ditto from me

Hey, who started cutting onions in here?
Would someone please pass a Kleenex to me?

Great story...

to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, thank you.

[IMG:http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/1023*648/1tevlin0810.jpg]

just to be clear. memorial day is for those who made the ultimate sacrifice - not simply for "those who served and still do"-thats veteran's day.

Yes sir, thanks to our veterans my family was able to do some chillin' & grilln'

Spent most of the day at the ballpark. Youngest son had American Legion practice in the morning, then filled in for middle son keeping score in the evening while the youngest was umping. In between I grilled for lunch and I spent the afternoon doing yard work with my oldest son, so that helps make the wife happy.

Baseball, Hot Dogs (and Hamburgers), and Apple Pie (wife made one).

But I must confess I did not drive a Chevrolet.

this guy had a fun memorial day.

I'll have what he's having....one of my favorite movie almost quotes from a Meg Ryan movie.

Served 6000 meals between Friday and Monday. The busiest shift was lunch on Sunday where we did 950.

I've never thought wrapping oneself in the flag to be a patriotic display, but then again, I remember that the Flag Code has items like:

• The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, firefighters, police officers, and members of patriotic organizations.
  
• The flag should never touch anything beneath it.
  

Yes, I'm old.

The only thing I can gather you mean by that is her stance and the position of her hand during the National Anthem. She didn't "cross her heart" she simply held her right hand in front of her heart in a fist holding a pom-pom. Looked like that's what the cheerleaders do at that school as a manner of putting their hand over their heart. I see no problem at all with it.

I can't help but wonder how the hell she didn't recognize her father the times she turned around and looked right at him, or seemed to be.

This might irk a few folks, but oh well.

It bugs me on Memorial Day when people want to recognize "the troops" or veterans or any other term for someone who served/is serving but is alive. Memorial Day is to honor and remember those who gave their lives in defense of our nation. It cheapens that (in my nowhere close to humble opinion) to be all-inclusive.



We've gotten entirely TOO all-inclusive in this country. Everyone doesn't need recognized because one group gets it. It's OKAY to let someone stand out/shine/be the center of attention. It's okay to acknowledge that there are winners and--GASP--losers in sports; even kids' sports. If anyone gets asshurt over not being recognized/included/losing, they can kick rocks.

We have Veteran's Day to recognize those of us who served.

Decoration Day honored the dead.

When it was renamed Memorial Day, it honored both the dead and the living. The custom of flying the colors at half-staff until noon, and then hoisting them to the peak, originated in that time.

Then Armistice Day came along, celebrating victory in the War to End All Wars. (Which, of course, failed to do so.)

And then things got sorted out so that Memorial Day honors the dead, and Veteran's Day honors the living.

Except that we retain the custom with the flag at half-staff for half the day.

And in the meantime, I know some Johnny Rebs who don't celebrate anything at the end of May, because they don't celebrate a war they didn't win.

Chris Kyle: Amen
This is from a wife of one of the Navy Seals in attendance. It makes interesting, disturbing, but hardly surprising reading.

Chris Kyle became the armed services number #1 sniper of all time. Not something he was happy about, other than the fact that in so doing, he saved a lot of American lives.

Three years ago, his wife Taya asked him to leave the SEAL teams because he had a huge bounty on his head by Al Qaeda. He did, and then wrote the book "The AmericanSniper." 100% of the proceeds from the book went to two of the SEAL families whohad lost their sons in Iraq.

That was the kind of guy Chris was. He formed a company in Dallas to train military, police and I think firemen, how to protect themselves in difficult situations. He also formed a foundation to work with military people suffering from PTSD. Chris was agiver not a taker. He, along with a friend and neighbor, Chad Littlefield, were murdered trying to help a young man who had served six months in Iraq and claimed to have PTSD. Now I need to tell you about all of the blessings.

Southwest Airlinesflew in any SEAL and their family from any airport to the funeral free of charge. The employees donated buddy passes and one lady worked for four days without much of a break, to see that it happened. Volunteers were at both airports in Dallas to drive them to the hotel.

The Marriott Hotel reduced their rates to $45 a night and cleared the hotel for only SEAL's and families.
The Midlothian, TX Police Department paid the $45 a night for each room. I would guess there were about 200 people staying at the hotel, 100 of whom were SEALs.

Two large buses were chartered (an unknown donor paid the bill) to transport people to the different events, and they also had a few rental cars (donated).
The police and secret servicewere on duty 24 hours during the stay at our hotel.

At the Kyle house,the Texas DPS parked a large motor home in front to block the view from reporters. It remained there the entire five days for the SEALs to meet in and so they could use its restroom instead of the bathroom in the house.

