Category Archives: Memorial

8th May 2025 80th Anniversary V E Day – For My American Friends.

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1945 and Germany surrenders. Look how well it worked out for a regime that took away rights, bullied itself across Europe and North Africa and lived by Dreams and not Reality.
There will be celebrations in the UK today, but in light of us voting ourselves out of Europe, embracing a Trump-supporting Party Reform and selectively protesting against only some abuses of Human Rights and massacres I do not feel much like waving flags and singing ‘We’ll Meet Again’.
For as much it might stick in the craw of many Brits (self included at times) whereas Britain alone did stand off against the Axis in Europe, without the arrival of the USA into WWII there would have been no victory. This post in therefore dedicated to the USA armed forces in Europe. While accepting there was much racism in the ranks and all the way up, American soldiers were not noble angels in liberated areas, there were a number of real-life toned-downed Milo Mindbenders and the Geneva Convention was not always adhered to, there was the fact that Americans between the ages of 18 – 45 suffered wounds and died ‘out there’. This compilation relates to events from D-Day 1944 to V.E.Day; apologies for leaving out the Italian Theatre for reasons of brevity.


‘Bloody’ Omaha beach 6th June 1944 American Casualties 5000-6000


Normandy 1944. After D-Day there was to be a long and bitter campaign to defeat the German forces. This ended in August 1944. American Casualties overall 125,000 (including D-Day losses)


The long haul. There would be many actions after Normandy before Germany was to surrender. the Taking of the Germany City of Aarchen being an example. 12th September 1944 – 21st October 1944 – American Casualties 7,000 +


Hürtgen forest. Due to a colossal strategic blunder at Operational Level, elements of the American army were committed to fighting in thick forested terrain in muddy, wet and freezing weather. Known as the second longest single operation campaign fought by the USA army and for little gain. 19th September 1944 – 16th December 1944 – American Casualties depending how these are calculated in terms of area 33,000 – 50,000. 


Generally known as ‘The Battle of the Bulge’ or the Ardennes Offensive, this was the last major offensive by the German Army against the allies. From the 16th December 1944 to 28th January 1945. Bitter fighting also in hostile wooded terrain in the depths of winter was to rage with litter quarter given (see next entry). Eventually the German forces were worn down. American Casualties 81,000 NB- 20,000  those recorded as ‘Missing’


Malmedy 17th December 1944. Units of the German SS killed 84 American P.O.Ws. Something to throw (or spit- I personally don’t mind) in the faces of any American who belongs to a Fascist/ Nazi organisation, waves some stupid banner at a Right-Wing rally or admires Hitler. There would be similar treatment likely meted out by ‘American Boys’ to any SS soldier to fall into their hands. An example of the toxicity that extremists start off and how it spreads.


1945 and the war goes on. This action was taking place in Luxembourg. The dead and injured kept on coming.


Operation Varsity 24th March 1945 was the largest allied airborne assault of WWII. involving 17,000 paratroops. It was successful and in the cold logic of the military the casualties were acceptable, 2,700 American, British and Canadian.
George Joseph Peters (age 21) and Stuart Stanton Stryker (age 20) both received posthumous Medals of Honor for gallantry. The war would end in 42 days.



Not just ‘White Boys’…. Latino……….. African American….. Japanese


And just for one day American – Soviet – so what?

Meanwhile on the other side of the world…

Just another in the Pacific Theatre .  Okinawa 1st April 1945- 22nd June 1945.
American Battle Casualties 50,000 American Non-Battle Casualties 26,000-33,000

The total cost in  dead and injured for The USA in WW2 was 407,316 service members killed and 671,278 wounded. The number who were not amongst these but carried the horrors of what they witnessed is unknown.

And the 2024 election of Donald Trump to the presidency is the result to date?

In Memoriam Corey Comperatore

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Corey Comperatore

Died on the 13th July 2024 at Butler Pensylvannia, protecting his family from a shooter.

If we had ever crossed paths on social media we might have got into a bit of a disagreement over politics.

That just does not matter right now.

My respects to you Mr. Comperatore, may you rest in peace.

My condolences to your family, friends and colleagues.

And let us not forget the two also injured- 57 year old David Dutch and 74 year old James Copenhaver

To all of us on the opposite side of the late and the injured’s politics:

Judge not that ye be not judged (Matthew 7. Verse 1)

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These Days The World War Comes In Many Sizes.

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Crocus City Hall

Crocus City Hall, Moscow 22nd March 2024 .It was 14, then 30, then 60 then 93. Dead. Injured? It was many, then a 100. How many escaped? Not known, but they will carry scars. Maybe they will be fearful of being in a crowd, never to go to any event again, fearing they may hear screams and gun shots. Will they ever sleep naturally again. Then multiply by numbers by relatives, friends, associates.

