Memorial Day – May 30th, 2022

Matthew 24:6-7

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

On Memorial Day

I remember growing up on a Navy base during the Vietnam War. One day, one of the families in the neighborhood suddenly disappeared. Their father was a U.S. Navy pilot at the Naval Ordnance Test Station in China Lake California. I don’t remember anything else other than he was shot down in Vietnam. There might be a plaque or a name on a memorial somewhere. Vietnam has all been forgotten.

I Remember the Missing and the Dead

Phoenix airman buried at Arlington, 46 years after going MIA over Vietnam

Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012
By MEGHAN MCCARTHY
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Air Force Lt. Col. Charles M. Walling was flying his F-4C over Vietnam 46 years ago when the Phoenix resident disappeared over Song Be Province, leaving behind a pregnant wife and a 22-month-old son.

https://cronkitenewsonline.com/2012/08/phoenix-airman-buried-at-arlington-46-years-after-going-mia-over-vietnam/

Airmen prepare to carry the coffin holding the remains of Air Force Lt. Col. Charles H. Walling, a Phoenix resident who went missing in action over Vietnam 46 years ago, to a group burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

I Remember the Heroes and honor all who served and have since passed.

I remember when President John F. Kennedy visited China Lake on June 7, 1963 (Full video)

John F. Kennedy: Seven Days That Changed the Course of History

JFK’s Peace Speech

https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/historic-speeches/american-university-commencement-address

I remember the final speech given by President Dwight David Eisenhower on January 17, 1961

General of the Army, Dwight David Eisenhower (1947)

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over-shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
President Dwight David Eisenhower, January 17, 1961

I remember Major General Smedley Butler

“Smedley Butler was the most celebrated warfighter of his time. Bestselling books were written about him. Hollywood adored him. Wherever the flag went, the “Fighting Quaker” went―in nearly every major overseas conflict from 1898 until the eve of World War II.” — Johnathan M. Katz

Introduction to Major General Smedley Butler by Jonathan M. Katz, author of “Gangsters of Capitalism”

Major General Smedley Butler issues “The Warning”

I remember the music

And I remember “Everything is a Rich Man’s Trick”

State Funeral of President George H.W. Bush, December 3-6, 2018

Dear God, rest the souls of those who fought and died in America’s wars. Have mercy on the United States of America and give us peace.

Amen