Joseph Galloway, author of We Were Soldiers Once… and Young and a NMAW board member, has been kind enough to let us post his Memorial Day column.

 

Enjoy!

A day to remember the price of freedom

By Joseph L. Galloway
McClatchy Newspapers

Memorial Day is upon us, and for most Americans that means the first holiday weekend of a new summer. For most, it’s time to dust off the barbecue pit or head to the nearest beach or hit the mall for the big sales.

For those who wear, or have worn, the uniform and those who love them, however, it means something different: It’s a time to remember those who’ve fallen in defense of our country in the 234 years since the first American soldier died in a rebellion against a king.

During this time, some 43 million Americans have served under arms in our wars, 655,000 have died in battle and more than 1.4 million have been wounded in combat.

Our two ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have claimed the lives of 4,963 American troops, and 34,000 others have been wounded in combat.

Those are just the numbers, the statistics. Every one of those numbers has a face and a name. Every one leaves behind someone, often many someones, whose hearts are forever broken and whose lives are forever changed.

For those who’ve served and are of a certain age, Memorial Day is also a time to think of comrades and brothers-in-arms who answered their last roll call during the past year.

For our remaining World War II veterans, the days dwindle down to a precious few. Some of their veterans associations held their last reunion this past year; too few are left to gather again. Fewer than 5 million are left of the 15 million who wore the uniform between 1941 and 1945, and they’re disappearing from among us at the rate of 30,000 each month.

The passing years also take their toll among veterans of the Korean War, the forgotten war, and they’ve begun to thin the ranks of those who served and sacrificed in Vietnam.

 

Two who died this past year left holes in the ranks of my own small brotherhood, the veterans of the battles of the Ia Drang Valley, fought in Vietnam at the dawn of our war there in November 1965.

Maj. Ed (Too Tall to Fly) Freeman died last August in his hometown of Boise, Idaho. He belatedly earned a Medal of Honor in 2001 for flying his Huey helicopter through a storm of enemy fire 14 times in one hot afternoon, bringing in ammunition and taking out wounded Americans.

His wing man and boss, Lt. Col. Bruce (Old Snake) Crandall, who received the Medal of Honor in 2005, was beside Ed’s hospital bed that last week saying his goodbyes and continuing their half-century argument over which of them was the “second-best pilot in the world.”

 

Early this year, Medic Randy (Doc) Lose, one of the survivors of the “lost” platoon of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 7th U.S. Cavalry in the Ia Drang, was buried in the National Cemetery in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Doc Lose earned a Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in saving the lives of a dozen wounded men who were trapped behind enemy lines for over 24 hours. He was wounded four times as he crawled from man to man, plugging their wounds with C-Ration toilet paper after he ran out of bandages.

Doc never got over the experience. The Vietnam War killed him just as certainly as it did the 79 other men of his battalion who died during those three days in the valley of death. May God rest his soul and grant him peace.

Yes, for the 20 million living veterans of America’s wars, old and new, and for the families and friends of the fallen, Memorial Day has a very special meaning, and it is a time for reflection and silent tears.

 

 

 

This Memorial Day, 2009, America is mired in two wars. The one in Iraq is supposed to begin winding down this summer, even as the other, in Afghanistan, is building toward a new crescendo.

We have a new President, Barack Obama, who was elected on a promise of change. For those few who wear the uniform of our country, however, nothing has changed. They continue to serve and sacrifice in wars in distant lands whose purpose and goals and eventual end are as fuzzy now as they were when they began in the dawn of this new century.

 

However you celebrate Memorial Day this year _ however happy or solemn the occasion _ spare a thought and a moment of silence in memory of all those who purchased your freedom with their lives, and of all those who defend it still.

If you are given to prayer, pray that one day our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines will know true peace somewhere short of the grave.

 

The National Moment of Remembrance, established by Congress, asks Americans wherever they are at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day to pause in an act of national unity (duration: one minute).The time 3 p.m. was chosen because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday.

You can read more about the National Moment of Remembrance here.

On Memorial Day, we honor all those who gave their life while serving in the United States military.  We owe every man and woman who died and their families our unbending gratitude and respect.

 

How appropriate that my wife wanted our family to watch the HBO movie, Taking Chance, last night.  Every lump in a throat or tear running down a cheek was testament to the effectiveness of the movie.  We felt respect for the fallen warrior, shared loss with his family and buddies, and empathy for those fellow Marines who questioned “Why not me instead of Chance?”

 

If you don’t know, the movie tells of the experiences of Lt. Col. Mike Strobl (USMC), who volunteered to be the military escort for PFC Chance Phelps’ body back to his home in Dubois, Wyoming.  Phelps, who was only 19, was killed in Ramdi, Iraq in 2004 while providing cover for fellow Marines who came under enemy attack.

 

The care and respect given Phelps’ remains and LTC Strobl at every step in the journey was touching and reassuring.  I highly recommend this movie.

 

 

 

 

Written by Janet Holsinger, History Associates Incorporated

 

“Why not shoot for a million?”

In response to her father’s challenge, high school freshman Shauna Fleming started a campaign in 2004 to collect and distribute one million letters and emails of gratitude and appreciation to America’s military forces.  With approval from her principal, Greg Pinick, Shauna made “A Million Thanks” into a school-wide service project.  As the morale-boosting letters poured in, the teen continued to promote her campaign by teaming up with NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth in California and country music superstar John Michael Montgomery, with whom she did more than 70 radio and television interviews.  Actor Gary Sinise, star of CSI: NY and co-founder of Operation Iraqi Children, also helped Shauna spread the word through television interviews.

