Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
~Amen~
Every year I post this video. I am very proud to have called the little town of Ringgold, Georgia my home for many years. Every year we drive back down to spend the few minutes it takes to go through town, the main stretch and all the little side roads, and appreciate the flags, and honor the fallen.
May the blood cost of our freedom be increasingly appreciated and honored. And may America always be blessed with towns and people like this, who remember and honor our fallen because they value our freedom and know the cost.
If you hijack this post with political content that belongs on the other threads I will put you in moderation. This is a memorial in remembrance of our dead. Not a place to rant.
Everyone knows General Armstrong Custer but did you know about the other 7th Cavalry Officers who died along with him at The Little Big Horn. His brother Tom Custer won two Medals of Honor during the Civil War one of only a handful of Americans who have that honor. Custer’s brother-in-law and nephew also died. There were several recent young West Point Graduates and two Army surgeons among those killed.
Thank you Joe
Army Surgeon George Lord:
Lord was born in Brunswick, Maine and graduated from Bowdoin College. He attended medical school and moved west to serve in the U.S. Army at various forts and outposts. He entered into another contract with the U. S. Army in January 1875 and was made a first lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry, posted in Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory.
During the Great Sioux War, he accompanied Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s column towards the Little Bighorn River, where he was killed in action. Dr. Lord’s body was not positively identified by the first burial crews, and he was initially listed by General Alfred H. Terry and others as missing in action. Captain Otto E. Michaelis and Lieutenant Richard E. Thompson, however, later contacted Lord’s brother with their belief that a body sighted on the field had been the doctor’s, based on a blue shirt the corpse was wearing as well as “the shapely hands, the moustache, and general appearance.”[1]: 38–39 Michaelis also thought the socks on the corpse were from the same set of three pairs Lord had earlier purchased from a trader at Powder River. Based on this new information, three months after the battle Terry recommended that Lord’s status be changed to killed in action.[1]: 39–40
However, there is no marker with Lord’s name at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument that specifically marks this reported death site. In 1890, a marker for Lord was placed on the so-called South Skirmish Line, based on the discovery there of buttons that were thought to be part of a staff officer’s uniform which doctors would wear.[1]: 41
Lord’s surgical kit eventually was recovered from the Indians and sent to the Army’s medical museum.
Yep. Lots more to the Custer story and especially Little Big Horn than most people ever learn about. He is a relative of mine on dads side. Lots of Custer relatives still around.
Thomas Ward Custer winner of two Medals of Honor during the Civil War. An incredible story of courage-
Joe, Thanks for posting this!!!!
Thank you Menagerie. No matter how many times I see this it always hits the spot for what I need on Memorial Day.
I second that Menagerie, leavemyguns said it perfectly.
Thank you and God bless
Ditto ditto❤❤😊😊✝️✝️
There was an episode of “Victory At Sea” titled, “Suicide For Glory”, wherein there is a brief scene of a Catholic chaplain administering Last Rites to a serviceman lying on the USS Franklin’s flight deck. I first saw it before I was ten and being a good Catholic boy and a patriot, it stuck with me. That’s the beauty of the internet. About 50 years after first seeing this iconic scene I stumbled across the whole story. That Catholic priest won the Medal of Honor for much more than what you see in that snippet of film.
I would hope that if I’m ever in a situation where I could save lives by surrendering my own that I would not find my own too precious. To my way of thinking, that in itself, would be a gift from God.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_T._O%27Callahan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_T._O%27Callahan#Medal_of_Honor_citation
Thank you Menagerie. And Thank You and God Bless All who have given and continue to give, the ultimate sacrifice. May They All Rest In Peace…May We Never Forget.
Thank you for this post, Menagerie, and for insisting on proper etiquette in clear and certain terms
God bless you and all of our fallen
WOW
May that bring peace to your forthright honesty!
All of which inspires many of us!
Thank you for psoting such a wonderful rememberance of their many many sacrifices
Amen and Thank you!
