Memorializing our Military Heroes
This was a topic for discussion at RN a few days ago, and I wanted to bring the issue up here. I think we really should have at least one day set aside each month to remember the fallen, pray for their families, and fly our flags at half staff.
Please take a moment and read this poignant letter written by Sgt. Jim Wilt in Bagram. I was taken back to read that the military bases overseas were told to fly their flag at half staff for the students killed at VT, but not for their own fallen soldiers.
Soldier: Honor troops like Va. Tech dead
4/23/2007, 8:16 a.m. PDT By ALISA TANGThe Associated Press
(excerpted)
Link to entire articleKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Army sergeant complained in a rare opinion article that the U.S. flag flew at half-staff last week at the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan for those killed at Virginia Tech but the same honor is not given to fallen U.S. troops here and in Iraq.
In the article issued Monday by the public affairs office at Bagram military base north of Kabul, Sgt. Jim Wilt lamented that his comrades’ deaths have become a mere blip on the TV screen, lacking the “shock factor” to be honored by the Stars and Stripes as the deaths at Virginia Tech were.
“I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member,” Wilt wrote.
He noted that Bagram obeyed President Bush’s order last week that all U.S. flags at federal locations be flown at half-staff through April 22 to honor 32 people killed at Virginia Tech by a 23-year-old student gunman who then killed himself.
“I think it is sad that we do not raise the bases’ flag to half-staff when a member of our own task force dies,” Wilt said.
Earlier Blog entry regarding VT:
When Tragedy Hits Close To Home
Hi Claire. I don’t own a motorcycle, I just ride on the back of my Dad’s Trike. I am scared of them, was ran over by one as a child, and it has taken me 34 year to even sit on one. I would prefer to ride in my car as a support vehicle for the Patriot Guard.
The Patriot Guard is a passion of mine ever since my son came back from Iraq, I thought that I needed to give something back, and I choose this fine organization. This has to be the bigest group of tenderhearted, caring and loving folks that I have ever been associated with. It is a blessing to be involved with them.
Hope you are feeling better. Please tell your husband and son that I said thanks for serving our wonderful country.