Transcript We Happy Few - 327 Infantry

“We Happy Few”
October 16, 2008
It is again with great humility that I attempt to convey to you, on behalf of our military brethren, an
idea that remains very difficult to convey but is nonetheless one that is readily felt in the hearts of those
who possess it. Throughout the ages there remains a very unique closeness and camaraderie between
those in the military, especially those who have served in combat together. Today in our nation, there
remains a “brotherhood” between our male and female warriors. It is an understanding of who they
depend on, who they fight for, what they defend, and an absolute trust in one another. This feeling and
motivational force lives beyond mortal life itself, it is timeless in its power and in its simplicity. It goes
far beyond friendship, an oath or patriotism. For those who know it, they know it well. For those who
haven’t had it, they can only imagine it and attempt to appreciate its depth. In the end, all any of us can
really do is appreciate them for who they are and to NEVER forget their service and sacrifices.
I have had the privilege over the years to lead, follow and support our troops in a variety of
capacities. Just last month I had the privilege to support our Soldiers at a small outpost in Kuwait up
near the Iraq border. Once again I witnessed the power and inspiration of this thing which is referred to
by many names, titles, nouns and adjectives. This presentation attempts to provide a combination of
words and photographs that may, in their own way, convey this thing’s meaning. It just is what it is, and
thank God it remains an integral fiber of our Nation’s combat formations.
Bill Coffey
Other presentations, tributes, articles and speeches by Mr. Coffey can be found at:
[email protected]
http://www.slideshare.net/jacko91/these-are-my-credentials/ (Tribute: presentation of
------------------------Bill Coffey with friend
and comrade BG Jeff Smith
Northern Kuwait, Sept 2008
photos and quotes)
http://www.highlifter.com/forum/%22On_Point_-_Warrior_Quotes%22/m_2377223/tm.htm
(Tribute: presentation of photos and quotes)
http://www.slideshare.net/RSC56/6-21st-century-spartans (speech to graduating
Infantrymen, combined with photos)
http://www.globalspecialoperations.com/majcoffey.html (collection of essays, speeches,
articles by MAJ (Ret) Coffey)
This presentation is provided fully without restrictions. You may use it, post it, distribute it, or use its parts
in any way. This presentation may be considered “public domain”, while some of the photos may be
copyrighted. I receive many photos without credit to the originators and therefore am unable to vouch for
the sources or copyright status for some of them.
“Shall ne’er go by,
from this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
for he to-day that sheds his blood with me
shall be my brother.”
William Shakespeare's
King Henry V, Act 4, Scene III
“1) Generals and politicians and others full of their own importance make speeches but nothing
happens until Tommy Atkins turns his face to the enemy, puts his rifle at high port and advances to
his front.
2) No man fights for King and country, not for the glory of his regiment nor its flag. He fights for his
friends, he fights because his friends are expecting him to and he fights because he is unwilling to let
them down.
Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke
Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Britain's top soldier in WW2
“The real heroes were my good buddies who died during the battles.”
Marine Corporal Ira Hayes (one of five Marines and a Navy Corpsman
who raised Old Glory atop Mt Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Feb 1945)
“I like Marines, because being a Marine is serious business. We’re not a
social club or a fraternal organization and we don’t pretend to be one. We’re a
brotherhood of “Warriors” – nothing more, nothing less, pure and simple. We are
in the ass-kicking business, and unfortunately, these days business is good.”
Colonel James M. Lowe, Commander, Marine Corps Base Quantico
"To save your world you asked this man to die; Would this
man, could he see you now, ask why?“
Wystan H. Auden, Epitaph for an unknown soldier
"The only way for evil men to triumph is for good men to do nothing," said Lt. Col.
Michael Hudson, MAG-39 executive officer, quoting Edmund Burke. "These
Marines
were here because for them doing nothing was not an option."
“Going to a memorial is the toughest thing you are going to do when
you get home. It is also the most honorable. It is our time to talk about not only
how the Soldier lived, but how he touched our lives and be able to express
ourselves while letting him know that as we live we will never forget the ultimate
sacrifice that they gave to us so we can continue to live as a free nation.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Philip Johndrow, 1st Cavalry Division, Iraq
LTC Rod Coffey
“We are here to honor the memory and service of seven men, seven of our brothers in arms ... why do we have
to lose such good men? Part of the answer is only good men like these volunteer to serve and defend their country ...