As a child, I went to the local American Legion and got a basket of red paper poppies and then walked to town. I would ask people for a donation, mostly a quarter or less, and in return I would give the person a paper poppy and thank them for supporting those who supported us. I always looked forward to doing this, even into my teens. Though it took little time and effort on my part, it was something that I felt that I owed to my country and to those who sacrificed for her.
I hope the time comes when those who call themselves Americans will return to the appreciation for these men and women, the true heroes of the USA.
Yes, I remember selling poppies when I was a child in my small town. We also drew posters in school in remembrance of the fallen heroes of our wars. They were hung in the hallways the whole week before Memorial Day. May we be worthy of their sacrifice.
That fine tradition disappeared, during the first regime of The One … whose “wife” proclaimed, “All this for a damn flag!” That right there is something else to NEVER FORGET.
I have a poppy from the American Legion, received at a bike blessing earlier this month in SE WI, get one every year. Planning to introduce my 9 month old grandson to the tradition as soon as he’s old enough to know not to gnaw on them.
With watery eyes this ex-Army E-5 salutes all men and women, officer or enlisted, who came to their eternal rest defending America.
May we live lives worthy of our God and their ultimate sacrifice.
“Ladies & gentlemen…heroes in the treehouse…all military please rise…”
“ah-tenn-SHUN…pree-zent ARMS”
“orr-durr ARMS”
Now ya made my cry Arminius…
God bless you, always
May the Lord bless you and keep you my good friend, Bananas…
Today is a day of reflection on the great sacrifices of those who have served. A day to remember my mom Joyce Geagan, my Grandmother Aggie and our neighbor and mother’s best friend Louise Russen. Butch Russen served in Vietnam the same time as me. Our mothers lived the pain all mothers live. The endless days of not knowing. The nights with out sleeping. I came home , Butch never made it. I still see the gold star in the kitchen window. My uncle Mort was killed by the Japanese in 1945. To this day my brothers are in my prayers. Please remember with a prayer all the moms and wife’s and grandma’s whose lives were changed forever. God bless America.
Thank you for your service, sir. Your friends and family did not die in vain. Peace.
Ringgold is in the far north western part of the state – a beautiful part of Georgia.
I noticed a couple of Gordy names on the crosses. The Gordys I knew were notable potters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._J._Gordy
More pieces – https://www.pinterest.com/cindylpruitt/gordy-pottery/
Couple of Ensley’s, also.
RIP
God bless all service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the United States of America and their fellow citizens. May they rest-in-peace.
God bless the Gold Star families. My uncle, a young sergeant, tail gunner, was KIA during WWII. He was my mother’s little brother. She cherished the last letter she received from him and kept it in her Bible.
In remembrance of my Great Uncle Gilbert. He was born in February 1900 in Fayette County, Pa, and died in action, on the battlefield of Chateau Thierry, France on July 15th 1918. He served in Company C 110th Infantry with the American Expeditionary Forces.
All of us living veterans must take a moment and honor those who did not make it home.
God Bless them all.
On this day I, and I’m sure, many other veterans are thanked for their service by people. Veterans day is the day for that. This day is about those that made the ultimate sacrifice for the dream of what America was, is, and can be. If anyone deserves their own day, they do!
The brotherhood that exists in a military unit at war is something that cannot be explained so it can be fully understood by someone who has not lived it I think. The c0ld military term “unit cohesion” does not come close to describing the bond between men that have faced eminent death together. Flag waving and Moms apple pie may be why they joined up, but when the going gets tough all they have, all they can rely on, is each other. And that forms a bond often stronger than that between their siblings by birth. It is Love. A Love so strong that they lay down their lives for each other.
Perhaps the greatest Eulogy ever given:
Angel Flight.
But I will also thank the living on this day in which we remember the dead.
I thanked my father this morning, multiple tours in Nam. He and I have great conversations about that waste of American lives and dollars.
Thank you for reminding everyone what this holiday is really about. God bless all those who gave their lives so others can live in freedom.
“Land of the free and the home of the brave.”
