You got your point accross very well. I think Mermorial Day sales are low and dirty. You may as well have a 9/11 Day sale.
It is well that we take a few minutes on this weekend to pay homage to those who sacrificed with their time and eventually sacrificed with their lives during service to their country. This holiday dates to 1868 and was initiated by the Grand Army of the Republic to pay tribute to those who had died in the service of the Union in the suppression of the recent rebellion - The American Civil War. Eventually those states of the Confederacy reached out in commemoration of their war dead. The dead of Cuba, 1898, World War I, 1917-18, World War II, 1941-45, Korea, 1950-53, Vietnam, 1964-73, and, more recently, Afghanistan, 2001- , and Iraq, 2003-, as well as a number of intervening brush fire conflicts, have added their names to the memorial of honor Some of these honored dead are buried here close to home while many, many others occupy hallowed ground on foreign fields.
On Monday my wife and I will go up to the Veterans Memorial Cemetary here in Phoenix and we will place flowers on the grave of her first husband, a WWII veteran, who died nearly six years ago. I usually take a few minutes to walk around and read the captions on the gravestones trying to visualize what kind of service-related experiences these men may have had; I knew none of these men - and women - but as a twenty year Air Force veteran I knew each and every one of them. Some are there because time simply expired on them; there are others, however, whose dates of birth and death indicate that they made that supreme sacrifice while on active duty. One day I will rest among them and I hope that I am worthy of that honor.
My stepfather, who, by the way, is still alive, was on active duty with the Army Air Force on Dec 7, 1941 with the 19th Bombardment Group at Clark Field in the Philippines. He served in Australia and New Guinea aboard B-17s in 1942. My real father was an Army veteran and an MP during the conflict. Four of my uncles served on ac
Crandell,
David’s post was annoying, but I personally wasn’t all that offended. Among the rights we serve to protect are the right to be ignorant and the right to be self-righteous. David was simply exercising those rights, especially the latter.
I have to remind myself of that when people give me guff about having served in an unpopular war. I usually respond by reminding them that the warriors don’t chose the war; the elected civilian leadership does.
But in this case David’s response was, to say the least, ironic, given his recent activity in these forums.
How long will I have to wait till you can stop refering to my 3 hours of weakness? I have apologized in the past, but people like Lothar, Dave V, SD60M and others keep throwing stones my way every chance they get. Not to mention the multiple nasty emails I have gotten from Lothar pertaining to my posting on these forums. But I just egnored them and moved on…aparently some people cant.
David
There have been many brave men and women who risked their own lives to fight evil, both in America and in other countries.
I would like to pay tribute to the late Sverre Aurstad of Sorumsand, Norway, the father of a friend of mine who is a train engineer over here.
Sverre was a 22 year old apprentice shipbuilder in German occupied Norway in the late fall of 1941, at a time when it looked like the Germans were going to win the war. He, and 37 other young Norwegian men and women, stole a fishing vessel with a dodgy engine from the shipyard where the engine was being repaired on a stormy night, sailed it across the sea from the town of Volda in German occupied Norway to Lerwick on Shetland.
There Sverre joined the Royal Norwegian Navy in exile. He first served on the KNM Saint Albans (ex USS Thomas, one of the lend-lease destroyers) until the summer of 1942, before the crew got a new ship, KNM Eskdale. KNM Eskdale served in the English channel, taking part in several pitched battles with German E-boats until she was torpedoed and sunk with the loss of 26 lives on 14 april 1943.
Sverre and the rest of the surviving crew members transferred to the new S class destroyer KNM Stord, also known as “lucky 26” (pennant number G26). Abord the Stord they took part in the battle of North Cape on Christmas Day 1943, where British naval forces (and the Stord) sunk the German battleship Scharnhorst.
On June 6th 1944 he was abord the Stord off Sword beach, taking part in bombarding German positions. The sister ship of KNM Stord, Royal Norwegian Navy Destroyer KNM Svenner, was one of only two allied warships sunk off the invasion beaches on D-Day (the other was the US Navy destroyer USS Corry - DD463).
Sverre survived the war and lived to a ripe old age, marrying, getting a son, and seeing his grandson grow up, before he crossed the river a few years ago to rejoin those of his old shipmates that nev
David, you shed the title of Forum Leper when unionpacificchuck stepped into those shoes; if you keep opening up your mouth today you could easily step right back into them.
YOUR APOLOGY HAS BEEN ACCEPTED!!! DROP IT AND I AM SURE THAT EVERY ONE ELSE WILL DO LIKEWISE!!!
And by the way, about six months ago I went through a session of being Forum Leper.
Dave, I think you inadvertently pointed out what a few of us feel is your problem. You ignore good advice. The fact that so many of us have taken the trouble to speak to you privately in an attempt to get you to conform to a civil form of discourse should tell you something. It would tell me something if persons emailed me privately to tell me I was behaving inappropriately.
