Implicit in the service of America’s warriors in hostile areas is the solemn vow that all of those warriors will return; alive or dead.

This promise has been kept as well as any similar promise in an imperfect world. We strive mightily to return all of our warriors alive but failing that strive to bring their bodies’ home to their families, sometimes years or decades after they have fallen.

Many here probably do not know that promise even extends to those fallen warriors buried in the American cemeteries on foreign soil. A family always has the right to ask that their father/son/brother be returned to them.

I used to visit the American cemetery at Madingly, just outside Cambridge in England when I was stationed in nearby RAF Alconbury. It is a beautiful, solemn place and I urge any of you visiting East Anglia to go there. The ceiling of the chapel is reason enough by itself. During one of my visit I met an American brother and sister who were visiting their father’s grave and struggling with the decision whether to leave him there or take him back to the U.S. for burial in the family’s hometown.

I never did learn their final decision; I like to think they decided to leave him in that beautiful place.

Ed, knowingly or not, has paid tribute to the spirit and words of that promise and I thank him for that.

Anyone who has studied even the basics of Islam cannot help but suspect that this grand project of ‘bringing western democracy to the middle east’ is ultimately doomed to failure given that Islam is antithetical to democracy. In addition to that it is riven with tribal grievances that go back over 1000 years.

The war was a fool’s errand – well intentioned but perpetrated by ignorant fools…at best.

Yeah, I do detect some anger issues here. But I understand. It must be frustrating to be on the wrong side of history.

factoid on July 11, 2008 at 5:53 PM

Wow it must be nice to be clairvoyant.

I couldn’t help but notice an absence of military service in your mini-bio.

Spiff sends regards,

MSG(RET), USA 18Z40W8
Former Police Officer
Devoted husband and father of three wonderful children
Proud Father-in-law to a WO2 currently serving in Iraq
Honest tax payer, somebody has to pay for the freebies the govt. spits out

“Byron went to Iraq to help people who couldn’t help themselves,” said Mr Dibler [Fouty’s stepfather]. “I know their sacrifice was not for nothing. It was not in vain.”

See also…

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

– Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863.

May God bless those who have the courage to give that last full measure…

God only knows what horror and suffering these men endured, and God will take vengence on their murderers, either in this life, or the next.

labrat on July 11, 2008 at 9:53 PM

The Muslim can match the Japanese Army of World War II for out and out cruelty.

The Pentagon gave few details about how Spc Jimenez met his fate

God only knows what horror and suffering these men endured, and God will take vengence on their murderers, either in this life, or the next.

Yeah, I do detect some anger issues here. But I understand. It must be frustrating to be on the wrong side of history.

factoid on July 11, 2008 at 5:53 PM

Your kind has been on the wrong side of history ever since the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917. Your kind went over to the genocidal Stalinist regime and pronounced inanities such as “I have seen the future and it works”. Your kind claimed that socialism was “the wave of the future” and went into a deep depression as all the former Soviet bloc nations came out of the darkness into the light. You and your new boyfriend Pat Buchanan and his useful idiot acolytes would be the first ones beheaded if the forces of Islamofascism eveer came to power here.

In the call of Freedom,these American
soldiers laid down their life’s for the
Liberation of Iraq.

As a Canadian,I pray for the families
and to America, the US Military,and to
Byron Fouty and Alex Jimenez,again
thank-you for being the,

Leaders of The Free World.

God bless these men and their families, as well as their brothers in arms. Thankfully although we have not found their earthly bodies before now, God has welcomed them into his comforting arms and has been taking care of them since.

I love you guys and thank you to the Lord for keeping them in your loving arms.

MsUnderestimated on July 11, 2008 at 8:44 PM

That made me cry. Another amen to that.

I love you guys and thank you to the Lord for keeping them in your loving arms.

In the past hour or so, I’ve been called a “fool” and an “a$$.” I’ve been told to go away and, it’s been implied that I am a bad father and husband and in a backwards way it’s been suggested to me that I might want to lick someone’s boots. All this because I dared voice the opinion that the lives of these poor young men have been wasted in a failed war started by incompetent hypocrites.

It’s not like you didn’t ask for it. There may be scores of other blogs out there where comments like yours are welcome; this is not one of them. Did you attend the Fred Phelps course on, “How To Attend An Online Memorial Service and Sound Like a Complete Jack#$%” ?

Glynn, because nothing is sacred to liberals.

Unfortunately I am too old to serve with men like the ones we honor. Wish I could. I did my service many years ago.

ultracon on July 11, 2008 at 6:20 PM

I echo Letget’s post at 6:53. I know many veterans don’t see themselves as heroes, but you are. You most definitely are. I can never say in words how grateful I am for all of you. My profound gratitude.

Unfortunately I am too old to serve with men like the ones we honor. Wish I could. I did my service many years ago.

factoid on July 11, 2008 at 5:53 PMWhy is it that you are failing to see we are honoring these brave soldiers. This is not the time or place for your political blather.

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give thee thanks for all those thy servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them thy mercy and the light of thy presence, that the good work which thou hast begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

You rest with comrades

E9RET on July 11, 2008 at 3:08 PM

I add another Amen. And I thank you for your service, sir. My beloved father was a retired E8, 32 years served. God Bless you all.

All three of these guys are in a better place…. of that I am confident.

Yeah, I do detect some anger issues here. But I understand. It must be frustrating to be on the wrong side of history.

factoid on July 11, 2008 at 5:53 PM

No frustration or anger here my friend. Just great amusement.

factoid on July 11, 2008 at 5:53 PM

This thread isn’t about you.

Get lost.

JonRoss on July 11, 2008 at 5:41 PM

In the past hour or so, I’ve been called a “fool” and an “a$$.” I’ve been told to go away and, it’s been implied that I am a bad father and husband and in a backwards way it’s been suggested to me that I might want to lick someone’s boots. All this because I dared voice the opinion that the lives of these poor young men have been wasted in a failed war started by incompetent hypocrites.

Yeah, I do detect some anger issues here. But I understand. It must be frustrating to be on the wrong side of history.

but I wish their fate had been a more mundane existence at some college, factory or farm.

factoid on July 11, 2008 at 5:26 PM

“some college”….More lives are wasted as the result of college than most wars.