The blue hives (cities) are surrounded by this kind of love of the USA.
God Bless America!
I wonder under what rug has the GOOGLE Logo-(when opening search page)-the banner commemorating the blessings of this Sacred Memorial Day has been tucked under???? Seems we get all the other creative banners celebrating and honoring
other important people and dates–seems all the ______ are out celebrating freedom away from G work desk.
I felt like the black banner (not a flag) was an insult. Google is only in my world because I’m not aware of a way to get around them. I will add that Edge is worse.
Thank you Menagerie. Beautiful video for a day to remember those who served.
In a special way, although they did not wear an armed forces uniform (although some did jump ship, to the Navy)…Please remember Merchant Marine who staffed the Liberty Ships and other vessels supplying our war effort. My dad was still a Kiwi in those days, on US merchant ships—he told stories of WE2, standing at the rail on deck, watching torpedoes fly by. Dad went to Korea for the US and that was how he earned his US citizenship.
WW2…still waiting on my computer repair! Cell home pistons painful! God Bless our Gold & Blue star families.
“Heave-ho my boys heave-ho”
“Heave ho my boys, heave ho”.
Twice I’ve posted the Merchant Marine song, as tribute, and it was removed both times! … Why ?
None of your posts have been altered or deleted.
Thank you for replying. I may have a bug in my computer that caused the problem.
Most of you probably didn’t know that casualties among workers here at home exceeded those in the service on some days during WW II. There was no OSHA and so at the shipyards and on building construction sites lots of people were walking on beams or single board scaffolds far above the ground or water without any safety harness or other protection with welding cables and such strung all over the place. A fair proportion of them women. They had boats dedicated to rescuing those that fell in the water at the shipyards but more often than not they were recovering bodies. Sometimes at Kaiser shipyards they would be losing 2 or 3 a day.
For any personnel in service to our great country in the past, and even long into the future, the Merchant Marines will not be forgotten for their courageous service to the war effort, so instrumental to an allied victory. When we have our Veterans Day Service at our church, the Merchant Marine flag is prominently displayed with all the other Armed Forces flags. And last year we even added the Space Force flag.
The town of Ringgold is also not far from my home. The nearby city of Chattanooga hosts a Medal of Honor Museum that is not to be missed.
May we pray for leaders who will never again send our brave soldiers into harm’s way except to truly defend our nation.
Chattanooga also has a huge Military Cemetary… surpassed in size only by Arlington. It’s beautiful, and if you haven’t been there yet, it’s well worth a visit.
It is at that cemetery where most of the Great Locomotive Chase saboteurs are buried (as well as several close departed friends of mine). The chase ended when the General ran out of fuel only about 2 miles above Ringgold, where there is a monument marking the exact spot. It is on the Ooltewah-Ringgold highway.
https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/william-d-morgan
High school classmate. RIP Bill.
My lord he was so young; as were most of the 58,000 dead during the Viet Nam war.
🥰 Beautiful tribute
RIP..Bill Morgan. We just buried my sister in law at Mt Lebanon Cemetery.
My condolences. My parents are there. It’s rarely known there are two Medal of Honor recipients buried in that small Mt. Lebanon Cemetery, William Morgan and the other is Casper R. Carlisle who won his at the Battle of Gettysburg July 2, 1863. These graves are hollowed ground no different than Arlington National Cemetery.
God bless those who secured our freedom and gave the ultimate sacrifice.
💕🇺🇸🙏💕🇺🇸🙏💕🇺🇸🙏
My family, like many of yours, lost family members in several wars. I was married to an army officer (Viet Nam veteran). My uncle was a POW in WWII. My cousin Michael was killed in Viet Nam. Most of my male cousins served (many as a career).
My father was army circa WWII. My father-in-law was a gunner in WWII and served three tours in Viet Nam. He was considered for Sgt Maj of the Marine Corps
twice. What a character!
My mother-in-law served in the navy.
Generational family roots in the military! 🇺🇸
God bless all of my family who served and sacrificed.