Once again, it is personal for a lot of us. There is more to life than model trains. There was the tragic loss of the son of one of us just weeks ago. There were brass trains stolen. Some things transcend a forum that is intended to be limited in scope. For the most part, we all try to keep our posts on topic. When an important one offering good wishes to serving members, and to those who payed the ultimate sacrifice and cannot respond let alone talk about their love of trains, is dismissed as irrelevant by one person, that one person sets himself aside. If you are willing to stand on principle, I can’t fault you for that. I can fault you for not having common sense if you dump on a topic that means a lot to most people, regardless of what it is.
However, even though this forum is about model trains, it would be irrelevant if all we could talk about were WW II Axis era steam or their modern replacements…if you catch my drift. Service to one’s country should never have to be excused as an intrusion when the mention of it is a matter of acknowledgement and good will among the very modelers who contribute to this forum.
So, David, I
David,
Unless you’ve served yourself it’s probably difficult for you to understand the bond we all feel, even if we’ve never actually met one another. We belong to a club whose membership comes hard.
Furthermore, for those of us who have served in combat, Memorial Day is often hard for us. We are often reminded of the hardships we endured and friends/teamates we lost.
So we find comfort in one another, by “mustering in” this time of year. It’s been done every Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day in these forums each year I’ve been member. In fact, I joined these forums while in Baghdad.
So I imagine it’s hard for you to understand the ire you will invoke by telling us our bonding is irrelevant because this is a model railroad thread. Point taken. Although I stand by my assertion the model railroading has been a great source of comfort in my life even while deployed away from my actual trains.
I’m sorry to have thrown your …whatever that was… back in your face. But you need to understand that you will not make any friends by being so confrontational, especially to a group of vets on Memorial Day.
That’s all I can say.
I disagree; it is very much a part of this forum and any other railroad related one. You seem to forget how much the military in most every country, depend on the railroads for moving equipment, supplies now, and men to and from the battlefronts, including the remains of those killed in combat in the past. This is a fact, that’s been around since before the civil war.
Even during peacetime, the railroad is still needed by the military for the same needs as in war.
You can model a military transport trains from most any time period, from the civil war horses and cannons, to today humvees, tanks and MRE’s.
So, sir you need to re-read your history book or at least some of the past MRR magazines. Then if you still feel your being ragged on, go find a mirror and ask yourself why.
1992-1998 - US Marine Corps - Somalia and the Gulf region
2000 - present - Syracuse New York - Air National Guard - 174th FW - Gulf region
Thanks to those before me past and present for your service!
[V] I knew this would happen this weekend.
I’m also listed on a memorial at the Vernon Parish Veteran’s Park in Leesville, Louisiana.
My name is circled in red here.
My parents names are listed also.
Jeff,
That’s a very nice memorial! Whereabouts in Leesville is it? I don’t remember seeing it when I was stationed at Fort Polk 1996-98. I lived in the Chaporal Apartments behind the Stanley’s on LA 8.
It’s on Third Street, directly across the street from the Post office. BTW, Stanley’s Super D is no longer there. It’s Market Basket now. And the Stanley’s that you’re thinking about, which was the old Piggly Wiggly store, is now a Christian Center.
I’d just as soon not have my name on any memorial, seems to me it’s bad ju-ju.
Here is a model train related topic to keep our Canadian friend happy; I spent most of the day boxing up my G scale trains and outdoor buildings in preparation for deploying to OIF next week. Tonight I will close down my HO scale goods and pack away the Lionel’s into plastic storage containers in the attic. Tomorrow morning after church I am putting together a “to go” model building kit of tools and paints for the very, very long days and nights I’ll be spending trying not to think about my family and friends. I can usually build some pretty sharp models with leftovers from the motor pool and the warehouse packaging. On the real Memorial Day I will not be going to a picnic, I will be packing my A and B bag, my ruck sack and my green goodie box. Good enough model train relating for you?
T-J - Enjoy this weekend as much as you can w/ family and friends and stay safe my friend while you’re overseas.
We see it the same way, Dave. When there is no apparent cost to what you have, you tend not to value it. David’s a smart guy…he’ll figure it out.
-Crandell
Tangerine-Jack,
I wish you God’s Speed on your next deployment, and look forward to your safe return.
Tom
Viet Nam Veteran 66-67
Gentlemen I feel we misunderstand poor David. He is not an individual who wishes to go against the norm, what mature adults feel is normal self decency and respect. He just wishes to create turmoil and discontent. Crandell this is the only time I have ever disagreed with you Davids behavior does not stoop as low as upchucks but lower since he is an adult not a child.
To all that have served and those that have given the ultimate sacrafice Thank you and god bless, I get tears every time I hear of another life lost in the mideast.
Tangerine Jack take care be careful if you can access the forum while overseas please check in and tell us your safe. If you need anything please post it to the forum and I for one will get it sent to you.
Kevin[:)]
David,
Please stop. I would argue it does belong. I began this as a thank you to those that allow me the FREEDOM to post here, live free and PURSUE model railroading. This are my thoughts, my post and heck if you don’t have anything good to say, please don’t say it, Dave. Thanks again to all the vets, current, before and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so I can have my freedom and MODEL Railroad.
On another note, some mentioned having had model railroads at their posts… I would love to see pic’s of the portable units, etc…
Brian