For those who want to support us by getting us out of Iraq as soon as possible, without a victory, I have but one
comment. You’re too late. We have sacrificed too much and all we ask of you is the necessary time to finish the job ... So
I ask you ‘Wolfpack’ to make this promise with me. They will not have died for nothing. We owe them a victory. We owe
them a win. We owe them our own lives if necessary. If the enemy comes out to fight he will be met with a disciplined
lethal ferocity he has never before endured. If he plays the sly game of intimidating, beheading and torturing the innocent
people of Iraq when he thinks we’re not looking, he will be met with a cunning, a sophistication and a relentlessness that
will lead to his utter defeat. This is my promise to you as your commander and from all of us to our honored dead.”
LTC Rod Coffey, Commander, 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment,
The "Wolfpack”, Diyala Province, Iraq, January 22, 2008
“We are Marines. Many people don't
understand what we do as Marines or do
they really don’t want to know. Many people
are just thankful that we are out there. The
force between them and evil. They are quick
to chastise us or point out the rare
occasions when we drift, however, they beg
for us to go stand between them and fear. In
the very recent past, we have lost two
Marines from our unit, the first of this
deployment, many of the last few
deployments. They are warriors, school
teachers and sons. They wanted to make a
difference and they did. Now that we have
grieved and held a memorial, we put our
helmets back on, push outside the wire and
continue to keep the wolf at bay, why you
ask? Because we are Marines.”
Major Gary Bourland 18 Apr 2008:
The American and Iraqi flags fly at half-staff in
honor of Cpl. Nelson and Lance Cpl. Opicka on April
17, 2008. A memorial service remembering these fallen
brothers was held on Camp Habbaniyah, Friday, April
18, 2008. The orange color of the sky is a result of a
strong dust storm currently hitting Camp Habbaniya,
Iraq.
“If there's a trip one way, he said,
Into battle grim for me,
Don't let them say when I am dead:
He died to save democracy;
Nor let them say: He fought to free
Enslaved nations, white or brown;
Just print these simple words for me:
He would not let his Marines down.”
Memorial service, set up by the Marines of the 2nd Bn, 24th Marines
for one of their fallen comrades, LCpl Daniel Wyatt, from Fox Company 2/24
Marines. See letter, next slide, from the Commander of 2/24 regarding the
death of LCpl Wyatt.
"It is with the deepest sadness and most profound grief that I must report to you the loss of Daniel Wyatt, LCpl, Fox Co,
2nd Bn, 24th Marines, USMC. Daniel was killed in the line of duty, while conducting foot patrolling operations in Yusufiyah Iraq. Daniel
was killed by a command detonated improvised explosive device. He died instantly, suffered no pain and was immediately recovered
by his fellow Marines.
My command security element and myself personally recovered Daniel's body and escorted him back to the forward
operating base, and then onto the helicopter for the beginning of his final ride home. I cannot even begin to express to you the soul
touching sight of combat hardened Marines, encrusted with weeks of sweat and dust, who have daily been engaged in combat, coming
to complete and utter solemnity and respect in the handling of the body of one of their own. It puts on display a level of brotherly love
you just cannot see anywhere else.
We conducted a memorial service for Daniel in the battle space owned by his fellow Marines, as well as one the following
day at the Bn forward operating base. I have spoken with his fiancée and expressed the sorrow and sympathy of the entire Battalion.
If I might for a moment, I hear and see some of the media coverage. I hear the accusations and charges. I hear what could almost be
labeled as hysteria over the situation in Iraq. Let me tell you something from ground level. The town of Yusufiyah that Daniel and his
fellow Marines seized, had not seen government structure or security forces for over 8 months. FOREIGN FIGHTERS, TERRORIST AND
THUGS have had free reign and have routinely murdered people in the market for no reason other than one day they MIGHT support a
democratic process and speak for themselves. For nothing more than they MIGHT choose a version of religion even slightly different
than the terrorists and foreign fighters. They live in squalor and fear. The Marines of Daniel's unit have not had a shower since seizing
the town. They have eaten MREs day on stay on. They live a Spartan existence that few can imagine. And, on all my trips to their
position for planning, coordination and command visits, I ask them if they want to be relieved. To a man, they look me in the eye and
tell me NO WAY. Why? Well, I am not going to soften it for anyone, the primary reason why is to kill terrorists. Please remember, that is
what they are trained and paid to do. But, they also tell me, they want to help the people of Yusufiyah. They want to show all of Iraq that
they can stand on their own feet, push back against extremism, and with our help live the life of freedom that all men yearn for. Yes,
from the mouths of these young and hardened warriors, this is what they tell me. And then...and then...they ask me how I am doing!