God bless all of your family members past and present!
God bless the United States of America! 💕🇺🇸🙏
Let’s not forget the canines who served (including those left behind in Afghanistan)! 🐾🇺🇸🐾🇺🇸
Beautiful. It’s a lot like where I live in north Florida… Flags everywhere to honor the fallen and those that have served. Glad to see Ringgold has recovered from that horrific tornado in 2011.
It has, but there are still signs of the destruction. We lived in a beautiful cabin, surrounded by hardwoods. While we lost s few trees, and were without power for almost a week, one street over people lost their lives, and the whole ridge still looks like bombs went off, with the remains of the broken trees visible.
The volunteers still put the flags up a month later, I’m proud to say. Those days there were many heroes and helpers in our little town. If you look at the pictures in my post, you’ll see those flags standing in front of the destruction.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2011/06/05/church-signs-country-roads-and-1890s-days/
If that tornado hadn’t jumped the ridge I wouldn’t be here today. It was headed right for us when it went over the ridge, up Cherokee Valley Road and wiped out Apison. We still lost part of our roof from the wind. It was horrible. The trees looked like the child’s game of Pick Up Sticks.
You must have been very close to us. We lived on the ridge across from Cherokee Valley.
we lived right behind you… off of Ooltewah Ringold Road on the other side of the ridge… less than a mile as the crow flies from Cherokee Valley Road.
Have you had a chance to see the program PBS made years ago on the American Cemetaries overseas? They are spectacular… some of them even play Taps every night. Oh, and I live in Ringgold now and I love it. We had a parade yesterday too. Are you still in the area?
Not too far away in Tennessee. No, I haven’t seen the program. But one of my sons just returned from Normandy, and he sent so many good pictures, and related some fine stories.
Cherokee Valley Road is the road I usually take when going to Ringgold. You can still see the damage along the ridge line to all the trees to this day. Fortunately, it passed us by to the east (south Bradley County) and went on to Cleveland where it killed 2 people, I think it was. Also destroyed a favorite hangout, the County Line Grocery (Hamilton/Bradley), the lot still vacant to this day.
Another passed us to the west and that is the one where I heard the freight train that so many describe–very scary.
This is an essay by the late Gerard Vanderleun. I leave it here knowing those who read it will be as moved as I was. Perhaps the finest marking this day as I have ever read.
THE NAME IN THE STONE
~On Living with the Loss of a Son in Wartime. Written and first published on Memorial Day, 2003~
https://americandigest.org/mt-archives/003362.php
“Mansions of the Lord”
Sung by men from whose ranks the most losses always came throughout every war fought.
Freedom is not free. God sent Eternal Overwatch for them
Amen and amen, Robb🙏🏻
Sadly many citizens don’t know the difference between Armed Services Day, Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
My husband at age 7 lost his Dad in WWII. He is buried in one of the many American cemeteries thru Europe. We have yet to visit the grave. His mother never remarried and to her great credit raised two good and productive sons. The loss transformed the family into something totally different.
Think of all those we have lost thru so many wars. Today is their day of remembrance.
Thanks for this post.
An easy explanation for what we commemorate on which day, soap lady
Decoration Day; when loved ones placed flowers at the graves, eventually (finally) became
Memorial Day
-in honor of
ALL
US Soldiers
who died in service; as all, northern or southern were US military.
https://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/csa-mem.htm
—————————-
Vicksburg Mississippi
https://www.nps.gov/places/vicksburg-national-cemetery.htm
https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/cemhistory.htm
Thank you for this Patience
very nice
You’re correct, Patience, it was Decoration Day we celebrated until the early 1970s when it became Memorial Day. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (yes, the same one who wrote Paul Revere’s Ride) wrote a poem entitled Decoration Day which we grammar school students (early 1950s) had to learn by rote. Seventy years later I still remember the last stanza:
Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers.
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.
…and that is why we are supposed to go to school; to learn, Right?
-Thanks for that poem, DiggyDaddy.
