Cell phone Tragedy
This is not about heroes. This is about our children and our families. When we were growing up it was just drunk or careless drivers. Now, with cell phones and texting, it opens up a whole new dimension of sadness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGE8LzRaySk&feature=player_embedded
American Valor Salutes Our Military
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (on May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action.
Many people observe this holiday by visiting cemeteries and memorials. A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Another tradition is to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff from dawn until noon local time. Volunteers often place American flags on each gravesite at National Cemeteries. Many Americans also use Memorial Day to honor other family members who have died.
Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars take donations for poppies in the days leading up to Memorial Day; the poppy’s significance to Memorial Day is the result of the John McCrae poem "In Flanders Fields."
In addition to remembrance, Memorial Day is also used as a time for picnics, barbecues, family gatherings, and sporting events. One of the longest-standing traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, which has been held in conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911.
Some Americans view Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of summer and Labor Day as the unofficial end of the season (with the 4th of July as the very hot middle). In the Northern United States, it is the traditional weekend in which people reopen pools that had been covered for the winter. The national "Click It or Ticket" campaign ramps up beginning Memorial Day weekend, noting the beginning of the most dangerous season for car accidents and other safety-related incidents. The United States Air Force’s "101 Critical Days of Summer," marking the period that statistically has shown an increase in accidents, begin on this day as well.
Memorial Day formerly was observed on May 30. The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) advocate returning to this fixed date, although the significance of the date is tenuous. The VFW stated in a 2002 Memorial Day Address:“ Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed a lot to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.”
Since 1987, Hawaii’s Senator Daniel Inouye, a World War II veteran, has repeatedly introduced measures to return Memorial Day to its traditional date.
Following the end of the Civil War, many communities set aside a day to mark the end of the war or as a memorial to those who had died. Some of the places creating an early memorial day include Sharpsburg, Maryland, located near Antietam Battlefield; Charleston, South Carolina; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Carbondale, Illinois; Columbus, Mississippi; many communities in Vermont; and some two dozen other cities and towns. These observances coalesced around Decoration Day, honoring the Union dead, and the several Confederate Memorial Days.
According to Professor David Blight of the Yale University History Department, the first memorial day was observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at the historic race track in Charleston. The site was a former Confederate prison camp as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who died in captivity. The freed slaves re interred the dead Union soldiers from the mass grave to individual graves, fenced in the graveyard and built an entry arch declaring it a Union graveyard. This was a daring action for them to take in the South shortly after the North’s victory. On May 30, 1868, the freed slaves returned to the graveyard with flowers they had picked from the countryside and decorated the individual gravesites, thereby creating the first Decoration Day. A parade by thousands of freed blacks and Union soldiers from the area was followed by patriotic singing and a picnic.
The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. The village was credited with being the place of origin because it observed the day on May 5, 1866, and each year thereafter. The friendship between General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A. Logan, who helped bring attention to the event nationwide, likely was a factor in the holiday’s growth.
Logan had been the principal speaker in a citywide memorial observation on April 29, 1866, at a cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois, an event that likely gave him the idea to make it a national holiday. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans’ organization, Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle. The tombs of fallen Union soldiers were decorated in remembrance.
Many of the states of the U.S. South refused to celebrate Decoration Day, due to lingering hostility towards the Union Army and also because there were relatively few veterans of the Union Army who were buried in the South. A notable exception was Columbus, Mississippi, which on April 25, 1866 at its Decoration Day commemorated both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery.
The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882. It did not become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967. On June 28, 1968, the United States Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved three holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The holidays included Washington’s Birthday, now celebrated as Presidents’ Day; Veterans Day, and Memorial Day. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971.
After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply, all fifty states adopted the measure within a few years. Veterans Day was eventually changed back to its traditional date. Ironically, most corporate businesses no longer close on Veterans Day, Columbus Day, or President’s Day, with the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and/or New Year’s Eve often substituted as more convenient "holidays" for their employees. Memorial Day endures as a holiday which most businesses observe because it marks the beginning of the "summer vacation season." This role is filled in neighboring Canada by Victoria Day, which occurs either on May 24 or the last Monday before that date, placing it exactly one week before Memorial Day.
Waterloo’s designation as the birthplace took place just in time for the village’s centennial observance. The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolution 587 on May 17 and May 19, 1966 respectively, which reads in part as follows: "Resolved that the Congress of the United States, in recognition of the patriotic tradition set in motion one hundred years ago in the Village of Waterloo, NY, does hereby officially recognize Waterloo, New York as the birthplace of Memorial Day…"
On May 26, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a Presidential Proclamation recognizing Waterloo as the Birthplace of Memorial Day.
Today, take a few minutes out of your busy schedule and say a prayer of thanks for each and every man, woman and child who has made the ultimate sacrifice while in service to our country.
