Thought for the day - May 28, 2000

Subject: Thought for the day - May 28, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 May 00 - 01:00 AM

I guess remembering our veterans makes me think of family, a lot. So, here is something by my granddad who worked at Hill Field in Utah during WWII. He was the old cowboy rancher whose poetry and such I've shared and am working on including in a book which some of you have read about. He was not a member of any orgainised religion, believed in reincarnation, and wanted to come back as a history professor.

In yesterday's thread, I mentioned my mom's brother, Howard, who was a veteran of WWII. At the bottom of the handwritten original of what follows, is a note, I think in my mother's handwriting which says: "Prayer...found in Frank Hudson's diary after his death. This prayer was written at the time Howard was wounded on Saipan."

Hill Field 1944

Almighty God we beseech Thy awareness of this youth who is this day called to offer his body as a sacrifice in the behalf of humanity, even as Thy Son.

We ask of Thee that his soul be clean, his heart brave and strong be his arm to bear this banner through the flames of Armageddon to eternal victory.

If it be in keeping with Thy will, we plead for his safe return to those who hold him dear. In the name of a ravished and suffering world we ask of Thee, this. Amen

Signed, Frank Hudson

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - May 28, 2000
From: GUEST,junebug
Date: 28 May 00 - 01:59 AM

Kat, thanks for a reminder of what Memorial Day is all about. It's very moving prayer.

jb

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - May 28, 2000
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 28 May 00 - 02:14 AM

Katlaughing, that poem was a moving tribute to those who fought on Saipan. It is hard to imagine the kind of hell these 19-21 year old soldiers and sailors were thrown into in the Central Pacific island battles. The Japanese strategy was to kill as many of the invaders as possible and hope that the Americans would lose heart in a protracted island battle. They very badly misjudged the resolve of our very young men. The more I study this history the more I realize, whatever one's feelings about war, that we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to those who fought in WWII. I don't think that debt can ever be properly repaid. My father was a SeaBee on Manus Island, near New Guinea. Fortunately, he didn't have to go through the hell your uncle Howard did. I want to recommend a book to you that I think you might find very valuable in understanding your the soldier's experiences. It's called "With The Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene B. Sledge. It is one of the most moving and sobering descriptions of what it was like to be an infantryman in the Pacific on record. It's available in paperback. Try Amazon.com's site. Sledge's humility and his humanity really come through. If you do read it, I'd be curious to know what you think of it. I can't recommend it enough! Thank you for sharing that prayer with us Mudcatters.

-chanteyranger

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - May 28, 2000
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 May 00 - 11:48 AM

Many of us had parents in WWII and although we may have heard stories, we probably picked up a lot more from the movies. For many years following WWII, the characters were portrayed by men in their 30's and 40's. I remember distinctly when it first came to me how young my Dad was at that time and that wars are indeed fought by young men.......from bomber crews whose oldest member was maybe 21 to the most decorated US soldier who couldn't even vote!

It was true before and its been true since that old men wage war where young men die. Some have been for better reasons than others, but each has taken its toll. Its a day to remember all those young men and women of all nationalities, living or dead, and hope that the old men we are can grow to see less need to disagree so violently.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - May 28, 2000
From: Peter T.
Date: 28 May 00 - 12:11 PM

Fine prayer, kat, fine remembrance. It is interesting reading this to reflect what kind of language people felt that prayers had (have) to be in at such moments. Would anyone now use "thy" and "beseech", and the rest? I wonder what today's prayers look like, when you have fewer and fewer people with the Bible or weekend church services in their heads. I suppose everyone tries to find significant language at such moments: what would the attempt to find serious language look like now? I suppose like all really serious moments, simple language however phrased, would show its true colours. Or would it be a new set of cliches strung together as one groped towards saying something to oneself as well as to God?

With the Old Breed is a terrifying book: like James Jones' original novel (not the film) of The Thin Red Line. The two best things written about the Pacific War, in my mind.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - May 28, 2000
From: keltcgrasshoppper
Date: 28 May 00 - 01:10 PM

A wonderful tribute Kat.. My father-in-law served in WWII and we never really knew all that he had done until he passed away.. At his funeral a young man came up to my husband and shared a story told to him by his Dad..who was in my father in laws battalion.. it seems that Dad Sullivan had saved a group of men through an act where he put himself in harms way.. It is always amazing to me how our veterans keep it inside for years and years, all of the pain and suffering that they saw.. How do they do it.. We must never take it forgranted this freedom that we have it is precious and can be lost very quickly if we put our trust in the wrong place...Remember all of the men and women that have layed down their lives for freedom.. KGH

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - May 28, 2000
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 28 May 00 - 01:38 PM

The act of remembrance honours both the living and the dead. Many of the veterans left alive will be in their eighties soon; it is altogether proper that threads like these should be copied and shown to them. If you know a veteran show them a copy, to re-assure them they will continue to be honoured, after they are gone. Yours, Aye. Dave

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - May 28, 2000
From: Megan L
Date: 28 May 00 - 04:52 PM

Being born after WWII my war memories are all inherited from family and friends. It wasn't untill I happened to be visiting a small marble church in Wales in 1983 that I really learned what it meant. There in that most pituresque of settings I notticed a row of shiny new headstones as we walked along the row I read the ages of these young men 18 -21 many of them from the Sir Galahad. The thing that struck me most was that someone in Argentina could be doing the exact same thing only the names and ship (General Belgrano) would be different.

On either side of a war only the politicians win the rest of us are left to mourn our dead.