Unfreaking believable! They worry about everyone else but themselves.
So believe what you want. That is your right as Americans. But I am telling you, there are no heroes on any football fields, basketball
courts or halls of government. Their are honorable and decent people all over America. However, the heroes are on the battlefields of
Iraq. Suffering, killing and DYING that others might live, and live in FREEDOM. Americans free from terror, Iraqis free from oppression
and tyranny.
I am an under-educated gun toter from Indiana who is just lucky there is an organization like the USMC where a half-wit
like myself with some rudimentary combat skills can succeed. But I do know heroes! I am surrounded by over a thousand of them. And
I am not the least bit ashamed to tell you I have wept like a baby for Daniel Wyatt. Because when one of these heroes falls, it is as if an
Angel of God himself has fallen from heaven!
I will not profess glory of battle or any other such hype. I will profess duty and sacrifice. Daniel showed us all true duty
and ultimate sacrifice. I have no doubt that the instant he died, he was whisked to heaven on the wings of Angels and placed before
the unapproachable light of Jesus, who himself said: "greater love hath no man, than a man lay down his life for his friends."
GOD BLESS AND KEEP DANIEL WYATT, HIS FAMILY AND FIANCEE AND GOD BLESS AND KEEP ALL THE FAMILIES OF 2/24.
Yours in profound sadness
Mark A. Smith, LtCol, TF 2/24 Cmdr, Mahmudiyah, Iraq
“American soldiers in battle don't fight for what some president says
on T.V., they don't fight for mom, apple pie, the American flag...they fight for one
another.”
LTC Hal Moore
"Can one person make a difference in the world? I
don't know, but we should damn sure try..."
"When a warrior fights not for himself, but for his brothers, when his most
passionately sought goal is neither glory nor his own life's preservation, but to spend his
substance for them, his comrades, not to abandon them, not to prove unworthy of them,
then his heart truly has achieved contempt for death, and with that he transcends himself
and his actions touch the sublime. This is why the true warrior cannot speak of battle save
to his brothers who have been there with him. This truth is too holy, too sacred for words.
I myself would not presume to give it speech, save here now, with you."
From the book, “Gates of Fire”
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. The highest human exhibition of love that earth has ever seen was this.
Christ was about to exhibit this highest type of human love by dying for his
friends.”
John, 15:13,14
"Only two defining forces have died for you. Jesus, for your sins
and American Troops, for your freedom."
“It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense
of us, in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old
and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired. But
most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives – the one they were living
and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands
and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to everything for our country, for us.
And all we can do is remember.”
President Ronald Reagan, from his book “The Wisdom and Humor of the Great Communicator”
Christmas Visitors To The Pentagon, December 2004
They came in single file, about 50 of them. Silent ambassadors, to tell us who they were.
They moved at a slow pace, passing us for over 20 minutes. Some walked, while others pushed their
wheel-chairs as best they could. Some were helped along on crutches by their wives or sweethearts.
They were escorted front and rear by U.S. Marines in dress blue uniform. I have never seen prouder
Marines. The Amputee Ward from Walter Reed Army Medical Center visited the Pentagon today.
Some wore looks of resolution, pride, or dignity. Many had prosthetic devices where limbs
used to be. All of them wore looks of surprise. We, the 26,000 employees of the Pentagon, lined both
sides of the A ring (the inner ring of the Pentagon) to watch them pass and welcome them with
thunderous applause. Half a mile they walked through a gauntlet of grateful fellow citizens two and
three deep, who reached out to shake the hands of the remaining good arms, or grasp the remaining
fingers of hands that have given ultimate service. They walked through us to the main concourse, where
they were met by the Army Band and color guard playing marshal music for them, and where the mall
was filled with additional people who swelled the applause. Many of us just called out loudly, Thank You,
because we didn't know what else could be said; thank you for your service to us. The applause never
stopped. None of them spoke. They just cried. So did we. It was the closest I have been to Christmas
in a long time.
