They are the chosen;
                               We are the blessed.

from Bubba Armstrong  -        MANSIONS
        (Maybe the most moving video on this page)



from Joseph Teodorczyk -
FOOD CITY - SILENT MEMORIAL DAY COMMERCIAL

Just a Common Soldier
This is a great video. In spite of all the political
e-mail and videos we receive, this is a message
for all Americans concerning our GREATEST
generation and those who have served since.  
 

            MEMORIAL DAY 2021

     All gave some.    Some gave all.

This from Susan Hardy Vanhorn 
Il Silenzio - Melissa Venema (13 Yrs old) with Andre Rieu
 Orchestra. 

About 6 miles from Maastricht, in the Netherlands, lie buried 8,301
American soldiers, who died in "Operation Market Garden" in the battles
to liberate Holland, in the fall & winter of 1944.

Every one of the men buried in the cemetery, as well as, those in the
Canadian & British military cemeteries, has been adopted by a Dutch
family who mind the grave, decorate it, & keep alive the memory of the
soldier they've adopted.   It is even the custom to keep a portrait of "their"
American soldier, in a place of honor in their home.

Annually, on "Liberation Day," memorial services are held for 
"the men who died, to liberate Holland."  

The day concludes with a concert.   The final piece, is always
"Il Silenzio," a memorial piece commissioned by the Dutch, & first
played in 1965, on the 20th anniversary of Holland's liberation.   It has
been the concluding piece of the memorial concert ever since.

This year, the soloist was a 13-yr-old Dutch girl, Melissa Venema,
backed by André Rieu & his orchestra (the Royal Orchestra of the
Netherlands).   This beautiful concert piece is based on the original
version of "Taps" & was composed by Italian composer Nino Rossi.

The following are those who served for us.
We are all so fortunate that they returned.

James Ross Ayers
John Curtis (JC) Brooks
Billy Ralph Burke
Charles Clair (Res)
Joseph Lynn Perkins
Gerald Lamar Sandlin
Joseph Frank Teodorczyk
Gerald Charles (Soff) Watson
Douglas Bryant
Morris James Bullard
Richard Clarence McBraer
William Robert (Billy Bob) Miller
Donald Ray Waldrop
John Charles Wolf
William Michael Young

Edd Clark
Robert (Bob) Bethune Huntsberger
Douglas Mitchell (Dude) Roberts

James (Jimmy) Bernard
Gene H. Carey
Walter Scott Caven
Edwin Irving (Eddy) Goldberg
Robert Edward (Bob) Holtzclaw
William Carter (Bill) McCay
Curtis Alfred McClurg
Jerry Allen Miller
John Vassar
Richard Glynn Wilson
James Michael Wood
Don McArthur Bradford
Donald Gene Broadus
Alton Graves
James Morgan Hill
Clifford Morris Hilliard
Dennis Wyatt Martin
Charles McIntire
Robert Michael Murphy
Billy Wayne Pope
George Edwin Ware, Jr.
Robert Wooten
James Franklin Davis

Vernon Dillon Calcote
Ronnie Dean Carpenter
Paul Spurgeon Curry
James Spenser Jones
Willie Lee Elkins

Charles D. (Bubba) Armstrong
Charles Dillard Campbell
Jerry Lynn Duncan (Res)
Michael Arthur Dymond
Herman Lee (H.L.) Daniels (Engrs. Corps)
Lonnie Orvin English
James Harrell Harris (Med.Corps)
Walter Steve Reeves (Dntl. Corps)
Fred Clint Selz
John Loyd Sullivan
Donald Chris Tracy (Res)
Robert Sandlin Wood
Stanly Rayburn Bailey
Gerald Dale Barton
Garnett Eugene Bell
Jack Roller Canson
Richard Noel (Dick) Cole
Roy Anthony (Tony) Coleman
John Hugh Covin
James Franklin Davis
Clifford Lloyd Faircloth
Ronald David Foster
Larry Hatcher
Robert Lewis Ingle
William Louis Mauthe
Don Charles Pair
Thomas Rayburn Roberts
James Rowley
Lester Eugene (Gene) Sanders, Jr.
Ronald David (Ronnie) Senn (Dntl. Corps)
Harry Miller Solomon
Robert O'Neal (Bill) Thomas

Statistics off the Vietnam Memorial Wall

Interesting Veterans Statistics off the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.

The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to believe it is 57 years since the first casualty.

The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. Listed by the U.S.Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965.

There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall.
39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger.
8,283 were just 19 years old.

The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.
12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.
5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.
One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old.
997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam ..
1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam ..
31 sets of brothers are on the Wall.
Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons.
54 soldiers attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia . I wonder why so many from one school.
8 Women are on the Wall, Nursing the wounded.
244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall.
Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons.

West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall.
The Marines of Morenci - They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,055) had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci's mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Only 3 returned home.

The Buddies of Midvale - Leroy Taffy, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to Vietnam. In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. Leroy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later, on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.

The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 - 2,415 casualties were incurred.> For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those of us who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that these numbers created. We are, until we too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.

Flame to burn in remembrance        THE FINAL INSPECTION  The Sailor stood and faced his God Which must always come to pass He hopes his shoes were shining just as brightly as his brass "Step forward now, you sailor How shall I deal with you? Have you always turned the other cheek? To my Church have you been true?" The sailor squared his shoulders and said, "No Lord, I guess I ain't Because those of us who carry guns Can't always be a saint.   "I've had to work most Sundays and at times my talk was tough, and sometimes I've been violent because the world is awfully rough.   "But I never took a penny That wasn't mine to keep. Though I worked a lot of overtime when the bills just got too steep. "And I never passed a cry for help though at times I shook with fear, and sometimes, God... forgive me, I have wept unmanly tears.   I know I don't deserve a place among the people here; They never wanted me around except to calm their fears. If you've a place for me here, Lord It needn't be so grand I never expected or had too much, But if you don't, I'll understand.   There was silence all around the throne Where the Saints quite often tread As the Sailor waited quietly For the judgment of his God.   "Step forward now, you Sailor, You've borne your burdens well Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets; You've done your time in Hell."   -Author Unknown ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. and Mrs. Moseley and family had a great day.

One liners for this election year: 
If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates. 
~Jay Leno~
The problem with political jokes is they get elected. 
~Henry Cate, VII~
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office 
~Aesop~
If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these State of the Union speeches, there wouldn't be any inducement to go to heaven. 
~Will Rogers~
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. 
~Nikita Khrushchev~
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. 
~Clarence Darrow~
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
~John Quinton~
Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. 
~Author unknown~
Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. 
~Ronald Reagan~
 Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. 
~Oscar Ameringer~
I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. 
~Adlai Stevenson, 1952~
A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country. 
~ Tex Guinan~
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. 
~Charles de Gaulle~
Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks. 
~Doug Larson~
There ought to be one day -- just one -- when there is open season on Congressmen. 
~Will Rogers
 We'd all like to vote for the best man, but he's never a candidate.
~Kin Hubbard~