Tag: military service

100th 11.11.11

1918 … at “the eleventh hour on the 11th day of the 11th month,” an eerie stillness fell across the battlefields of Europe.

Armistice Day, officially recognized by President Wilson in 1919, is still observed throughout the world with many stopping for a moment of silence at the 11th hour of this day to honor those who brought about the end of the “Great War.”

In 1954, after the return of veterans from both World War II and the Korean War, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill rededicating Nov. 11 as Veterans Day and encouraged Americans to commit themselves to the cause of peace and to honor America’s veterans for their courage, honor, patriotism and sacrifice.

— Amistice Commemoration, National WWI Museum

To Not Blame Those Sent for Being Sent

via We Veterans Thank You

Two score and four years ago, my uncle returned from the Vietnam War to being ‘cursed, ridiculed’ and possibly assaulted because we blamed the soldiers for our government’s execution of foreign policy.  And I do mean ‘our’ government, since, for better or worse, our government is of, by and for the people.  We did this.  There is no one else we can blame.

In the intervening decades until his retirement in 1998, he returned from other wars to a very different homecoming.  For that, I’m eternally grateful.  By the time he returned from both Gulf Wars, I was no longer in the second grade where I was oblivious and sheltered from world events, but during a time when I had children of my own in grade school whom I wanted safe and sound.

For his service and sacrifice, he has my gratitude.  As do all his contemporary veterans.

War is an unpleasant business. Some wars are necessary; some are not. Regardless, it is terrible to send our sons and daughters to kill or be killed. But, until we learn not to practice war anymore, I’m happy that America has learned not to blame those sent for being sent.

— Col. Ronald Andrea, USAF, Retired

 

To Serve Quietly (or Not) Against the Dying of the Light

This morning I woke early, as I nearly always do, but with a melancholic mood fogging my mind.  Two Hallmark movies and a cup of hot tea later and I still could not shake the malaise.  I turned off the television and grabbed the closest half-finished book handy and continued my perusal of Cosmic Discoveries with David Levy.  The subtitle for chapter nineteen was a quote I’ve heard many times but which I had never read the original source.  Since the chapter also started with another quote from the same work with a byline to the poet, I decide there’s no time like the present to read the original poem.

My tablet was charging across the room so I grabbed my smartphone and searched on the phrase and poet and got a crazy amount of hits – no surprise.  I read the Wikipedia article first to get some background on the poet and the when and partial why he wrote his now famous and often quoted poem.  Next, I returned to my results (from Wikipedia) and selected the first hit that contained the complete short poem.

I read it three times, because I read somewhere or was told by someone you should always read a poem three times.  I didn’t make it through the third stanza of the first reading before I couldn’t see my screen for the tears.  Damn poets! And at one point in my life I actually aspired to be a poet.  But life pretty much crushed the creativity out of me so I just enjoy those who had more courage than I to pursue their creative spark.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

— Dylan Thomas, ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night‘

Reading this poem today reminded me of the sometimes quiet, always courageous sacrifices willingly given to us by our military service men and women.  Their continuing fight against the dying of the light allows me, my family, my friends, my acquaintances, my coworkers – all of us living in this great country that is the home of the brave and the land of the free – because of them.

Thank you, veterans, for your service.

Thank you for not going gently into any night and raging against the dying of the light to keep us safe and free.

Thank you.

Stuck in 1945

Two consecutive weekends I’ve returned to the Pacific, specifically 1945.

The Great Raid (2005)Last weekend, I watched The Great Raid, which I’d somehow missed when it was released twelve years ago in 2005.  This movie retells the story of The Raid at Cabanatuan, a rescue of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians from a Japanese camp near Cabanatuan City, in the Philippines. On January 30, 1945, during World War II, United States Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts, and Filipino guerrillas liberated more than 500 from the POW camp.

This movie was a segue for me from The Railway Ran , which I watched two years ago and that I mentioned in my recent post on ‘Dropping the Bomb.’

My Rating:  3.5 to 4 stars

Joseph Fiennes turn in an excellent performance as the tragic Major Gibons, but the real surprise for me was seeing Connie Nielsen as Margaret Utinsky.  I spent half the movie distracted because I could not place her face in my memory.  I gave up and checked IMDB and had that epiphany feeling when I realized she performed as Lucilla in the twisted Roman triangle with Commodus and Maximus five years earlier in Gladiator.

USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)I followed The Great Raid yesterday with a viewing of U.S.S. Indianapolis: Men of Courage.  This film more closely related to my post about ‘Dropping the Bomb’ since “In 1945, the Portland-class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, commanded by Captain Charles McVay (Nicolas Cage), delivers parts of the atomic bomb that would later be used to level Hiroshima during the ending of World War II. While patrolling in the Philippine Sea, on July 30 in 1945, the ship is torpedoed and sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarine I-58, taking 300 crewmen with it to the bottom of the Philippine Sea, while the rest climb out of the ship and are left stranded at sea for five days without food, water and left in shark-infested waters.” (Wikipedia).

