As I do each and every Memorial Day, I go to Arizona's Vietnam Memorial in Phoenix to pay homage to a couple of good friends who gave their lives to our country.
This was 1/LT Ed Cribb, an Army aviator who was on his second (voluntary) tour in Nam when his observation plane was crippled in the air by enemy fire. Ed bailed, but was too close to the ground for his chute to open fully, and he died in excruciating pain from a back that was broken in three places. We were close friends in high school. Ed left a wife and two kids, one of whom he never saw. He is buried in the Fort Benning cemetery in Georgia.
This was Air Force CAPT Chuck Walling. His Phantom jet was shot down by an enemy rocket in Nam, and his remains were never found until a few years ago, identified only by DNA testing. Those remains were recovered and shipped to Washington DC, where he was buried in Arlington with full military honors. He left a wife and two sons, one of whom is the amazing spitting image of his father. Chuck and I were good friends in college, where we were fraternity brothers.
...but these two young men who were cut down in the prime of life were not the only ones, and their families were not the only ones to grieve. Just so we might have a glimpse of their enormous sacrifices, I'd like to share some photos of the D-Day invasion in Normandy during WWII. We will observe the 74th anniversary of the greatest invasion in history on June 6 this year. Our boys walked straight into hell, knowing full well that they almost certainly would die. Over nine thousand of them did.
Thousands of families all over the U.S. were to get notifications of fatalities like this brave but unfortunate soldier.
This is the American military cemetery in Normandy...
Many of our fallen heroes were never identified. They are memorialized 24 hours a day at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery. I took this photo in 2015 when I accompanied an Honor Flight that gave a group of Arizona WWII veterans the chance to see their memorials (no charge to them) in DC.
This is The Wall.
This is a small segment of Arlington National Cemetery.
We remember our fallen this coming Monday on Memorial Day. They made our present way of life possible. General George Patton once remarked that perhaps it was wrong to grieve for them. Instead, he said, we should thank God that such men lived.
John
This was 1/LT Ed Cribb, an Army aviator who was on his second (voluntary) tour in Nam when his observation plane was crippled in the air by enemy fire. Ed bailed, but was too close to the ground for his chute to open fully, and he died in excruciating pain from a back that was broken in three places. We were close friends in high school. Ed left a wife and two kids, one of whom he never saw. He is buried in the Fort Benning cemetery in Georgia.
This was Air Force CAPT Chuck Walling. His Phantom jet was shot down by an enemy rocket in Nam, and his remains were never found until a few years ago, identified only by DNA testing. Those remains were recovered and shipped to Washington DC, where he was buried in Arlington with full military honors. He left a wife and two sons, one of whom is the amazing spitting image of his father. Chuck and I were good friends in college, where we were fraternity brothers.
...but these two young men who were cut down in the prime of life were not the only ones, and their families were not the only ones to grieve. Just so we might have a glimpse of their enormous sacrifices, I'd like to share some photos of the D-Day invasion in Normandy during WWII. We will observe the 74th anniversary of the greatest invasion in history on June 6 this year. Our boys walked straight into hell, knowing full well that they almost certainly would die. Over nine thousand of them did.
Thousands of families all over the U.S. were to get notifications of fatalities like this brave but unfortunate soldier.
This is the American military cemetery in Normandy...
Many of our fallen heroes were never identified. They are memorialized 24 hours a day at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery. I took this photo in 2015 when I accompanied an Honor Flight that gave a group of Arizona WWII veterans the chance to see their memorials (no charge to them) in DC.
This is The Wall.
This is a small segment of Arlington National Cemetery.
We remember our fallen this coming Monday on Memorial Day. They made our present way of life possible. General George Patton once remarked that perhaps it was wrong to grieve for them. Instead, he said, we should thank God that such men lived.
John
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