——-//-//——-/////——-
Here’s some more good info about Memorial Day:
https://armyhistory.org/general-john-a-logan-memorial-day-founder/
And here is some very nutty and disrespectful (of, for and by) revisionists’ demands.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/13/arlington-national-cemetery-confederate-memorial
————-//////————
God, Bless
all who perished
so that we the people may live.
-✝️
Thanks, Patience. Yes, indeed, my kids marvel at what I’ve retained from my education. I still remember my first grade teacher, Mrs. Cogsdale, beginning each day leading the class in reciting the 23rd Psalm. Oh, how we are so wanting for that kind of instruction in today’s schools.
Regarding the Brit rag: The Guardian; it should tend to its own business on its side of the Atlantic. I often remind my friends in Europe and elsewhere who sometimes become too buttinski about American matters (it’s an unbecoming habit some have, they can’t seem to help themselves) that there are two kinds of countries in this world: those which use the metric system, and, those which put a man on the moon. They get the point! (My Russian friends in Siberia love using that retort when engaging in conversations with their neighbors about the world situation!)
Both my parents are buried at Arlington. I live in the other Washington and it’s been years since I last visited DC. However, it’s always an inspiring visit spending time among our soldiers, sailors, and airmen who rest at our national cemeteries (nearest to me is Tahoma NC…my future post).
Thanks again, Patience.
DoggyDaddy,
I had the good fortune , only once (20 years ago)
to spend time at
Arlington National Cemetery.
Perhaps because there are so many people; like an enormous library..so many books… so many individual —yet connected stories …
that to this day
I still cannot find the words to describe or explain that amazing experience.
-Sensory overload.
✝️❤️🇺🇸
I have friends and relatives who recently visited Vicksburg. They said it is a shame how overgrown the cemetery has become. I gather it is just another way to add insult to something that more people under the age of 40 don’t understand. When I visited Vicksburg, I was astounded at the Union monuments as well as the Confederate monuments. People often forget that there was a great loss of life on both sides and often brothers fought against brothers.
The Civil War is one example of how the Constitution helps to solve issues and can bring peace to our great nation. Our Constitution is a major reason that many foreign nations want to destroy our country.
We are or were the only nation in the world that still has a government that is required to answer to the people. I do believe that our citizens need to know that and need to say no to foreigners who do not understand our history.
Oh…. no!😱
It was impeccable 25 years ago.
When there
you look at the terrain,,, imagine being in the heat and the humidity,,, the bugs, hunger… fatigue, pain, injury…. trudging along…. My God, how gutWrenching … difficult that must have been!
….the fabric of their uniforms and those hard shoes or boots
And then, all hell breaks loose!
😢To see the sea of seemingly endless white crosses in perfect lines.
The placement of monuments and canons.
-What a sacred place.
I pray that it gets maintained
-✝️
Thank you, Menagerie such a beautiful tribute video. 🥰🥰🥰
A number of years ago when I was but a lurker here, I saved the link to this video that Menagerie posted. I watch/listen to it whenever I feel hopeless about the state of our Nation. It always restores my hope/faith & renews my commitment to throw sand in the gears.
Thank God that each & every one of them were ours & may He bless them with eternal rest.
May we prove ourselves worthy of their sacrifice.
Oh my goodness Menagerie… last October my son and I drove from Minnesota to doorknock for Herschel Walker… one of the towns he and I were in was Ringgold and I totally forgot about this.
I fell in love love with the good people of Georgia. My son more than once said, “These people are so nice.”
We had a wonderful experience.
Prayer for Those Who Have Fallen in Battle
All Powerful God,
We honor today those men and women—
Our sons and daughters,
Husbands and wives,
Fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers—
Who have laid down their life for their country.
Whether weary or emboldened, quiet or defiant,
Vulnerable or ready when You called them home,
Their sacrifice is too humbling for words
except these uttered in prayer.
Loving Lord, bless them forever in Your eternal peace.
