[DeTomaso] Memorial Day Re: Thanks

[Asa Jay Laughton]

Thursday of last week, my employer rededicated a flag I sent home from 
the U.A.E. while I was deployed there.  The flag had flown on the Global 
Hawk UAV and the U2 while I was there.  In 2006, my employer moved from 
one building to a much larger facility.  The flag did not get put back 
up until last week.

During the re-dedication, our community liaison related some stories 
from other employees who currently have sons and daughters involved in 
Iraq and Afghanistan.  They were not pretty stories.  They originally 
came -from- the sons and daughters, who are still alive and still 
fighting to this day.  But each of them related how one minute they were 
joking with a friend about who would win the PAC 10 conference, and a 
few minutes later, their friends HUMVEE exploded in front of them from 
an IED.  Another story related how another IED or rocket propelled 
grenade hit the passenger side of their HUMVEE and blew shrapnel all 
over this poor kid.  They worked on him for minutes trying to stop the 
bleeding, but by the time the medic got there, he was gone.

I'm really only paraphrasing here, the details from the stories related 
that afternoon in our atrium.  They were enough to bring a tear to my 
eye, because I still care.

Instead of hanging the flag as it was in the old building, they folded 
it properly and had it placed in the traditional triangular box.  A new 
plaque was made and affixed to box, dedicating it in memoriam of all our 
veterans.  On either side are the certificates of the flights it had 
flown on.  I had originally thought they were going to hang it as they 
had previously, but found this display to be much more sobering and much 
more appropriate.

It's good to thank those who are still around; let's just make sure we 
never forget those who never made it home.

Asa Jay

Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired

& Shelley Marie
Spokane, WA

1971 Mach I Mustang  [ASA JAY]
1973 Pantera L 5533  [ASASCAT]
    
******************************     
http://www.asajay.com
http://www.teampanteraracing.com
  



Mad Dog Antenucci wrote:
> Hawk, JB, Will, Chuck, Rowdy, Ken, All,
>
> Traditionally Memorial Day commemorates those American men and woman who 'died' or are listed as Missing In Action (MIA) while in military service in any war or military action.  That doesn't mean you should not honor those veterans who did make it home or those veterans who are permanently disabled or confined to a VA hospital or veterans home..... it only means the last time I checked most of us can still fog up a mirror. ;-]>
>
> Seriously, I'd like to thank all those and the memories of all those veterans who never made it home alive or whose remains were never identified. No doubt it is also a time that  friends and family of others that have passed on are also remembered but today has special meaning for those you remember who died in battle in the service of their country. 
>
> Dennis
>
>