Dad wishes to thank Wikipedia and all it’s supporters for this ongoing work in support of Memorial Day. Thank You!
American Valor Salutes Our Military
12 year old Lexxi Saal has written a song as a tribute to the Men & Women serving in the United States Armed Forces. Lexxi Saal is a 12 year old vocal talent climbing the ranks of the music industry with the desire and dedication to continue improving on her gift that many believe will to take her to the top!
Lexxi has written and recorded this moving tribute to the men and women in the military now. "From the mouths of babes"..comes a truth and passion that we, as adults, could certainly benefit from if only we believed as strongly as they do. Please watch this video with an open and receptive heart and say a prayer for those serving in the military as this memorial day approaches. Pray for their strength and survival.
Here are a few of the comments that accompany this new YouTube video:
…"I think that this is a great tribute and we should all stop and say "Thank You" to every Servicemen and every Servicewomen"
…"This beautiful tribute touched the deepest part of my soul. It was created by a young lady with the voice of an angel. Forward it on as it may play a significant role in lifting our soldiers morale. To my cousin Sgt. Robin Smith who is currently serving in Iraq., to all soldiers, and veterans, We salute you! You NEVER forgot what Honor, Courage and Committment means to you. May God protect you wherever you are!"
…"Thank you Lexxi!! I am an Army veteran who served in 3 combat tours between1989-1997. I appreciate this as I know all who are graced by your blessed message. I know as a veteran when you are called to perform your duty, you have to do what you are sworn in to do. I am sure your gifts from God will continue to be a blessing to not only our troops but all who get a chance to listen and learn as well. So Thank You lil’ maam!! God Bless you and your family continually."
…"Lexxi, I am a soldier in the army. I served eleven months in Iraq and it is people like yourself that keep us strong and remind us exactly what we are fighting for. I was very touched by your song and i thank you from the bottom of my heart. Not many people are as talented and as compassionate as yourself, I hope nothing changes. God bless and have a wonderful year."
Dad has always said you don’t have to support the war or the administration, but you certainly owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women who serve in the military to protect our freedom. Additionally I wish not only to say "Thank you" to all of them who are currently serving, or ever have, but also to the many thousands of people who are brave enough to stand up and show their thanks and gratitude with their own tributes.
Thank You Lexxi!
A Father’s Military Tribute to His Son
No I am not about Ford Mustangs, although our first brand new car was a 69 Mustang. Wow!
This is not about a commercial. This is about a company that has connected with the public in a time of need and desperation and fear.
You cannot truly appreciate the emotion in this film clip, between father and son, unless you too have been gone, separated from your loved ones and had to face a homecoming and all it’s uncertainty.
Well done!
The following article was published in the Hartford Courant on December 14 and written by Staff writer Susan Campbell.
You can read her full story here If you enjoy her message, you can read her blog here If you really are moved by her story you can contact her here.
"For the Mariano family, led by Jean Mariano, you take the memory of her son Jason D. Lewis — age 30 when he and two other sailors were killed by a makeshift Baghdad bomb in the summer of 2007 — and you host a fishing derby in his name.
And then you donate the proceeds to other military families.
You stand proud at the national anthem, because Jason died doing what he wanted — fighting as a U.S. Navy Seal. You attend every ceremony where your son’s name is inscribed on a wall. You get to know other military families who’ve lost someone, and you talk about your membership in this club no one wants to join.
But your grief is private, too. On the first birthday after his death, you bake his favorite cake (pistachio) and head to the cemetery with some chairs, which you set up at his grave. Throughout the day, members of your big, unruly family come by, and you serve that cake. Yes, it’s odd, eating among the gravestones, but not so odd as a world without Jason.
You think of his three children — Jack, now 5; Max, 4; and Grace, 2 — and you create a memory book full of photos that confound his sons because they look so much like their father when he was a boy. And your throat catches at the photo of baby Grace reaching for her father’s face.
On the first Veterans Day after his death, you go with your son’s widow and your grandchildren to Disney World — where the family had planned to go before Jason died. You do that because the kids have been excited about this trip, and life must go on. You bring along as much family as you can. Though it’s surreal, you do the Magic Kingdom up right, because Jason — a happy baby, a laughing boy, a smiling man — would have done precisely that. And while the kids are exploring the rides, you watch a beautiful monarch butterfly float over a small patch of grass, and you think, "Jason’s here."
And this past summer, a year after his death — it feels wrong to call it an "anniversary" because "anniversary" sounds happy — you head back to the cemetery and do the whole meet-and-greet again, minus the cake. And on Monday of this past week, you drive to Hartford with friends and family from New Milford and Brookfield to lay a wreath at the Capitol as part of Wreaths Across America. And before you speak, you fluff the flags of the different military branches attached to the wreath because you want things to look just right.