“I hold it to be one of the simplest truths of war that the one
thing which enables an infantry soldier to keep going with his weapon
is the near presence of a comrade.“
S.L.A. Marshall, from the book “Men Against Fire”
“LATER IN THE ATTACK ON BAGHDAD THE 1 ST BATTALION, 8 TH MARINES GOT INTO A SERIOUS FIGHT IN AND
AROUND THE IMAM ALI MOSQUE IN THE NORTH-CENTRAL PORTION OF THE CITY. THEY KILLED ROUGHLY 250
REPUBLICAN GUARDS, BAATHISTS, AND SADAAM FEDAYEEN AS THEY TOOK THEIR OBJECTIVES. FIRST CASUALTY
REPORTS COMING IN ON OUR SIDE WERE ONE GUNNERY SERGEANT KILLED AND 41 TROOPS WOUNDED. THE NEXT
DAY THAT FIGURE ZOOMED TO 1 KIA AND 73 WOUNDED. AS WE ASKED HOW THAT HAPPENED, WE LEARNED OF THE
LCPL WHO CAME IN TO THE BATTALION AID STATION WEAK AND WITH A BLOODY ARM. THE CORPSMAN ASKED HIM
HOW MANY TIMES HE HAD CHANGED THE BANDAGE AND THE MARINE TOLD HIM THAT HE HAD LOST COUNT. THE
DOC, AS HE SHOULD, GOT IN THE MARINE'S CASE AND THE TROOPER SAID DOC I'M NOT THE ONLY GUY OUT THERE
LIKE THAT. INDEED HE WAS NOT AND AS THE COMPANY COMMANDERS AND FIRST SERGEANTS EXAMINED THEIR
MEN, THEY CAME ACROSS THE ADDITIONAL CASUALTIES. ASKED WHY THEY DIDN'T TURN THEMSELVES IN TO THE
AID STATION FOR TREATMENT AND POSSIBLE EVACUATION THEY ANSWERED, “SIR, I AM THE ONLY AUTOMATIC
RIFLEMAN LEFT IN MY SQUAD”, OR “SIR, I THOUGHT THERE MIGHT BE ANOTHER BIG FIGHT TODAY”,
OR JUST “SIR, I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE MY BUDDIES”. LADIES AND GENTLEMAN WITH TROOPS LIKE THOSE
THE OUTCOME OF OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM WAS NEVER IN DOUBT.”
LtGen. James T. Conway, Excerpt from speech, October 8, 2004
Cpl. Joel R. Dominguez, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
displays the Purple Heart he received for injuries
suffered from a rocket attack.
“We have funny things that happen. I can remember standing in a land fill in southern Iraq
where we began one of our attacks, and watching my guys so tired from lack of sleep....literally fall on
the ground, with their gear on, on top of each other. I then watched "my boys" swat flies for each
other, guard each other, share water with each other, offer food for those that did not have any chow,
express their disdain for the trash heap that was our home, all the while ready to do battle and if
necessary die for each other. I saw with my own eyes the actual creation of the closeness and bond
that historians write about in times of war amongst fighting men. I was both laughing and awe-struck
at the absurdity of watching this sleeping, swatting, eating, cussing, and loving pile of men who where
given to me to care for. I could feel the burden of responsibility for them while at the same time my
deep love for each and every one of them. To tell you the truth, living and working inside of this circle
of brotherhood gives one the true sense of safety, even in an Iraqi landfill littered with trash, feces,
dead animals, sewage, mortar fire, machine gun fire, and flies.”
1LT John G. Gibson
BN S-1, IN
1-325th Airborne Infantry Regiment
82nd Airborne Division
Baghdad, Iraq
“The cohesion that matters on the battlefield is that which is
developed at the company, platoon and squad levels.”
General Edward C. Meyer
“Saving the lives of your fellow Airmen is the most extraordinary
kind of heroism that I know.”
General Curtis E. Lemay,
Fifth Chief of Staff, United States Air Force
Picture of Air Force Para rescue Jumpers (PJ)
"We have shared the
incommunicable
experience of war. We
have felt -- we still feel -the passion of life to its
top. In our youths our
lives were touched by
fire."
Oliver Wendell Holmes
“There exists a special brotherhood among those who stand
shoulder to shoulder to look death in the face and defend not only
each other, but the principles in which they believe."
