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QuoteSoldier, rest! Thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Dream of battled fields no more.
Days of danger, nights of waking.
-
Sir Walter ScottUnlike other countries who remember those who died for their country on November 11 (Remembrance Day), in the U.S. we honor those who died for our country on Memorial Day (the last Monday in May). Then, on Veterans Day we honor those who have served in the armed forces.
Memorial Day (http://www.usmemorialday.org/?page_id=2)
For my buddy mitch, the Phantom Phixer, who kept the F4s flying. I hope you are finding peace in your new surroundings.
Memorial Day (originally called Decoration Day) is a day of remembrance for those who have died in the service of the United States. Freedom is not free. All gave some, some gave all. Honor and remember those who paid the ultimate price, and be grateful for their sacrifice.
"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go. Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind."
Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam
Mike was shot down a few short months later, on March 24, 1970. He was attempting to extract 8 members of MACV-SOG LRRP RT Pennsylvania, 14 miles inside Cambodia in Ratanokiri Province, after they declared a Prairie Fire. "You take them in - you get them out!" was the creed they lived by.
His last transmission before his Huey burst into flames was "I've got all eight, I'm coming out."
Listed as KIA February 7, 1978 (Presumptive Finding of Death). Remains repatriated on April 12, 1995. Identified on June 20, 2001. Came home to Arlington National Cemetery in a group burial on August 16, 2001.
Panel 12W Line 040
(The cross was changed to a diamond)