They were going to a concert. To have a good time. Enjoy themselves. Forget the troubles of the World. Maybe ease the pain of the loss of someone sent to Ukraine. Parallels to many Israelis back in October 2023. They were going about their ordinary lives. Just like Americans who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in 83 mass shootings in 2024 (Up until February that is).

They weren’t in combat. They not were fitted out for fighting. They weren’t even living in dread. Not like folk in Port au Prince. Folk in Gaza. Folk in the Sudan. Folk across the Sahel (look on a map for yourself). In Congo. In Nigeria. In Pakistan. In India. In Philippines. In Malyaia. In Myanmar. In Mexico. In Ukraine. In Yemen. And that list goes on and on and on. World War. Not neat. Not one side vs another. That’s out-dated, washed away amongst the mudslide of agendas and causes, and the debris of alliances; mostly based on Hypocrisy. 

Somewhere there is at least one record tallying up the estimates of non-combatants being killed. And someone will be parsing those numbers up into those unfortunately killed in cross-fires. those who were living near strategic targets, those slaughtered in some frenzy of hate and those who starve or sicken untreated because of a lack of resources. As if there is some comfort in pointing out that portions of those deaths were ‘unfortunate’. Like the police chief in To Have and Have Not says laconically about the death of the American tourist caught in cross-fire ‘It is unfortunate’ .But it’s war. What can you do?… Don’t start one? Or is that just a painfully innocent a suggestion.

Nothing worthwhile is easy to solve.

Crocus City Hall, Moscow 22nd March 2024. Dead, dying, injured, traumatised  by being there, traumatised by association. Multiply that by the number of wars, rebellions, militias, gangs, mercenaries, authoritarian states, hate-groups. Some calculation. Like one of those massive boards that physicists and mathematicians have to use.  

There will be the usual dash to social media to pump out the agenda. Blame this group. Blame that nation. ‘I hate…. I’m gonna blame them’….. ‘Yeah me too’. The keyboards must have been hammered over the last 12 hours.

And there will be those who will justify, or glorify those who walked into Crocus City Hall on Moscow 22nd March 2024 and killed ‘in the name of’. Like the killing of non-combatant folk of a nation is going to make any state think ‘Oh gosh. We were wrong. Sorry,’ Russia, Israel, USA, China. Four classic examples of what happens when you tread on their toes, their majorities. No, they default to ‘Someone has to pay,’ Like any group, any region, any nation with a grudge or agenda really, deep down, worries about the loss of non-combatant life. Like any of those listens to any protest across the world.

Crocus City Hall, Moscow 22nd March 2024. It’s 115 dead now. Four suspects held. Flowers being left at the site, people donating blood. It’s what ordinary folk do. Do something. Meanwhile as expected both the Ukrainian and Russian governments or security services make claim, counter claim and ridiculous assertions abut the other side. At least the ordinary folk are doing something constructive.

World War. As in a world beset by wars in all shapes and sizes, many so deep, convoluted and old that the original reasons were lost somewhere and there’s only The War. You could claim Political Expediency, Culture, Religion, Poverty, Corruption, Old Enmities, New Ones, Suspicion, Communal Hysteria; take your pick; add another, there’s no shortage.

But what to do? No use saying ‘It’s Not my Problem’. USA.Back in the 1990s what was going in The Middle East, Saudi Arabia, ‘The Gulf’ Lebanon was not ‘Your Problem’. Sure the government sent armies and folk got killed, which was a shame. But nothing to do with you. Then came 9/11- direct Cause and Effect and the USA went into several sorts of hysteria which is still plaguing you today. 

And why do European nations and the USA wonder why folk from other nations are flooding into their lands. War. Famine through War. Why else should folk be so desperate? 

In these days of hyper-travel, hyper-trade and hyper-communication what happens somewhere will eventually find its way in some way to your door, even if it is but an increase the cost of your favourite…..

Crocus City Hall, Moscow 22nd March 2024. It’s our problem. It’s our tragedy. It’s our concern. And that nagging one, deep down inside. The one place where you get into the tangle of Cause & Effect, of Apathy and its distant cousin Selective Outrage, of Disassociation, of Assumptions Without Thought, and the rest. The one where we have to ask ‘Was That Something To Do With Me?’ Hopefully not. Hopefully you started out as innocent bystander who tried to do something constructive, even in a small, small, hardly noticed way, a ripple. Me? Involved in a war? You’d be surprised how far the reach is. 

Still, bear this in mind. It takes a lot of folk a long time to make a World War. And there are never simple answers.

