A News Aggregator That Covers The World's Major Wars And Conflicts. Military, Political, And Intelligence News Are Also Covered. Occasionally We Will Have Our Own Opinions Or Observations To Make.
Federal Cuts Threaten Taps Being Performed Live At L.I. Military Funerals -- CBS News
CALVERTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - When you go to a military funeral at Calverton National Cemetery or Pinelawn National Cemetery on Long Island, you expect to hear Taps performed live.
However, with federal funding being cut, they may have to switch to a recording as opposed to a live tribute.
Read more .... My Comment: Playing a recorded version of Taps at a military funeral .... say it ain't so.
Don Collins Jr. digging a grave at Scottburg Cemetery this winter. Juliana Sohn
The Things That Carried Him -- Esquire
Revisit the award-winning, breathtaking true story behind one soldier's last trip home
Don Collins stood in the sun and mapped out in his mind a rectangle on the grass, eight feet by three feet. He is forty-nine, wears a handful of pomade in his hair, and no longer needs a tape to take the measure of things.
Indiana state law dictates that the lid of the burial vault be two feet below the surface. That meant Collins had to dig down five feet, ultimately lifting out about a hundred cubic feet of earth. He wouldn't need a tape to measure that, either. Since 1969, his father, Don Sr., has owned the Collins Funeral Home, just up Elm Street, just past the little yellow house with the two yellow ribbons tied to the tree out front. As a boy, Don Jr. had lived upstairs with the spirits and the rest of his family, over the chapel. He and his younger brother, Kevin, would later work with their dad in the back room, embalming the bodies of their neighbors at three o'clock in the morning, and he still assists his father in his capacity as coroner. But Don Jr. has had enough of bodies in back rooms. He likes it better outside, in the sticky air, working with the earth.
States Line Up Against Funeral Hecklers in Supreme Court Brief -- ABC News
Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church Picketed Marine's Funeral; Court to Decide if Protest Was Free Speech.
Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia are backing the family of fallen Marine Matthew Snyder in a pending U.S. Supreme Court case that could decide the constitutionality of laws restricting protests at private family funerals.
Lance Cpl. Snyder, who was deployed to Iraq in 2006, was killed just a month later in an accident. His funeral in Maryland was disrupted by demonstrators led by Kansas pastor Fred W. Phelps, yelling, among other things, that America's military is evil because it defends a country that tolerates homosexuality.
My Comment: From my perspective .... this case is a slam-dunk. But what bothers me is that the Federal Courts of Appeal have a different point of view .... hence the (now) involvement of the Supreme Court.
Members of the Patriot Guard Riders form a "cordon of honor" for the funeral procession of a fallen servicemember. Courtesy photo
From McClatchy News:
A soldier returning to his parents in a casket may be the most painful thing for a family to endure. But the nightmare worsens.
Imagine saying goodbye to your loved one -- your son, your brother, your husband, your father, your childhood friend -- and lurking on the fringes are protesters, using the death of your loved one for their own agenda.
One group of dedicated veterans, the Patriot Guard Riders, are there keep the protesters away.
My Comment: The Patriot Guard Riders represent what is the best of America, a symbol of what working together can accomplish during a time of great sadness and sorrow for a family who has lost a loved one.
Sam Cottle, the Patriot Guard Riders' Michigan ride captain, watches a wreath ceremony at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly Township. He said riders, who attend the funerals of fallen soldiers and veterans, have been spit at by protesters. December photos by DAVID KILKENNEY/Special to DFP
From The Detroit Free Press:
It doesn't matter if it is cold, hot, snowy, rainy or windy. They stand, holding American flags, hiding tears of sadness behind dark sunglasses.
Standing, they say, for those who stand for us. Standing for those who serve in the military and sacrifice their lives for freedom.
Members of the Patriot Guard Riders -- all volunteers -- attend the funerals of fallen soldiers and veterans. They also welcome home soldiers and are there at airports, sending them off to combat.
Last month, four members of Michigan's chapter took turns driving overnight to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia to support the family of Spec. Byron Fouty, who was captured in Iraq in 2007. Fouty grew up in Walled Lake and Lake Orion.
My Comment: This type of involvement is priceless. The families who mourn will always appreciate the fact that their loved ones are in the thoughts of many.
In this file photo, date unknown, made by the U.S. Department of Defense and obtained by thememoryhole.org, flag-draped coffins of U.S .war casualties are seen aboard a cargo plane in Dover, Del. President Barack Obama said Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, his administration is reviewing a policy that bans the media from photographing flag-draped coffins of fallen U.S. soldiers. The president says his advisers are discussing with the Defense Department the prohibition on pictures of coffins returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/thememoryhole.org/file)
Gates Orders Review Of Ban On Photos Of Coffins -- Yahoo News/AP
Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered a review Tuesday of a Pentagon policy banning media from taking pictures of flag-draped coffins of military dead, signaling he was open to overturning the policy to better honor fallen soldiers.
At least two Democratic senators have called on President Barack Obama to let news photographers attend ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and other military facilities when military remains are returned to the United States. Obama told reporters Monday he was reviewing the ban.
My Comment: In Canada .... when a fallen soldier returns from Afghanistan .... pictures are permitted. Please scroll down and read the following story from the CBC in December 8, 2008.
The bodies of Cpl. Mark McLaren, Pte. Demetrios Diplaros and Warrant Officer Robert Wilson were returned to Canada on Monday. (DND)
Bodies Of Canadian Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan Return Home -- The CBC
Shedding tears and holding each other for comfort, family members watched as the bodies of three Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan arrived at an Ontario military base Monday afternoon.
The families were joined by Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean and chief of defence staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk at CFB Trenton as the plane carrying the remains of Cpl. Mark McLaren, Pte. Demetrios Diplaros and Warrant Officer Robert Wilson touched down.
The caskets were loaded, one at a time, into three hearses at a runway, while their comrades stood at silent attention. Family members, clutching roses, followed the flag-draped caskets.
My Comment: The above CBC report mentions that hundreds wait on the overpasses for the funeral procession to pass by .... but the actual total is in the thousands. It is a sight to see. The You Tube Video below catches a bit of this journey and procession.
I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.
Don Collins Jr. digging a grave at Scottburg Cemetery this winter. Juliana Sohn
Members of the Patriot Guard Riders form a "cordon of honor" for the funeral procession of a fallen servicemember. Courtesy photo
Sam Cottle, the Patriot Guard Riders' Michigan ride captain, watches a wreath ceremony at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly Township. He said riders, who attend the funerals of fallen soldiers and veterans, have been spit at by protesters. December photos by DAVID KILKENNEY/Special to DFP
In this file photo, date unknown, made by the U.S. Department of Defense and obtained by thememoryhole.org, flag-draped coffins of U.S .war casualties are seen aboard a cargo plane in Dover, Del. President Barack Obama said Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, his administration is reviewing a policy that bans the media from photographing flag-draped coffins of fallen U.S. soldiers. The president says his advisers are discussing with the Defense Department the prohibition on pictures of coffins returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/thememoryhole.org/file)
The bodies of Cpl. Mark McLaren, Pte. Demetrios Diplaros and Warrant Officer Robert Wilson were returned to Canada on Monday. (DND)
The families were joined by Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean and chief of defence staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk at CFB Trenton as the plane carrying the remains of Cpl. Mark McLaren, Pte. Demetrios Diplaros and Warrant Officer Robert Wilson touched down.
