A Memorial Day Pictorial: Soldiers and Sailors at Ease
Originally published May 30, 2016
As we head into Memorial Day and hopefully pause with hushed gratefulness at the sacrifice of those who risked their lives for our nation and, in some cases, “gave the last full measure of devotion,” we can also reflect with fondness on the camaraderie shared through the generations by, as one of Shakespeare’s soldier heroes put it, “We few, we Band of Brothers.” The following images from days gone by to mere days ago convey some of those moments of R&R.
We start in World War II, somewhere in Europe. Notice the soldier at the bottom right. He’s not interested in the camera. While his buddies pose and smile he’s miles away, perhaps thousands of miles away, pouring over the words in a letter. Is it from his mother? His girl back home? Is she sharing that she can no longer wait? Expressing her undying faithful love? Rattling on about details of hometown life that the soldier might have scoffed at as trivial before shipping out but that he now regards as more precious than gems? Wouldn’t you love to know?
The image above comes from The Stream‘s Al Perrotta. Or should we say, Al, Jr.. That’s his father in the top row, second from the right β the guy who looks like he walked off a Hollywood movie set.
The woman below obviously did walk off a Hollywood movie set. Tinseltown’s biggest bombshell Marilyn Monroe is seen here sharing her talents with the troops during the Korean War. She was not the first, nor would she be the last, performer to head overseas to entertain our folks in uniform.
Korea wasn’t Marilyn Monroe’s first time assisting a war effort. During World War II, 18-year-old Norma Jeane Doughterty worked in a defense plant in Burbank helping to build drones while her then-husband served as a U.S. merchant seamen overseas.
Today, of course, women are serving in uniform … and proving they can celebrate a winning a hand of cards as boisterously as any male soldier.
It is true that one’s brothers in arms aren’t necessarily male. It’s also true that sometimes one’s brothers in arms aren’t necessarily human.
Sun Tzu might well have written in The Art of War, “It is better to have a monkey on your shoulder than a mama grizzly at your throat.” In 2015, Sgt. Dakota Meyer made Sarah Palin a grandmother again after fathering a child with former fiance Bristol Palin. Regardless of his tabloid notoriety, let’s not lose sight of what the man did in battle. Sgt. Meyer saved the lives of three dozen U.S. and Afghan troops pinned down by a Taliban ambush.
Ship Shape
Even during off time, it is crucial for our military to remain in ship shape.
“On the Town”
“Shore leave” β two of the favorite words in a seamen’s vocabulary. The thought of it is enough to make any man or woman in uniform sing. In fact, Broadway made a musical out of it in 1944, the classic On the Town. Five years later came the smash film version, starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin.
But Gene, Jules and Ol’ Blue Eyes had nothing on these three sailors spotted in New York, New York this past Wednesday at the start of the annual Fleet Week New York festivities.
That same “wonderful town” lit up with both sailor and soldiers in August 1945 to celebrate VJ Day and the unconditional surrender of the Japanese, putting a triumphant end to WWII. America was victorious. Back then, it was okay to say we were victorious.
Though their faces are joyful, we understand that many of their brothers in arms did not come home. So many more over the course of our history have not come home. Those multitudes of fallen, as Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “hover as a cloud of witness above this Nation.”
As they hover in witness this Memorial Day weekend, let us remember them, and the brothers they served with, and their heirs who continue to serve today. Treasure them. Breathe in the liberty their sacrifice has purchased. It’s more than our duty. As President Calvin Coolidge said, “The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten.”
Thanks to Shannon Henderson and Austin Roscoe for collecting the images.