 

Six months later after beginning her ambitious campaign, Shauna presented to President Bush the one-millionth thank you letter, a handmade card from a high school student in St. Charles, Missouri.  With her original goal reached, Shauna’s next target upped the number to 1.4 million thank you letters – one for each member of the U.S. active duty military.  After reaching this second milestone in November 2005, she launched the “2.6 in 2006” letter-writing campaign, representative of the total number of people in the armed forces, including the National Guard and Reserve.

 

When the Pentagon honored Shauna and her school in 2007, Greg Pinick explained that Shauna had always humbly gone about her task, and that for her, “It’s always been about thanking men and women who are laying their lives down every day.”

 

Today, A Million Thanks is still going strong.  Shauna and A Million Thanks are also launching a new charity organization, Wounded Soldiers Wish, a non-profit designed to help wounded soldiers receive the things they need most.  For more information about A Million Thanks and Wounded Soldiers Wish, visit http://www.amillionthanks.org/. 

The National Museum of Americans in Wartime honors the service of Shauna Fleming, and all other Americans who have served the cause of freedom.

 

On Monday a memorial honoring more 14,000 female veterans was unveiled at the Connecticut state Capitol.

You can read the whole story here.

The Board of Directors and Staff of The National Museum of Americans in Wartime want to wish all of America’s Mothers a Happy Mother’s Day. Whether a Mother serving in our Armed Forces, a mother of any of our men and women serving , a Mother of a Veteran, or Mothers who are veterans may this be a wonderful Mother’s Day for you and yours and thank you for your service to our nation.

Written by Janet Holsinger, History Associates Incorporated

 

“For you we have the greatest admiration and respect.”

 

In 1920, 7-year-old Frances Slanger escaped from increased Jewish persecution in Lodz, Poland, and arrived in Boston.  The daughter of a fruit peddler, Slanger dreamed of becoming a writer, and as she grew older, her aspirations expanded to include nursing. “I want to serve they who are less fortunate than I,” she wrote in letter to the Boston City Hospital School of Nursing, where she enrolled in 1934.  Often reprimanded for being too caring and compassionate towards her patients, Slanger graduated from nursing school three years later.  After World War II started, Slanger joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1943.  Originally limited to stateside service because of her poor vision, Slanger pleaded with the Army to allow her to serve in France alongside the front line soldiers.  Desperate for nurses in Europe, the Army granted her wish to serve overseas.

 

Frances Slanger was among the first nurses to arrive on French soil following D-Day when she landed with the 45^th Field Hospital Unit at Normandy on June 10, 1944.  As they traveled across France and into Belgium, Slanger’s unit treated the most severely wounded soldiers who would likely die without immediate surgery.  Working tirelessly, Slanger exhibited the same compassion for these GIs as she had in nursing school. 

 

By October, the 45^th Field Hospital Unit was stationed in Elsenborn, Belgium, where it tended soldiers from the Battle of Aachen.  The night of October 19, Slanger couldn’t sleep.  She and her tent mates had been discussing the heroism of the men who put their lives on the line every day, and she felt the need to set her thoughts to paper.  The next day, she sent her letter to the Stars and Stripes editors, which ran in the November 7 edition.

 

Frances Slanger did not live to see her letter published.  On October 21, just after the Allies wrested control of Aachen away from the Germans, the field hospital came under attack.  Hit by artillery shrapnel, Slanger died shortly after.  Unaware of her death, Stars and Stripes published her words which still resonate today:

 

We wade ankle deep in mud.  You have to lie in it…Sure, we rough it, but in comparison to the way you men are taking it, we can’t complain, nor do we feel that bouquets are due us.  But you, the men behind the guns, the men driving our tanks, flying our planes, sailing our ships, building bridges and to the men who pave the way and to the men who are left behind – it is to you we doff our helmets.  To every GI wearing the American uniform, for you we have the greatest admiration and respect.

 

Yes, this time we are handing out the bouquets…but after taking care of some of your buddies; seeing them when they are brought in bloody, dirty, with the earth, mud and grime, and most of them so tired.  Somebody’s brothers, somebody’s fathers and somebody’s sons.  Seeing them gradually brought back to life, to consciousness and to see their lips separate into a grin when they first welcome you.  Usually they kid, hurt as they are.  It doesn’t amaze us to hear one of them say, “How’ya, babe,” or “Holy Mackerel, an American woman!” or most indiscreetly, “How about a kiss?”

 

These soldiers stay with us but a short time, from 10 days to possibly two weeks.  We have learned a great deal about our American soldier, and the stuff he is made of.  The wounded do not cry.  Their buddies come first.  The patience and determination they show, the courage and fortitude they have is sometimes awesome to behold.  It is we who are proud to be here.  Rough it?  No.  It is a privilege to be able to receive you, and a great distinction to see you open your eyes and with that swell American grin, say, “Hi-ya babe!’

 

Three days after being killed, Slanger was buried at the US Military Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, and the November 22, 1944, issue of the Stars and Stripes reported Slanger’s death as the “1^st ETO Nurse Killed in Action.”  In 1947, her mother requested that her body be brought back home to Roxbury, Massachusetts. 

 

On Memorial Day, 1945, three weeks after V-E day, the US Ambassador to Belgium spoke about Frances Slanger at the Henri-Chapelle cemetery.  “Her courage, her strength, her endurance, and her unfailing hope are the essence of the things which have given us this victory and which we believe will never die.”

 

The National Museum of Americans in Wartime honors the service of Frances Slanger, and all other Americans who have served the cause of freedom.