctuary and goes
out of sight through a door and down the hall.

After all names have been read, a little later in the service all the church members representing the fallen re-enter
the sanctuary. It's a symbolic resurrection.

This year, 36 Texans were honored. They happened to be all men this year, ranging in age from 19 to 41.
They came from all over the Lone Star, and I can't remember all the hometowns but they included men from
The Colony, Houston, Pharr, Gladewater, and many others.

Rest in peace. You will be missed.

SIA

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/war.casualt ... ?hpt=hp_c1

The above link contains 2 interactive maps. One is the US map with circles representing the cities and town
from which the deceased hailed.

The other is a map of Afghanistan with circles showing where the deaths occurred.

You can zoom in on your area of Texas and find out the towns from which the fallen heros hailed.

SIA

RSJ wrote:RIP and God bless our troops.

perfect thought...

To absent comrades.......