The Last WWI Vet and Memorial Day

I saw this in my morning paper today. by George Will, it's a tribute to the last known US Doughboy. It is Memorial Day here in the US, a chance to pray for the dead, take care of the graves and to rest a little and reflect on the honor due our warriors, the care due to them upon their return, and the debt that non-warrior society owes them which can never be repaid in full.

Whatever one's politics, the warriors don't make the unjust wars, but they are the ones doing the fighting and the suffering and the dying.

QUOTE The eyes of the last doughboy are still sharp enough for him to be a keen reader, and his voice is still deep and strong at age 107. He must have been a fine broth of a boy when, at 16, persistence paid off and he found, in Oklahoma City, an Army recruiter who believed, or pretended to, the fibs he had unavailingly told to Marine and Navy recruiters in Kansas about being 18. UNQUOTE

Memorial Day for all soldiers is embodied in the words of the oath that a person first takes when they enlist into the service of the country:

I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I WILL SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC; THAT I WILL BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SAME; AND THAT I WILL OBEY THE ORDERS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE ORDERS OF THE OFFICERS APPOINTED OVER ME, ACCORDING TO REGULATIONS AND THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE. SO HELP ME GOD.

This oath taken by each and every soldier exemplifies the reason why soldiers/warriors do what they do each and every day. Soldiers are defenders of the same principles that made this country great. They stand as Patriots to defend and protect the ideals and goals espoused in the Constitution of the United States. Soldiers bear true faith and allegiance to that document and they work, and live, within the Codes of Military Justice. Soldiers also obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Officers appointed over them; however, their first fealty is to The Constitution and all it enshrines.

Happy Memorial Day to all.

Respect and Honor to the Veterans.

Mitakuye Oyasin!