Author Unknown
"Isolated at this far-flung outpost, the men live packed bunk to bunk, they guard one another's
backs, they depend on the group to help ward off fear and loneliness. And they face losses in their
own searingly personal way. When one man is killed, the rest are asked to go back where he died, to
face the same danger, in the name of duty. They do it, they say, for their comrades, for themselves
and for a country that expects it of them."
Excerpt from, "Death, Duty In Forgotten Corner of War, Remembering Gunny
and the Kid, a Hard-Hit Unit Goes Back on Patrol", by Doug Struck, 2004.
“Then the darkness enveloped the whole American armada. Not a pinpoint of
light showed from those hundreds of ships as they surged on through the night toward
their destiny, carrying across the ageless and indifferent sea tens of thousands of young
men, fighting for … for … well, at least for each other.”
Ernie Pyle, from his book, “Brave Men”, describing the US invasion of Sicily, WWII
“Heroes are never forgotten, we live their memory daily through
our freedom.”
Author unknown
A wounded soldier welcomes home his comrades after
their one-year deployment to Iraq. Early in the
deployment, with this same unit, this soldier was
wounded and lost both legs. He was there at the airport
to welcome home each and every one of his buddies.
"Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?" Grandpa said, "No... but I served in
a company of heroes".
MAJ Richard D. Winters, Commander Echo Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment ,101st
Airborne Division, (actual unit depicted in the book and movie “Band of Brothers” [real life interview with Winters
where he quotes Mike Ranney on how Ranney answered a question his grandson once asked him]
“I now know why men who have been to war yearn to reunite. Not to tell stories or look at old pictures.
Not to laugh or weep. Comrades gather because they long to be with the men who, once acted their best, men
who suffered and sacrificed, who were stripped raw, right down to their humanity. I did not pick these men.
They were delivered by fate and the military. But I know them in a way I know no other men. I have never given
anyone such trust. They would have carried my reputation, the memory of me. It was part of the bargain we all
made, the reason we were so willing to die for one another. I cannot say where we are headed. Ours are not
perfect friendships; those are the province of legend and myth. A few of my comrades drift far from me now,
sending back only occasional word. I know that one day even these could fall to silence. Some of the men will
stay close, a couple, perhaps, always at hand as long as I have memory, I will think of them all, every day. I am
sure that when I leave this world, my last thought will be of my family and my comrades, such good men … all
of them.”
Michael Norman, from his book, “These Good Men”
Vietnam
Vet
Bosnia
Vet
OEF
Vet
Vietnam
Vet
WWII
Vet, POW
“Duke” Boswell,
4 combat jumps in WWII,
3rd into St Mere Eglise.
Wounded in Korean War
John Oliphant,
The “Mad Rebel”
ACE pilot, vet of 4 wars
(wounded in all four)
Former POW,
three times in two wars
Vietnam
Vet
Vietnam
Vet
Desert
Storm
Vet
Vietnam
Vet
David Hughes,
DSC, nominated for MOH
Korean & Vietnam vet
SPC McCray
75th Ranger Regt,
Mogadishu Vet
“…my first wish would be that my Military Family, and the whole Army, should
consider themselves as a band of brothers, willing and ready, to die for each other.”
George Washington, in a letter to Henry Know, October 21, 1798
Pearly Harbor survivor Houston James embraces
Marine Staff Sergeant Mark Graunke Jr. SSgt
Graunke lost a hand, a leg and an eye when he
attempted to defuse an IED in Iraq.
“Old breed? New breed?
There's not a damn bit of
difference so long as it's the
Marine breed.”
Lieutenant General Lewis B.
"Chesty" Puller, USMC
“The nature of modern war indicates that small-unit cohesion is the only force
capable of causing soldiers to expose themselves consistently to enemy fire in
pursuit of an Army’s goals.”
Colonel W.D. Henderson
Para rescue Jumpers (PJ's) Creed:
Picture of Air Force Para rescue Jumpers (PJ)
Please Don't stand and Weep
Those men I had to save
Not because of Courage
or because I'm Brave
Not because of Orders
or because it was my Dream
I did it for my Brothers
I did it for the Team
So Please Don't weep for me
for all I had to give
I did it for a reason
"So That Others May Live"
“They say they're scared, and say they won't do this or that, but when it
comes time to do it they can't let their buddies down, can't let their friends go
outside the wire without them, because they know it isn't right for the team to go
into the ballgame at any less than 100 percent.”
