memorial day

At my house, we don't wait for Memorial Day to come around to remember our freedom. My grandfathers and brother are are all veterans, and my brother writes Acute Politics. The subject is never far from our minds.

During my semester break (1 week) at the beginning of May, my dad and I watched four WWII movies.

They Were Expendable - 1945, Philippines
The Longest Day - 1962, D-Day
Patton - 1970, 3rd Army from North Africa to Germany
Das Boot - 1981, Atlantic, uncut director's version

And then I read Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose, the book that follows E Company, 501st Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from airborne school to the beaches of Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

While I recommend all of the above, should you have the time to commit, the book Band of Brothers is a fairly quick read, highly informative, and extremely poignant.

They Were Expendable is a John Ford-directed movie starring John Wayne, filmed during the war and highlighting the torpedo PT boats used in the Philippines during the Pacific campaign. There is an extensive review (7 parts) of the movie over at Big Hollywood that I highly recommend. The war in the Pacific is interesting, although largely forgotten. I'm about to read We Band of Angels about the nurses on Bataan during the campaign in the movie (in all my spare time). It satisfies both the nursing side of my soul and the history buff part of me. This from a girl whose passion was ignited standing above the USS Arizona on New Year's Eve and listening to people speaking in Japanese.

The flag flies over the grave of USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Das Boot is a submarine story from the German perspective and definitely worth watching.

If there is anything else I could say about Memorial Day, it is only that I have been to France twice and Belgium once and have yet to see the beaches of Normandy or Flanders Field, where my freedom was bought long before I lived. Liberté liberté chérie...

L'Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France


The Grave of the Unknown Soldier, Paris, France

Nothing moves me as much as the monuments to those who paid the ultimate price. Thank you to out veterans as well as to those who gave their all. You will never be forgotten.