My Rating:  3.5 stars

I survived Cage’s stilted acting, with the help of the supporting cast, who performed admirably and believably.  Matt Lantner, whose grandfather, Kenley Lanter, was one of only 317 men to have survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.  Matt portrayed Chief Petty Officer Brian “Bama” Smithwick with his usual All American boy-next-door Midwestern heart.  And did I mention he’s also the voice of Anakin in Star Wars: The Clone Wars?

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)I ended the weekend with the much anticipated and highly acclaimed Hacksaw Ridge, which I’d been hesitant to watch for fear of a too real portrayal of warfare (remember the opening to Saving Private Ryan?).

Hacksaw Ridge is a film “about the World War II experiences of Desmond Doss, an American pacificist combat medic who was a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, refusing to carry or use a firearm or weapons of any kind. Doss became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for service above and beyond the call of duty during the Battle of Okinawa.” (Wikipedia)

My Rating:  4-4.5 stars

Outstanding story, directing and acting.  Truth is so much stranger than fiction and infinitely more inspiring.  “Just one more, Lord” are words to live and die by.  I highly recommend this movie and I’m sorry I waited so long to watch it.

11.11.16 ~ Honoring All Who Served

Veterans Day 2016 ~ Courage

Thank you to all the Veterans who have served with honor and courage.

God of peace,
we pray for those who have served our nation
and have laid down their lives
to protect and defend our freedom.

We pray for those who have fought,
whose spirits and bodies are scarred by war,
whose nights are haunted by memories
too painful for the light of day.

We pray for those who serve us now,
especially for those in harm’s way.
Shield them from danger
and bring them home.

Turn the hearts and minds
of our leaders and our enemies
to the work of justice and a harvest of peace.
Spare the poor, Lord, spare the poor!

May the peace you left us,
the peace you gave us,
be the peace that sustains,
the peace that saves us.

Amen.

 

Thoughts on the Eye in the Sky

I watched Eye in the Sky several weeks ago and made sure my dad also watched it.  We (my ad and I) had to wait to discuss the movie with my uncle, a retired Air Force Colonel, until had a chance to watch the movie.  If you have not watched this movie, I highly recommend it.

My questions to him included the micromanagement of the civilian government(s) during the operation; the incredible moral dilemma placed upon the drone pilot; the portrayal of the American government as being the ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ sort; and of course the excellent closing remarks made by the now deceased Alan Rickman to his civilian government overseer.

“Never tell a soldier that he does not know the cost of war.”

Movie Review: Eye in the Sky, directed by Gavin Hood Four Stars “Never tell a soldier that he does not know the cost of war.” Alan Rickman’s last movie investigates waging war in the twenty-first century. The movie centers on the complexity and mortal dilemmas surrounding using drones as remote killing weapons. Helen Mirren stars, […]

via Movie Review: Eye in the Sky, directed by Gavin Hood (Four Stars) — As a Matter of Fancy

Movie Review: American Sniper (2014) – 4 Stars

American Sniper (2014)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Watched with husband in theater on Monday January 19, 2015

Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (via Wikipedia):

American Sniper is a 2014 American biographical war drama film directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Jason Hall. It is based on Chris Kyle’s autobiography American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. With 255 kills, 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense, Kyle is the deadliest marksman in U.S. military history. His widow Taya Renae Kyle was heavily involved with the making of the film.

My Thoughts

To be completely honest, I did not plan on seeing this movie in theaters.  We recently upgraded our home entertainment system (by remodeling the family room which spent nearly ten years as a rock band rehearsal studio) and find it less compelling to spend nearly $50 to ‘enjoy’ a movie in an actual movie theater.  I hadn’t even seen any trailers because I rarely watch television and when I do, I fast forward through all the commercials.  But an eye-catching Tweet popped up in my newsfeed that piqued my interest.  It was the one penned by Michael Moore espousing that ‘snipers are cowards.’  I particularly like Newt Gingrich’s quick reply that Michael should spend some time in terrorist controlled zones to better appreciate our defenders (see CNN’s article for more on this controversy).

Continue reading “Movie Review: American Sniper (2014) – 4 Stars”

Big Read Book Discussion Wed 14 Jan 2015 6:30 pm

The second Big Read book discussion of The Things They Carried by O’Brien starts tomorrow evening, 6:30 p.m., at the Lansing Community Library, 730 1st Terrace, Suite 1, Lansing, Kansas.

Questions to think about:

  • In the list of all the things the soldiers carried, what item was most surprising?
  • Which item did you find most evocative of the war?
  • Which items stay with you?

Leading the discussion: Sister Rosemary Kolich, English Professor, St. Mary University.

A 1980 Saint Mary College grad, Sr. Kolich never dreamed as a student she would one day be teaching at her alma mater.

“I had excellent teachers as a student at Saint Mary. They truly engaged us. What was so transparent was their love of teaching and their commitment to us as both students and individuals. I hope I model the same for my students.”

∞∞∞

I plan on attending the discussion tomorrow evening and I hope to see you there.

BigRead: Veteran Panel Discussion Video

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BwkpP9RW-I?rel=0]

 

I had the pleasure of attending the Big Read Veteran Panel Discussion this past Tuesday at City Hall in Lansing, Kansas, a signature event for the Lansing Community Library‘s “The Things They Carried” Big Read.   Continue reading “BigRead: Veteran Panel Discussion Video”