We are and always will be thankful for your service.
Headstone for a Revolutionary War veteran, Danville, IN cemetery. Photo by: c.b.w. 2012
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Please keep those who have sacrificed everything in your thoughts on this Memorial Day.
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c.b.w. 2013
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Absolutely.
For soldiers everywhere. Here in South Africa our soldiers have recently lost many heroes who bravely fought off hundreds of insurgents in a neighbouring African country where they were stationed as a peace-keeping force.
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Last year I did a tribute to worldwide serviceman, including those who stood up and fought as civilians.
https://cbwentworth.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/memorial-day-without-borders/
My thoughts extend to your corner of the world in memory of those who fought for South Africa. Thank you for sharing.
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Very nice. I’m sure this veteran appreciates your taking notice of him in a field full of stones.
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There are actually three Revolutionary War vets buried in that cemetery. I found two last year and I hope to find the third when I go back this year.
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I was hoping your reply would tell me that you had Rev War Vet in your family. I always hope one day I’ll find my ancestors and discover what they did.
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We owe so much to so many who will be anonymous in our lives. We are blessed that they so courageously stood up for what was true and right and needed in their lifetimes.
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They have courage I can only imagine possessing. I am in total awe of those who stood up and fought at all costs.
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I would gladly, but I happen to be (as far as that young man would have been concerned) the enemy! 😦
One thing I noticed was his birth date. He would only have been in his teens while the Colonial Rebellion was taking place, and no more than 20 when it ended. It is very sobering to consider the youth of soldiers.
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I noticed that. It’s hard to believe how young these soldiers were, but when you think about it even at such a young age they still had the courage to stand up and fight for what they believed in. I wonder how many teenagers today would be willing to do the same.
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Minority report: We put the gloss of ‘fighting for what they believed in’ on our soldiers of the past – the men of Wallace’s army at the battle of Stirling Bridge, the highlanders at Culloden, young Richard Barnes – but how can we be sure? How do we know that any one of them truly understood the subtleties of the politics of the day, or had guessed what the politicians and the rhetoricians of patriotism had not told them? How do we know that they didn’t go because their friends went? I often have this vision of a group of friends going to war, each one going because the others are going, each one thinking to himself, “I don’t know what this fight is all about, but I’m sure Jimmy does, and if it’s good enough for him it’s good enough for me.” Probably that’s what would send today’s teenagers out to war too.
We’re all guilty of glorifying the struggles of our countries’ pasts. I’m not trying to be superior or cynical about this – rather, it strikes me as sad – but I have learned to look for the dirty side of history, because it’s so much closer to the truth. I often argue (for the heck of it) that the American Revolution was a failure, or that the Declaration of Arbroath was signed by a handful of Norman nobs (most of whom ended up in prison for treason against Scotland) who promised to fight to the last 100 Scottish serfs (none of whom had any say in the matter). It’s not to share the misery that I urge others to look at history this way; it’s no fun contemplating our heroes’ dirty underwear.
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Thank you for sharing. Revolutionary Soldiers are often forgotten as are Mexican War and Civil War and others. Our ancestors did so much for us.
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That’s why I chose this memorial. So many of our serviceman from long ago wars are sadly forgotten.
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