Army Lieutenant, Iraq
“Some people are meant to call 911, and some people are meant to be 911”
2LT Ilario Pantano, USMC Platoon Leader, Iraq
“You have a comradeship, a rapport that you’ll ever have again … There’s no
competitiveness, no money values. You trust the man on your left and your right with
your life.”
Captain Audie Murphy, Medal of Honor recipient & most
decorated American soldier of WWII
A Marine Lance Corporal salutes the
coffin of one of his fallen comrades
Two soldiers grieve for one of their
fallen comrades
“When you lose a friend you have an overpowering desire to go back home and yell in everyone’s
ear, ‘This guy was killed fighting for you. Don’t forget him – ever.’ Keep him in your mind when you wake
up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. Don’t think of him as a statistic which changes
38,788 casualties to 38,789. Think of him as a guy who wanted to love every bit as much as you do.
Don’t let him be just one of ‘Our Brave Boys’ from the old home town, to whom a marble monument is
erected in the city part, and a civic-minded lady calls the newspaper ten years later and wants to know
why that ‘unsightly stone’ isn’t removed.”
Sergeant Bill Mauldin, from his book “Up Front”, 1945
“Behind every Purple
Heart is a heart of gold.”
Purple Heart’s motto
The American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer,
Normandy, France contains the graves of
9,386 American heroes
“If you ever think the world is a rotten place, go to the
cemetery overlooking the beach at Normandy (Omaha Beach)
and see what one group of men did for another.”
Andy Rooney, WWII News Correspondent
Dear Mrs. Phelps:
You have, I know, already had word from your son's battalion commander, Lt. Col. Hoyt. I know,
too, how pitifully inadequate any words are at a time of such immeasurable loss as you must feel; but
I feel impelled to write a few lines in any event.
Your son was a most courageous soldier, and his actions at Tobaloor Village were in the finest
tradition of the United States Army. I have recommended him for the highest honor our country can
bestow; and I am proud to have known him. We shall all be the poorer for his loss. When this vast and
most cruel of wars is over and we have established a more generous world than this, perhaps all of
us can take some comfort in the thought that he is one of the men who made that world possible.
Sincerely,
Samuel A. Damon, Maj. Gen., USA
from Anton Myrer's book, “Once an Eagle”
The Nobel Ruins of Men
Alone and far removed from earthly care
The noble ruins of men lie buried here.
You were strong men, good men endowed with youth and
much the will to love.
I hear no protest from the mute lips of the dead.
They rest; there is no more to give.
So long my comrades,
Sleep ye where you fell upon the field.
But tread softly please
March o’er my heart with ease
March on and on,
But to God alone we kneel.
Audie Murphy
Let us not weep
For the fallen
Let us thank God
That they lived
“I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your
bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and
the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the
altar of freedom.”
Abraham Lincoln
The Young Dead Soldier
“Our deaths are not ours,
They are yours.
They will mean what you
make them mean.
We leave you our deaths,
Give them meaning.
We were young,
We have died,
Please remember us.”
by A. MacLeish
Taps
Day is Done
Gone the Sun
From the Lake
From the Hill
From the Sky
Rest in Peace
Soldier Brave
God is Nigh
“Tell them that we gave our todays for their tomorrows.”
Inscription from the Allied Cemetery, North Assam, Indian
“Some day we will all join those who are resting here. Over a campfire of boiling coffee and frying
bacon you will join with your Civil War band of brothers to recount the experience of serving something
greater than yourselves. I believe in my very soul that the almightily reserves a corner of heaven,
probably around an inextinguishable campfire where some day we can meet and embrace… all of the
band of brothers throughout the ages to tell our stories while envious standers-by watch and wonder
how horrific and incendiary the crucible of violence must have been to bring such a disparate
assemblage so close to the hand of God. Until we meet there thank you for your service, thank you for
your sacrifice, God bless you all and God bless this great nation.”
MG (Ret) Robert H Scales, closing remarks from his speech at the
Gettysburg cemetery, Memorial Day, 2007
“We will always remember.
We will always be proud.
We will always be prepared,
So we may always be free.”
President Ronald Reagan
… nuf said