I can think of no better song for Memorial Day than Tim McGraw’s “If You’re Reading This“:
If you’re readin’ this
My momma’s sittin’ there
Looks like I only got a one way ticket over here.
I sure wish I could give you one more kiss
War was just a game we played when we were kids
Well I’m layin’ down my gun
I’m hanging up my boots
I’m up here with God and we’re both watchin’ over you
So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul
Is where my momma always prayed that it would go.
If you’re readin’ this I’m already home.
If you’re readin’ this
Half way around the world
I won’t be there to see the birth of our little girl
I hope she looks like you
I hope she fights like me
And stands up for the innocent and the weak
I’m layin’ down my gun,
I’m hanging up my boots
Tell dad I don’t regret that I followed in his shoes
So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul
is where my momma always prayed that it would go
If you’re readin’ this, I’m already hoooommmmmeeee
If you’re readin’ this,
There’s gonna come a day
You move on and find someone else and that’s okay
Just remember this
I’m in a better place
Soldiers live in peace and angels sing amazing grace
So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul is where my momma always prayed that it would go
If you’re readin’ this
If you’re readin’ this
I’m already home
[NOTE: This is a repeat of a previous post.]
Previously a lifelong Democrat, born in New York and living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I've found myself slowly but surely 
May 24th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Today the pastor asked those who knew someone who had died in service to the country to stand in their honor during prayer. There were a number who did.
May 24th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
This weekend I keep hoping against hope that all of these people who died for their country did not die in vain.
Very nice poetry.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
May 24th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Thank you.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Thanks. From Kandahar, Afghanistan.
May 25th, 2009 at 6:19 am
Neo: Since you are interested in Vietnam, today on his radio program, Michael Medved will rerun his oral history, “The Truth About Vietnam,” an excellent program which I heard a couple of years ago. He does his research well. The final hour or so about the fall of Saigon is riveting. It is worth a listen.
May 25th, 2009 at 7:59 am
A short skirmish with my cousin. She was saying that in her town there wouldn’t be a memorial day parade because the local vets were all so old. She transitioned to a quickie speech to the effect that while she was anti-war, had done all the peace marches, she was for some form of national service. I said pshaw, emptying bed pans and reading fairy tales to idiots is isn’t national service, but coerced social work. Small change compared to fighting and dying for this country. For some reason she didn’t wish to pursue the subject.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Armchair pessimist
Haven’t heard pshaw since reading Sherlock Holmes. Beautiful!!
May 25th, 2009 at 9:34 am
and the norks celebrated with a bang…
May 25th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Powerful stuff. No dry eyes here. Thanks.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:37 am
My dad served on carriers and subs in the Pacific theater. My mom delivered messages in the same war. Armed with a military issue .45, I doubt many got in her way. My dad received many of those messages. That’s how my parents met.
My dad never spoke to his kids about what he experienced in that war, although he and my mom spoke of it often. They would clam up when one of us came to the dining room table where they always sat and talked (daily) at night for hours on end. Mom told me a few things, after numerous inquiries over the years. Dad had a box of medals that my sister has. I am not sure what they all mean. It’s a big box.
My parents are long gone. But I am here, in more ways than one, because of them and so many like them.
I wish to thank all of you for yesterday, for today, and for tomorrow. The sacrifices made……. God willing, at the end of each day, we won’t let you down.
May 25th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
seems obama doesn know the difference between memorial day and veterans day…
May 25th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
My pop came out of California’s San Joaquin Valley and was shipped to Clark Field. Letters show that these kids were a cocky bunch before the bullets started flying.
He escaped from the Bataan Death March, made his way back to Corrigador where McArthur held out for weeks (before fleeing).
Pop was eventually captured and spent over 3 1/2 years at Cabanatuan. He suffered multiple diseases, which may have saved him from the hell ships to Japan and hard labor. He barely survived, recovering for over a year at Fitzsimmons in Denver.
