Comments for A Memorial Day Thought - Updated 2018 | Eastern NC Now

The way you handled Eddy was perfect: A true honor to a reluctant warrior; a beautifully poignant piece.

It was my privilege to publish the post.

Commented: Sunday, May 29th, 2016 @ 11:17 pm By: Stan Deatherage

My promise to Bobby Tony and all vets who post here: If you pour your heart into a post, as B.T. did here, I will lift it back up to the Latest Post section each Memorial Day for as long as I draw breath.

Don't be mistaken here: These posts are categorized, Searchable and easy to find already, and can be read readily; however, lifting them back to the Latest section does give them a nice bump.

This is, once again, the least I can do for these great American patriots.

Commented: Saturday, May 28th, 2016 @ 11:16 am By: Stan Deatherage

Thank you for the kind words, Stan. My participation in Vietnam was a duty as you point out. As a child of the fifties, I always taught to obey the laws as they existed. When I received my draft notice, there was no thought of doing anything but showing up and following orders.
A quote from John McCain and Mark Slater’s book “Hard Calls”, sums up the soldiers duty better than any I have ever read. It expresses what I suspect help sustain him during his stay at the Hanoi Hilton.
“In the immediacy, chaos, destruction, and shock of war, soldiers are bound by duty and military discipline to endure and overcome. Their strongest loyalty, the bond that cannot break, is to the cause that is theirs alone, the cause for which they all fight: one another. It is through their loyalty to comrades in arms, their exclusive privilege, that they serve the national ideal that begat their personal transformation. When war is over, they might have the largest but not exclusive claim on the success of their nation's cause. But their claim is shorn of all romance, all nostalgia for the crucible in which it was won. From that crucible they have but one prize, one honor, one glory: that they had withstood the savagery and losses of war and were found worthy by the men who stood with them.”
Being found worth by your comrades is enough thanks.

Commented: Saturday, May 23rd, 2015 @ 2:58 pm By: Bobby Tony

A suggestion: When you hear someone mention someone or had a friend or relative who has died in combat, stop and ask him or her “what was their name”? If possible, get a pen and paper and write the name down. You will not remember it later and it will not change the world, but it will take a few moments away from the current hustle and bustle of life. It also will give you a chance to reflect again, when you try to decide what to do with the written name. It makes it a personal tribute and I think they earned and deserve those few moments.
Thanks TD- It never is easy but necessary.

Commented: Saturday, May 23rd, 2015 @ 4:11 am By: Bobby Tony