By Angry Old American

Copyright Angry Old American, May 27^th, 2023. All Rights Reserved.

Memorial Day has recently been confused with Veterans Day, when we honor those who served their Country in the Armed Forces. During Memorial Day we honor those who lost their lives in war. The tradition started as “Decoration Day” after the carnage of the American Civil War and was expanded to include those who died in all wars after World War I. It became a Federal Holiday in 1971.

Memorial Day is not a cause of celebration for those who lost family and friends in war; giving this “Holiday” a special significance. Personal loss and lingering grief bring vivid memories of young promising faces torn from their future in this world through their ultimate sacrifice for liberty.

We should also be mindful of those other casualties of war, who carry the lingering mementos of combat each and every day. Some lost limbs, sight, hearing, partial or complete mobility and disfiguring wounds.

Human sacrifices to preserve personal liberty and constitutional rights afforded by our Republic lay in cold graves, veterans hospitals, and convalescent hospitals. We can honor them all at local cemeteries and memorials, where flags and flowers are traditionally placed at their markers.

For the average modern Joe and Jane insulated from the personal impact of war, Memorial Day is a holiday weekend; an extra day to catch-up on chores, relax or engage in recreation and vacation travel. To them. the three day weekend represents something to do with people in uniform, and a paid day off. These are reasons that most people celebrate.

What motivated our war dead to make the supreme sacrifice for their country? Many that I served with over fifty years ago were simply conscripted into compulsory service through a lottery draft. Others enlisted to learn a marketable skill and earn educational benefits; while ideological patriots volunteered to preserve our sacred traditions and way of life.

No matter the circumstance of encountering the “Wake-up” of combat; the Soldier’s bond with their unit or team for mutual survival ranked second only to their duty and mission. For most, it was not their government that they fought for; but family and loved ones, their community and culture, and the home that they longed to return to.

This Memorial Day is bittersweet for myself and others who served to “preserve our way of life.” Most who have reached a ripe age will agree that the United States has changed radically. It now seems that the moral values of our Country have flipped upside-down. Back then, we were a country that valued rugged individualism; a land of opportunity to make the most of our lives with minimal government interference.

President John F. Kennedy once said “There is little value in insuring our Nation if our traditions do not survive with it.”

Communism was then, and is now, the religion of envy, with empty promises of equality through redistribution of wealth; a cult that crushes individualism and enterprise for “the collective good.” During my military service, our enemy was communist expansion in Southeast Asia. Fast-forward to today, and we old soldiers are portrayed as servants of capitalist exploitation, who fought against a “justified” movement of “people’s revolution.” Here at home, the land of opportunity has become dedicated to “equity” of outcomes which pander to identity politics. Personal independence has been displaced by an ever-expanding government promoting slave-like dependence and conformity. Through an endless parade of government contrived crises, we have gradually lost the way of life that my generation knew and loved. In New America, those of us who still cling to the sacred traditions of personal independence, liberty, and constitutional rights have become the “true enemy” of “our democracy.” The young have grown-up never knowing or experiencing true freedom; and at this rate they never will. They simply believe what they are told and go with the flow.

We are In the midst of a Cultural Revolution founded on “Man-made Climate Change” and “Cultural Equity.” Through the magic of Orwellian “Newspeak,” Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” has become “Build Back Better,” and the “Red Guard” have been replaced by Antifa.  Our Middle-Class is almost extinct, and the nuclear family is stripped of parental rights. Cultural Equity distributes benefit according to identity politics instead of personal merit. Critical Race Theory indoctrination is mandated education in schools, workplaces, government and the military. Observance of Christian holidays, and open expression of religious values are openly attacked. By law, the delusional mental illness of Gender Dysphoria requires language pronoun participation by all; or else! Theft is legal, and even those who commit felonies are released without bail. Criminals are the good guys, and police are bad. First Amendment protections of free speech are removed from those who’s message deviates from the official government narrative. Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms is under all-out attack. Even unarmed self-defense is being questioned. Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure are being removed. Illegal aliens pour across our open border, and are stepping to the front of the line for government benefits. The Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department have been weaponized against the Administration’s political opponents. Homes and small farms are being foreclosed and gobbled-up by multinational corporations. Meanwhile, homelessness and drug addiction are epidemic among displaced Americans. Energy and food production have been gutted. Our economy is on the brink of collapse, and our government is depleting our munitions stockpiles while on a fast-track to World War III with their comrades in Russia and China.

Seems our old way of life has been placed in the grave along with those who died for it. We sold out our birthright of liberty for decades of greed-fest self-gratification, pop-culture brainwashing, and a household full of cheap Chinese made junk. There is nobody but ourselves to blame. This loss of our freedom and rights should not tarnish the honor and valor of those souls who died to defend it. Take a moment to pray for them.

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, if he wins, knows the thrills of high achievement, and, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

                        President Theodore Roosevelt

First Medal of Honor Ever Recorded: