6b9b32969553e5c5f6f8…

I couldn’t have said it better.

We live in days they could have seen. We are the country they loved that much. We can do better.

He is missed, but his memory lives on.

Any guy who cries is a good guy.

I don’t mean to be argumentative; just want to put my $0.02 in.

Men are different from women. It is not a character defect that leads men to react stoically or angrily to things that make women cry. If men cried at the same things as women, just think how many great accomplishments throughout history would never have been attempted.

I am not saying men are better because they don’t cry as much as women. The world needs real men and real women. The world would be a horrible place if men idealized and attempted to emulate female attributes, and vice-versa. (Unfortunately, to some degree that is already the case.)

One may presume that I consider myself to be a “man’s man” and regard tears as a sign of weakness. I do not. The story of Frankie got my tears flowing, and I’m not ashamed of that. But there are plenty of things that get my wife emotional yet affect me slightly if at all. That fact is not evidence that I’m stifling my emotions, need to get in touch with my feelings, etc. It is merely evidence that I am not a woman.

Regarding the story of Frankie, it is difficult for me, a parent, to imagine the grief of losing a child in war. It’s too painful even to think about for very long. My gratitude to those in our armed forces (and their families) swells every time I read a story about a fallen soldier. I make a point of teaching my daughters to appreciate all the soldiers & sailors who protect our nation. On Memorial Day this year, my 7-year-old daughter spontaneously drew a picture of herself saluting the American flag. Above it, she wrote “Thank you brave soldiers”. Then she handed it to a Marine vet who was selling flowers outside a grocery store, and gave him a hug. My tears flowed then, too.

Thanks AP for being so touched and for sharing this story with us.

All Soldiers, past and present, are better than all of us. Thank you for keeping us free and for granting us the option to be good or silly. You and your families give the utmost of yourselves and most of us take you for granted at best. At worst you deal with the scum of this Earth, including the ones here in your/our country. Stories like this should be in the papers and on TV daily. At least they should abound. But you don’t complain. You just carry on. The families suffer quietly and decently, away from the media. Years later, at best, we read something as moving as this article. We don’t deserve this much, and yet you keep on serving with minimum complaints. Our times are completely backwards.

Regarding the call for “mama” or “mother” upon death, is a well reported phenomenon from all wars. If only Frankie’s mother would have known before her death…

Thank you all Soldiers! Thank you!

As a mother, that’s where I lost it.

When I was a kid, I remember sitting with my grandmother looking through the family scrapbook and like most boys, was in awe of anything military. She would proudly show me the star banners that hung in their window, one for each son.

I also recall how proud she was of each of them and how to her it was nothing unusual that her sons had done their duty. To her, she was just one mom of many with sons “overseas”. There was never any doubt they had a job to do and anything short of finishing it would be unacceptable.

My mom was only 14 or so in 1944. Her brother, Pfc James Edward Patrick was serving with the 331st infantry, 83rd division assigned to Patton’s 3rd Army. They landed on Omaha beach on DDay +10. Over the next weeks, they saw some of the most brutal combat in St. Lo and St. Milo. James was killed in action on August 12, 1944.

Mom still recalls the day the telegram came with the news. The appearance of the car on the long dirt road leading to the house was immediately seen for what it was. The news from the War Department of one more boy who wouldn’t be coming home. Fortunately, my other 8 uncles all made it home without a scratch.

When asked about the “War” when I was a kid, they would all just say it was something they had to do. No big deal, you know?

God Bless them and the millions who have served and are still there for us. We owe them all more than can ever be repaid.

It’s ok Tex, there was probably something in your eye…

doriangrey on August 26, 2007 at 7:36 PM

Yep ! Thanks doriangrey, And Thanks AP for that post
It’s beeen a long time since I thought of my freind.
Toooo Long.

“Do not mourn that such men died, but thank God that they lived.” -Patton.

No more truer words.

/wiping tears

It’s ok Tex, there was probably something in your eye…

It was worth it.

I quit. . . .