And then you stand next to the governor — she’s from Brookfield, too — and you read a speech about service and sacrifice. And the governor, who spoke at Jason’s funeral, talks about feeling grateful for people like your son — and like Sgt. Joseph M. Nolan, a Waterbury native who died in Fallujah on Nov. 18, 2004. His father stands nearby, with family members.
When the unthinkable happened, Jean told herself that at least her son was doing what he wanted to do. How many people can say that? His grandmother Frances Mariano still talks about how blessed she was to have Jason and her other grandchildren grow up around her and gather around a table loaded with spaghetti and chicken.
And Jason’s aunt Janet Mariano has his laminated photo attached to her car, with a quote that starts: "We all sleep safe in our beds because there are rough men who stand ready in the night." She still sometimes cries if someone asks her about Jason, and she hates that she cries.
Oh, yes. You do that, too. On some days, you cry for that life cut short because that is all you can manage to do. You cry."
By William H. McMichael and Karen Jowers – Staff writers
Posted for the Army-Times: Wednesday Sep 17, 2008
The nation’s first memorial to the 9/11 terrorist attacks was dedicated Thursday during a ceremony at the Pentagon, where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed seven years earlier, killing 184 people.
“We gather to dedicate this ground where a great building became a battlefield, where stone became dust, steel became shrapnel, where flames, smoke and destruction stole the lives of 184 men, women and children,” said former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, one of hundreds of dignitaries in a huge throng of onlookers who gathered on a cool, cloudy morning on the Pentagon’s south side for the official unveiling of the memorial.
“From this time forward, the Pentagon will be more than a symbol of government, more than a seat of military power, said Rumsfeld’s successor, Robert Gates. “It will also be a place of remembrance.”
The memorial, a two-acre field on the Pentagon’s west side, is a place for reflection: a series of 184 steel-and-granite benches, each with its own glowing light pool, set in a gravel field interspersed with paperbark maple trees, all aligned in the direction Flight 77 took on its final fateful path.
Keith Kaseman, who along with his wife, Julie Beckman, designed the memorial, has called it an “invitation to think.”
In addition to a procession of speakers, including President Bush, Gates and Pentagon Memorial Fund board chairman Jim Laychak, the program was marked by solemn moments, such as a lone bagpiper playing “Amazing Grace” while walking between the memorial benches, and the reading of the names of all 184 victims, each marked by the ringing of a ship’s bell.
The reading was gently interrupted at 8:46 a.m. for a moment of silence to mark the instant when another terrorist-piloted airliner crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, and to remember those who also died both in New York and in a grassy field in Pennsylvania.
When the speeches were done, Bush walked onto the site and officially dedicated the memorial, stopping first at the bench of 3-year-old Dana Falkenberg, the youngest victim.
The benches, covered in blue sheeting, were unveiled by troops wearing crisp dress uniforms — first Dana’s, then the rest in a rapid-fire sequence that had the effect of a large sheet being pulled back over the entire field. The thousands in attendance stood to applaud, and the air was filled with the fanfare of the U.S. Air Force Band and a full-throated chorus provided by the U.S. Army Chorus and the U.S. Naval Academy Chorus.
“The ceremony absolutely took my breath away,” said Meg Falk, who, at the time of the attack, was the director of the Pentagon’s office of family policy. After the attack, she set up the Pentagon’s assistance center to help victims’ families, and spent countless hours with them.
Falk, who has since retired, called the memorial “such a wonderful tribute to those whose lives were lost.”
One of those lives lost was retired Army Staff Sgt. Jimmie Holley, a Pentagon accountant who was in the building when it was struck. His stepson, Daniel Jackson, said the dedication was a “long time coming” but added that he was thankful for the effort made to put it together.
“I’ll never get over it,” he said of Holley’s death.
Later, after visiting Holley’s memorial bench, Jackson’s mood was serene. “It was beautiful,” he said. “It’ll be open 24 hours, so I’ll go to the bench and just sit and think about him. It’s so quiet and nice.”
Holley is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, and his grave overlooks the Pentagon wall that was struck by Flight 77.
Rumsfeld said the proximity of Arlington makes the memorial’s location particularly fitting.
“Here beneath these sloping fields of Arlington National Cemetery, fields that hold our nation’s fallen, this building stands as a silent monument to the resolve of a free people,” said Rumsfeld, who was in the building during the attack and helped assist victims.
“And so, too, this memorial in its shadow will stand not only as a symbol of a nation’s grief, but as an eternal reminder of men and women of valor who saw flame and smoke, stepped forward to save and protect the lives of their fellow Americans on September 11.
“Let it also remind each of us of those who have volunteered to serve in our nation’s armed forces before and every day since,” Rumsfeld said. “Our nation’s military has stood strong in this new age of peril, determined that what happened here seven years ago must not happen again.”
We have include several clips of the service:
Dad and American Valor give special thanks to all those who have contributed in the remembrance of those who have fallen. God Bless!
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