Memorial Day 2013 -- The Forgotten Ones

In memoriam  Little Bob, Patrick Schwab, Robert Harding, and the rest of the group.  Vietnam did a job on you.  There is/was no apparent cure.  But you are not forgotten.

In memoriam   Robert J. Schumacher.  Too many alerts, too many secrets, too many talents ... the Navy sucked your life away.

In memoriam  Martin E. Tabnik.  You never went to war because your daddy didn't want to lose his boy.  What he did to you to assure that was cruel beyond words.  I hope you have a decent caretaker now.

In memoriam  Richard Besst.  It never got better, did it?  The faces, the memories, the sounds, the smells.  They cut you off from the world.  I truly hope you've found a place of peace and security now.

In memoriam  All the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of those who've felt the consequences of radicalism, greed, and all the other truly petty causes of conflict.  I remember you, I know some of what you feel.  I hope there are more who will remember that those who stay behind are also fighting the war.