Escort for heroes-Memorial Day...

[Vlad_Dracul]

Hi all,

A while back we had the press coverage of the funeral of a member of one of our military services showing the hearse jammed up in a traffic jam as if it were a grocery delivery and not something which should command a certain amount of respect.

There was also a lengthy Cableforum discussion.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/20...-petition.html

Monday 26th of May is memorial day in the USA, the equivalent to our rememberance day

Let us try to separate the politics of conflict from the human costs on all sides.

Those injured and deceased in these conflicts deserve some dignity and respect.

This isn't something which seems to occur as naturally in the UK as in the USA and Canada as shown by the media reports.

Early last week on my travels, I happened upon the Presidio Military Cemetery in San Francisco California.

What grabbed my attention as I approached was the startling cost of war reflected in row upon row upon row of precisely arranged similar grave markers.

I had to stop and take a closer look and as I wandered round the cemetery on a perfectly glorious warm Spring day, the poignancy of what I saw was all the more magnified.

Each marker carefully laid out with name,rank,dates and the conflict in which that person died. I noted some marked "War with Spain" and thought it odd as I had never known the USA to be at war with Spain!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish-American_War

The more recent ones were there also, Korea, Vietnam, two world wars...the cemetery closed to new burials in the late 90's and so the more recent conflicts are not reflected. Apparently wives may also be buried with their husbands ?

On this perfect day the cemetery was being prepared for the annual memorial day service. Men were cutting grass, pruning trees and even jet washing all the grave markers to ensure their perfect whiteness.

The cemetery was serene,not a blade of grass out of place,not a single scrap of paper on the pavements.

See here...

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dooper7.../presidio.html


A few months ago I was wondering round a cemetery in Manchester looking for a family grave. The cemetery gates are no longer closed as they used to be. They are open 24 hours. In that cemetery,quite an old one,is a large stone mauseleum, the final burial place for many parish priests from around Manchester. Last time I saw it some 20 years ago it was in good condition. More recently,it is wrecked,in disrepair and fenced off to try and keep vandals at bay.

Nearby is a very large crescent shaped stone war memorial bearing the many names of those who died in the world wars. It was daubed with graffitti and littered with broken alcohol bottles.

What a contrast.

[frogstamper]

I couldn't agree more Vlad, no matter how mindless or downright thick, thugs in the US still have a sense of pride in their country. Over here that has been lost, partly I think due to an"embarrassment" with our colonial past, where-by teachers are saying where we went wrong in the 18th and 19th century's. Of course a lot of things were exploitative, but the Brits also exported a lot of good things as well, among them being parliamentary democracy and our judiciary, which many former colonies still adopt.
I do feel that in the US children are instilled with a sense of national pride from an early age in school, I honestly don't think its anything to do with different cultures and religions because America has to be the biggest melting pot on earth, we here seem to have this sense of embarrassment when it comes to expressing our national pride, unless we can get over that I feel things won't improve, our kids need to feel pride in their country.