He died at age 54 in 1976 due to his poor health. All his siblings are alive and well, all 80 and older. He was in the middle agewise, but they all look up to him to this day.
I have his mother’s letters that reached him through the Japanese Red Cross. They are simple letters from Parents who barely made it past 7-8th grade. But they clearly show his Mom’s worry.
I’m amazed that I’m older than him now (at 55). My life has seen nothing like what he saw.
May 26th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Great song.
Very similar to a genre of Israeli songs…
This is my feeble (shortened) translation of a famous one:
We two are from the same old little town
Both the same height, same cowlicks won’t stay down
Same slang, same clothes, same jokes, same smiles and frowns
We two are from the same old town
We two pass through green fields our fathers sow
Up to our necks the grain now overgrown
Down in the square, we meet and hang around
We two are from the same old town.
And late on Friday night
When winds whip up a fright
Through clouds of black and blue
Then I remember you.
I see that day of neverending hell
How you were broken, and then how you fell
And when dawn came again without a sound
I brought you back to our old town.
And late on Friday night
When winds whip up a fright
Through clouds of black and blue
Then I remember you.
You see – we’re here again in our old town.
Not much has changed here, same old sights and sounds
I still pass through the fields like we did once
And you’re right there within the fence.
May 26th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oAgv3iQn3E
May 25th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
To Whom It Would Be of Interest,
I wrote this song to pay tribute to All Veterans and
would be honored if you choose to post it on your Patriotic
Web Site. I thank you and God Bless!
A Tribute To Veterans
In Vietnam, Korea and World Wars Past
Our Men Fought Bravely so Freedom Would Last
Conditions Where Not Always Best They Could Be
Fighting a Foe You Could Not Always See:
From Mountain Highs to Valley Lows
From Jungle Drops to Desert Patrols
Our Sinewy Sons Were Sent Over Seas
Far From Their Families And Far From Their Dreams
They Never Wrote Letters Of Hardships Despair
Only Of Love, Yearning That One Day Soon:
They Would Come Home, They Would Resume
And Carry On With The Rest of Their Lives
The P.O.W.’S Stood Steadfast
Against the Indignities And Cruelties Of War
They Could Not Have Lasted as Long as They Did
If They Had Relinquished Their Hope That Some Day:
They Would Come Home, They Would Resume
And Carry On the Rest Of Their Lives
Medics, Nurses, and Chaplains Alike
Did What They Needed To Bring Back Life
They Served Our Forces From Day Into Night
Not Questioning If They Would Survive:
They Mended Bones And Bodies Too,
They Soothed the Spirits of Dying Souls
And for Those M.I.A’S, Who Were Left Behind
We Echo This Message Across the Seas
We Will search For as Long As It Takes
You’re Not Forgotten And Will Always Be:
In Our Hearts, In Our Prayers,
In Our Minds For All Time
A Moment of Silence, a Moment of Summons
Is Their Deliverance of Body And Soul
To a Sacred Place That We All Know
Deep In the Shrines of Our Soul:
In Our Hearts, In Our Prayers
In Our Minds For All Time
INTERLUDE:
GOLD STAR MOTHERS GRIEVE: ENDLESSLY,
ENDLESSLY, ENDLESSLY…….
These Immortalized Soldiers Whose Bravery Abounds
They’re Our Husbands, Fathers, and Sons
They Enlisted For the Duty at Hand
To Serve the Cause of Country and Land:
They Had Honor, They Had Valor,
They Found Glory That Change Them Forever
Men Standing Tall and Proud They be
A Country Behind Them in a Solemn Sea
So Let the Flags of Freedom Fly
Unfurled in Their Majesty High:
In the Sun, In the Rain
In the Winds Across This Land
Years of Tears Has Brought Us Here
Gathering Around to Hear This Sound
So Let the Flags of Freedom Fly
Unfurled in Their Majesty High:
In the Sun, In the Rain,
In the Winds Across This Land
REPEAT:
In the Sun, In the Rain,
In the Winds For All Time
Jerry Calow (copyright 2003 )