Taya, their two small children and both sets of parents were staying in the home. Only a handful of SEALs went into the home, as they had different duties and meetings were held sometimes on a hourly basis.
It was a huge coordination of many different events and security. Derek was assigned to be a Pall Bearer, to escort Chris' body when it was transferred from the Midlothian Funeral Home to the Arlington Funeral Home, and to be with Taya. A tough job. Tayaseldom came out of her bedroom. The house was full with people from the church and other family members who would come each day to help. I spent one morning in a bedroom with Chris' mom and the next morning with Chad Littlefield's parents (the other man murdered with Chris). A tough job.

George W Bush and his wife Laura met and talked to everyone on the Seal Team one-on-one. They went behind closed doors with Taya for quite a while. They had a prayer with us all. You could tell when people were sincere and caring.

Nolan Ryansent his cooking team, with a huge grill and lots of steaks, chicken and hamburgers. They set up in the front yard and fed people all day long, including the200 SEALs and their families.

The next day a local BBQ restaurant set up a buffet in front of the house and fed us all once again. Food was plentiful and all were taken care of. The family'schurch kept those inside the house well fed.


JerryJones,the man everyone loves to hate, was a rock star. He and his wife made sure that we all were taken care of...Class! He donated the use of Cowboy Stadium for the services because so many wanted to attend. The charter busestransported us to the stadium on Monday at 10:30 am. Every car, bus, motorcycle was searched with bomb dogs and police. I am not sure if kooks were making threats trying to make a name for themselves or if so many SEALs in one place was a security risk; I don't know. We willingly obliged. No purses went into the stadium!

We were taken to The Legends room high up and a large buffet was available. That was for about 300 people. We were growing. A Medal of Honor recipient was there, plus lots of Secret Service and police and Sarah Palin and her husband. She looked nice. This was a very formal Military Service. It started at 1:00 pm and when we wereescorted onto the field I was shocked. We heard that about 10,000 people had come to attend also. They were seated in the stadium seats behind us. It was a beautiful and emotional service. The Bagpipe and Drum Corps were wonderful, and The Texas A&M Men's Choir stood through the entire service and sang right at the end. We were all in tears.

The next day was the 200-mile procession from Midlothian, TX to Austin for the burial. It was a cold, drizzly and windy day, but the people were out.

We had dozens of police motorcycles riders, freedom riders, five chartered buses and lots of cars . You had to have a Pass to be in the procession and still it was huge.

Two helicopterscircled the procession with snipers sitting out the side door forprotection. It was the longest funeral procession ever in the state of Texas. People were everywhere! The entire route was shut doen ahead of us, with people lined up on the side of the road the entire way!
Firemen were down on one knee, police officers were holding their hats over their hearts, children waved flags and veterans saluted as we went by.

Every bridge had fire trucks with large flags displayedfrom their tall ladders, people all along the entire 200 miles were standing in the cold weather.It was so heartwarming to see.
Taya rode in the hearse with Chris' body so Derek rode the route with us. I was so grateful to have that time with him.

The service was at Texas National Cemetery. Very few are buried there and you have to apply to get in. It is like people from the Civil War, Medal of Honor winners, a few from the Alamo and all the historical people of Texas.
It was a nice Service, and the Freedom Riders surrounded the outside of the entire cemetery to keep the crazy Church people from Kansas who protest at Military Funerals away from us.
Each SEAL put his Trident (metal SEAL badge) on the top of Chris' casket, one at a time. A lot hit it in with one blow. Derek was the only one to take four taps to put his in, and it was almost like he was caressing it as he did it. Another tearful moment.

After the Service Governor Rick Perry and his wife, Anita, invited us to theGovernor's mansion. She stood at the door, greeted each of us individually, and gave each of the SEALs a coin of Texas. She was a sincere, compassionate, and gracious hostess. We were able to tour the ground floor and then went into the garden for beverages and BBQ. So many of the Seal team guys said that after they get out of the Military, they are moving to Texas. They remarked that they had never felt so much love and hospitality. The charter buses then took the guys to the airport to catch their return flights. Derek just now called, and after a 20 hours flight he is back in his spot, in a dangerous land on the other side of the world, protecting America.

We just wanted to tell you of the events of a quite emotional, but blessed week."

To this day, no one in the White House has ever acknowledged Chris Kyle, his service, his death, his duty, his generosity, his caring or his life. However, the President can call a sports person and congratulate him on his bravery for announcing to the world that he is gay.

He can say on national televisionthat someone, a man who has committed a crimeand was shot by police in the line of duty, would have made him a good son.

The SEALS have asked that you please keep this message moving, if youthink Chris Kyle would have made a good son.