One thing though. Those who beat the drums loud, and long. Folk who give you one liners as solutions. People who claim that killing their neighbours is the only solution. Mobs that blame an entire people for the crimes of a government. Ones who claim they have a direct line to a deity who says its OK to kill. 

They are liars, wretched creatures. And irrespective of the differences in their politics, religions, races and locations, they are all the same. Hate mongers. Blights. Bloodied hands by deed or association.  

Crocus City Hall, Moscow 22nd March 2024. Take some time out today to think of the victims. 

It’s a regular event in some parts of the world.

Another Brave One Who Would Not Bow Belongs To The Ages

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The Legacy Of Alexei Navalny — A Man Of Courage

Jill’s stirring tribute and clarion call is one to be read. There is a wealth of detail here, showing the man’s tireless efforts and wealth of courage.

All those who claim that Russia had no choice to invade Ukraine, read this and examine your consciences.  

United Airlines Flight 93. You Too Now Belong To The Ages

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United Airlines 93

Edward M Stanton Lincoln Secretary to Lincoln is attributed with saying on Lincoln’s death ‘Now he belongs to the ages’ . These words themselves have become synonymous with any act worthy of remembrance.

And so the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 on the 11th September 2001 have earned this memorial. We cannot be sure of the exact sequence of events in analytical detail. We can be certain in the time preceding the crash the passengers were aware this was not one single event and that something dramatic was unfolding. The realisation was dawning that there would be no flying to somewhere unexpected and suffering the hostage experience. People were beginning to understand passivity would not be rewarded.

The last messages are well-known, and ‘let’s roll’ has become set into the lexicon of other heroic words. There are then sounds, cries, shouts, chaos before the final descent into immortality.  

Coverage of the events of 11th September 2001 USA understandably focused on New York and The Pentagon Washington. What took place on United Airlines Flight 93 in relative terms gradually filtered out to the public.

We cannot doubt the commitment of the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 that day, they were certain of their own fate. What they had not taken into account was the spontaneous reaction of a group of ordinary untrained civilians who aware of what was unfolding were not prepared to play the role allotted to them in those plans. The hijackers had not taken into account another style of commitment, they had not expected what any good military officer of experience could have told them, in extreme conditions even the least trained, least expected can do the unexpected.

The evidence indicates that two National Guard pilots were on their way to do possibly the unthinkable, their own lives written off. Unlike in the films or books aircraft do not fly unerringly straight to the target, particularly in a situation where all proverbial hell is breaking loose, so they did not ‘lock onto the target after a tense pause’. We will never know how that drama would have played out.

We do know United Airlines Flight 93 crashed far from whatever target the hijackers had in mind. The USA will forever be in debt to those passengers.

United Airlines 93 memorial

 

Memorial Day

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Some mildly profane words; borrowed from those who were ‘there’.

They may have volunteered out of patriotism, or for the ‘adventure’. They may have been told by the Government they were ‘required’. They may started out as ‘ordinary’ folk; they may have been ‘screw-ups’; they may have been downright annoying; they may have been ‘nasty pieces of work’; they may have been tough; they may have spent their time being scared or ‘bitching’.

They may have been killed, died of injuries, disease, accident or ‘dumb luck’. They may have survived and lived or are living out the war in a loop.

 

Malmedy MassacreMalmedy December 1944

EyewitnessWWII-03._V389839563_Normandy 1944

‘Somewhere and Somewhen in Korea’Korean War 2

In Vietnam

C rations

 ‘Boy, you sure get offered some shitty choices,’ a Marine once said to me, and I couldn’t help but feel that what he really meant was that you didn’t get offered any at all. Specifically, he was just talking about a couple of C-ration cans, ‘dinner,’ but considering his young life……..Vietnam 1 …….you couldn’t blame him for thinking that if he knew one thing for sure, it was that there was no one anywhere who cared less about what he wanted.…Extract from Michael Herr’s ‘Dispatches’ 

And still it goes on 

21st US Amry 4 21st US Army 721st USA Army 221st USA Army

And for some it never stops

21st US Army 5

No one composes laments quite like the Scots; this songs was written for the 51st (Highland Division) as they left Sicily in 1943- there are several versions song in broad dialects and are difficult to follow without study- this version by the Clancy Brothers was angelized for general consumption. The message is universal for all soldiers leaving a warzone. One mild profanity from the original song and not here here but worth a mention:

‘Poor biddy (bloody) bastards are weary’

Some might feel uncomfortable about what may be seen as a celebration of war. This is no celebration; this is a remembrance for those who witnessed, heard, smelt and felt the weakness of flesh when fed on by metal, flame and explosion.

Normandy (2)

Maybe if all the national cemeteries were like this, there might be less …’next wars’