Archive for May 2011

Remembering

This is a repost from last year, which was pretty much a repost from the year before. I haven’t received anything via email this year that tops this. I will add this though, the below cemeteries are identified as being just in Europe, but there are more than just the European cemeteries. Additionally, these are just U.S. troops, and (I think) just from WWII. But even if they span both World Wars, it wasn’t just U.S. troops who gave their lives. We had many allies who fought for freedom too. Those we fought paid the ultimate price also, and even if they were on the wrong side, they weren’t all volunteers (any more than all of ours were back then), and many of them also left behind families and friends. I have heard many times that Memorial Day began because of Confederate women who not only decorated Confederate graves, but Union also. One side in war wins, but both sides lose.

In alphabetical order, just Europe …..

1. The American Cemetery at Aisne-Marne, France. A total of 2289 of our military dead.

aisne-marne

2. The American Cemetery at Ardennes, Belgium. A total of 5329 of our dead.

We are arrogant.

ardennes

3. The American Cemetery at Brittany, France. A total of 4410 of our military dead.

Excuse us.

brittany

4. Brookwood, England American Cemetery. A total of 468 of our dead.

brookwood

5. Cambridge, England. 3812 of our military dead.

cambridge

6. Epinal , France American Cemetery. A total of 5525 of our Military dead.

epinal

7. Flanders Field, Belgium. A total of 368 of our military.

flandersfield

8. Florence, Italy. A total of 4402 of our military dead.

florence

9. Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. A total of 7992 of our military dead.

henri-chapelle

10. Lorraine, France. A total of 10,489 of our military dead.

lorraine

11. Luxembourg, Luxembourg. A total of 5076 of our military dead.

luxembourg

12. Meuse-Argonne. A total of 14246 of our military dead.

meuse-argonne

13. Netherlands, Netherlands. A total of 8301 of our military dead.

netherlands

14. Normandy, France. A total of 9387 of our military dead.

normandy

15. Oise-Aisne, France. A total of 6012 of our military dead.

oise-aisne

16. Rhone, France. A total of 861 of our military dead.

rhone

17. Sicily, Italy. A total of 7861 of our military dead.

sicily

18. Somme, France. A total of 1844 of our military dead.

somme

19. St. Mihiel, France. A total of 4153 of our military dead.

stmhiel

20. Suresnes, France. a total of 1541 of our military dead.

suresnes

IF I ADDED CORRECTLY THE COUNT IS 104,366

Remind those of our sacrifice and don’t confuse arrogance with leadership

The unit to which I was assigned during my time in England held Memorial Day services annually at Madingly American Cemetery near Cambridge. That’s #5 on this list. I only attended one during my last year active duty, and it was a humbling experience.

John 15:13 (King James Version)

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Never forget.

All photos from American Battle Monuments Commission.

Stick that in your pipe…

Back when I was in college at UCA, there was a particular English professor who smoked a pipe and for the life of me I can’t remember his name. I can’t even blame it on not being in any of his classes either because I still can’t remember my Comp II professor’s name, and I had to look up my Lit I professor’s name. Anyway, I can remember walking through the old Irby Hall just to pass by his office and smell his pipe.

Back in those days, I was a cigarette smoker. I quit smoking cigarettes about 11 years ago, and never really lost the desire to smoke. Well, a couple weeks ago I had a massive craving that lasted longer than a couple hours. But before it was really over, I started thinking about a pipe. So I told the hubby I was thinking about smoking a pipe. He said, “You can’t smoke a pipe and look pretty.” I can’t be 40 pounds overweight and look pretty either, so that’s not an issue for me. 😉 So I said, “Well, then I’ll get a corncob pipe.”

I went to the tobacco store this morning after a corncob pipe. All they had was mini corncob pipes, and the guy even complained that they kept getting sent those mini-pipes when no one wants them. So instead I got a cool looking (my opinion) wooden one.

I grabbed a bag of Cherry Cavendish pipe tobacco and it smells just like what that English professor smoked.

It is definitely not the same as smoking a cigarette, even though I am not inhaling it. Even without inhaling it made me a little nauseous. Methinks I need a filter. And I don’t care how redneck/hillbilly it is, I likes my pipe.