Let the sounds of strife, the cries of battle, the wounds of war
be calmed for all eternity in Your loving and endless grace.
Let these great warriors find rest at last,
Ever reminded that we who are left behind
Cherish their spirit, honor their commitment,
send them our love,
and will never forget the service that they gave.
Amen
-✝️
Amen.
Amen
Amen!
Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.
Great town Ringgold. We lived in Dunwoody and went there for a baseball game. Very nice people.
To all Our Servicemen and Women who served and those that gave their lives so we could live in Freedom, We are Eternally grateful.
Both my Parents served in WWII and raised Us to Love God Country and Family
God Bless
Tea
Thank you for your service and God bless you to all who have served/given the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Land of the free because of the brave…🙏😇🇺🇸❤️⭐️🏆
This is another great tribute.
Thanks for that. Aside from the Arizona Memorial we have the Punchbowl Cemetery and state veterans cemetery. In recent years at Punchbowl they have been disinterring unknowns from the USS Oklahoma and using modern DNA to identify them.
By chance, in Cincinnati yesterday, I met a 97-year old Army Air Corps/Air Force pilot, who had served in WW II and later Korea.
He was in pretty good shape and is still driving around Cincinnati on his own!
Truly a member of an amazing generation of men and women!
I remember my grandmother telling me a story when she was teaching me to sew in 1965.
She said that there was a bulletin board set up at her Methodist church that had the names of the soldiers that were lost during the previous week during WWII.
Everyone went to the bulletin board before church to see the names.
I remember her shaking her head as she told the story of the boys she knew well who did not return.
The same in Britain, Cocomama. During WWI and II, as with your grandmother’s time here, anxious families awaited those lists, with news of those lost not arriving for days, weeks, or even months. Desperate times.
In each town, village, and city, there is a stone Italian called a “cenotaph”, erected not commemorate those from those places who were lost in wars. Many of those memorials are shooter as a Celtic cross.
In many of the towns and villages which had smaller populations and everyone knew each other and their families, the names of those lost are engraved into the cenotaph.
These cenotaphs always held great meaning of faith and history for me when I lived there. I am providing a link which shows the different ones. Hard to see them without remembering why they were placed there.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/celtic-cross-memorial-england.html?sortBy=relevant
I’m fortunate enough to live in Ringgold. Volunteers put up 1,500+- flags for Memorial Day and Veterans Day every year in honor of all those Catoosa County residents who have served and fallen. The front of the County Administration building is reserved for the MIAs. In person, these flags never fail to cause my eyes to well up. They are in the Lord’s arms now.
💖
You are fortunate indeed. I’ll miss our cabin in the woods until I die. And the people just as much. I fell in with a really great number of people who were active there politically, especially at the council meetings.
I love it. My eldest granddaughter will be a Senior at Heritage High School in the Fall. They open all their Athletic events with the Star Spangled Banner and have a special concert every fall for Veterans Day where the Vets in the audience from each branch of the Service are asked to stand in turn. My granddaughter is Special Needs and all the other High Schoolers are very protective of her, include her in everything, ask her to their parties etc. This would not happen in many communities, and I am eternally grateful for the ways in which the other children here were raised.
Thank you for this Menagerie. Prior to retiring I covered a claims office in Ringgold as part of my territory. For years I would take my lunch and eat at the Civil War battlefields close by. They were off the beaten track and beautifully peaceful. It put me in mind of the brave fellas I lost from my high school (class of ’67) in Vietnam as well as my brave Uncle lost just one week before the end of WWII whom I never got to meet.
Dear Lord, Please have mercy on us as a people and a Country! Forgive us our sins and our short comings that these lives will not have fallen in vain! Please give us the strength to revive your Spirit of Truth so that it will sweep this Country. As Our Lord has said: “I am the Truth, the way and the life”.
I pray this in Jesus Name,
Amen
Amen
-✝️
You must have spent time in the hauntingly beautiful Chickamauga Battlefield. We still go back down there at least once a month.
