# My Memorial Day speech this morning **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 31, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400 "2010-05-31T17:32:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/21 "2014-05-26T17:29:39Z")
You know, if I ever am called upon to give a Memorial Day speech, I know where I can steal one. When the women in my family decorated the family graves on Saturday, one was the grave of a great-great grandfather of mine, a Union soldier. He survived the war, but, having been imprisoned at the notorious Andersonville prison, he had stomach problems off and on for the rest of his life. I am honored to think that when I die I will be places just three plots away from him. Maybe, after we’re dead, it doesn’t matter, but now, while I’m alive, it does. I’m a veteran myself, but one from peacetime who never saw combat. I can’t imagine how I’d perform. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/22 "2014-05-26T18:52:46Z")
Sunday’s Chicago Trib had an editorial about the poem “In Flanders Fields.” It is a poem that should be taught (in school or by parents) but it’s about a war that’s 100 years old and most people have forgotten its impact. My mother told me they sung the poem at her grammar school graduation (Mom was born in 1921). In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row… Link to full poem [In Flanders Fields | In Flanders Fields Museum](http://www.inflandersfields.be/en/the-in-flanders-fields-poem) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/23 "2014-05-26T20:47:02Z")
I went looking for a link to a poem titled “The Unknown Soldier” It was written after WW1 and is a little different from other such poems. It’s not sentimental at all, really, and the spirit voice of the soldier wants to know if his death was worth it. [http://www.combat.ws/S4/LIBRARY/UNKNOWNS.HTM](http://www.combat.ws/S4/LIBRARY/UNKNOWNS.HTM) I first read this poem in a book of old poetry called _The Best Loved Poems of the American People._. When I read the poem on the above link I realized it had been vetted just a little for that volume, as the next to the last verse was not included, the one about the people who started the war facing the Devil. So we learn something new every day. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/24 "2014-05-26T22:11:38Z")
I enjoy reading EH’s stuff, and this one just gets better each year that goes by. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/25 "2014-05-27T00:54:58Z")
> [@CateAyo](#): > > EH, thank you for all that, and thank you for sharing. It seems to me that this year, more than in the past, we have forgotten the meaning of the “holiday”. We have always confused it with an excuse to drink and eat too much, an extra day off from work, but this year we seem more concerned with living veterans as opposed to honoring those that have fallen. In my part of the world, I feel it is the exact opposite from where we were with this holiday 30 years ago and it’s been slowly getting better since Desert Storm in 1991. I was at a small race gathering on Sat. and Sun. and saw more flags, ribbons and people wearing reminders of those who had fallen at the event. I was asked to give a short speech honoring our fallen before the playing of the national anthem prior to Sunday’s races. Everybody in the area stopped for the speech and anthem. Driving home last evening, I saw flags along the streets and in the cemeteries of small towns. Today, at home, almost every house on my street was showing a flag. There were a lot of lapel pins and a lot of questions about family members who have served. I thought it was terrific. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/26 "2014-05-27T02:41:42Z")
Good to hear, **carnut** , and thanks, everybody. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/27 "2015-05-25T04:15:05Z")
May my words have renewed meaning for you today, fellow Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/28 "2015-05-25T10:39:24Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > May my words have renewed meaning for you today, fellow Dopers. **Eloquent.** Missed it when first posted but it still rings true through the ages. Us USA Americans often forget what sacrifices we have paid for freedom, justice, and unalienable rights. That what we project world-wide is based on those beliefs. I humbly suggest that this Memorial Day not only include our own, but others who carried that cause globally for the spirit of independence of tyranny, who also have fought along side us against oppression, and paid with their lives to make this world a better place. You are not forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/29 "2015-05-25T19:44:08Z")
Thanks, **Cabin\_Fever**! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/30 "2016-05-30T04:07:48Z")
Best wishes to you all on Memorial Day 2016. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/31 "2016-05-30T18:19:11Z")
Wow, very stirring words **Elendil’s Heir** , I am getting a little choked up reading it. I don’t recall seeing this post in the past. Maybe you should run for president. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/32 "2016-05-31T00:45:02Z")
First time I had the chance to read it, and it is a marvelous speech, well worth the time. I’m also a fan of General George H. (Old Slow Trot) Thomas, so I was happy you mentioned him. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/33 "2016-05-31T01:24:29Z")
I know it was a while ago but I still love it. And even more because I can hear your voice as I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/34 "2016-05-31T03:29:03Z")
Thank you. Hope it was a good day for you all. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/35 "2017-05-29T04:13:28Z")
Best wishes to you all this Memorial Day. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/36 "2017-05-29T04:46:59Z")
Thank you for sharing this. I have missed this on other occasions. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/37 "2017-05-29T04:59:06Z")
My first time seeing it. Great speech. Seven years on and as timely as ever. Very, very, good job. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/38 "2017-05-29T19:52:02Z")
If I may, one more soldier I’d like to mention on this Memorial Day: Rick John Best was killed on a train in Portland this last week after intervening to stop a man who was threatening two teenage girls. He had served 23 years in the Army before retiring. May we all have the courage to do the right thing when the time comes. Rest in Peace Mr. Best and my condolences to your family. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/39 "2017-05-30T04:11:55Z")
My brother (army) and I (navy) were talking a few days ago about this. Come November 11th I’ll take a free cup of coffee or maybe even go to a mattress sale this holiday is about those who died. Writing that I feel funny even using the word holiday. it’s bigger than that and I can’t grasp what word to use. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400/40 "2017-05-31T15:11:56Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > If I may, one more soldier I’d like to mention on this Memorial Day: Rick John Best was killed on a train in Portland this last week after intervening to stop a man who was threatening two teenage girls. He had served 23 years in the Army before retiring. May we all have the courage to do the right thing when the time comes. Rest in Peace Mr. Best and my condolences to your family. Hear, hear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-memorial-day-speech-this-morning/541400.md?page=3)