The video is good, but to see it in person is more impressive. The flags encompass almost every street in town, not just the courthouse and train station.
Interesting point for any history buffs but the great locomotive chase (see Fess Parker film) from the civil war ended here.
Thanks for sharing this.
When our Parish received the news the entire school went to mass for Eddie.
https://www.virtualwall.org/dr/RogEJ01a.htm
https://www.facebook.com/VietnamVeteransMemorialFund/posts/today-we-honor-edward-rog-jr-of-chicago-illinois-who-fell-on-this-day-in-1971-he/10157192364013270/
-Eddie Rog, Rest In Peace
Its hard to not want to rant.Set aside all of my anger.Especially on a days like this. But you have asked me not too and I will respect that.
To all of the survivors of the Men and Women who gave their everything for our dwindling freedoms, I say unto you that We have not forgotten them, nor will we EVER !!!May You All Have A Most Blessed Day.
Needs no further explanation…..
Beautiful. Thank you.
“I am not fighting for a freedom that means the right to do whatever I please but for a freedom that means the right to do whatever I ought. Oughtness implies Law; Law implies Intelligence; and Intelligence implies God.
I am not fighting from freedom from some thing; but for freedom for some thing: the glorious freedom to call my soul my own and then to save it in cooperation with God’s grace.” Fulton Sheen Wartime Prayer Book
Incredible. This is my first time seeing the video. The tribute is so moving and beautiful, but raises a question: were all the commemorated dead from this little town?
From Ringgold and its county Catoosa. The proportion of the fallen to the actual population is staggering.
Thanks, Menagerie. If I may, I’d like to add a true story from WWII. My sister-in-law’s life partner was older than us and a veteran of WWII combat, especially the famous Battle Of The Bulge. One evening after a good dinner we were finishing off some good Scotch. As the evening mellowed, Harry—who was a professional historian—told me a war story.
As the German attack developed, his division which was on the Schnee Eifel, a mountainous area on the German/Belgian border, was overrun by the attacking German corps. Two regiments surrendered, while his regiment was in full retreat.
Along with two other soldiers in a jeep, they spent 5 days doing their level best to not get captured by rapidly advancing German forces. Late one afternoon, about dusk, they came upon a clearing in the deep woods. It was snowing and visibility was not great. Harry described carefully nudging the jeep out of the treeline when at across the clearing he suddenly saw the unmistakable shape of a German tank. It was a MK IV which mounted a 75mm high velocity main gun along with several machine guns.
Although the jeep’s .50 cal machine gun was a formidable weapon, it was unarmored and stood no chance a real killing machine like a MK IV tank. Frozen in shock at the sudden appearance of the tank, Harry described watching the tank’s turret slowly turn toward them.
Although it was probably seconds, Harry said it seemed to take forever for the tank gunner to align the big gun onto their tiny undefended jeep. Then it fired—and missed. The high explosive round passed over their heads and exploded behind them in the woods.
Harry described the distance between the tank and jeep as being about the length of a football field—“point-blank” can’t-miss range for a tank gun. Still the tank round passed over their heads. Instantly, Harry slammed into reverse and backed into the woods as fast as the little jeep would go until they were well out of sight of the tank.
So, what happened? So many years later, after a particularly good meal and mellowed by some equally good whisky, my friend ended his harrowing war story by concluding that the German tank gunner intentionally missed what should have been a to-easy killing shot. Such historical anomalies are rare in wartime but history records that they do happen. I agree with Harry. I think that German tank gunner intentionally missed.
Garrison, That raised the hairs on the back of my neck!
Glad you liked it. Oft told stories sometimes become lore. Perhaps this is lore. 🙂
My son was a tanker. And a WWII history buff. He would have loved that story…but sadly he was one of those who never made it ‘out of uniform’ ……..
Prayers, my friend. 🙂
I will never forget the first time that I drove through Ringgold, Georgia on the Memorial Day weekend . It was just by random that we arrived there, but the sight of all the flags and memorials was humbling. As Americans, we can “Never Forget”!