1.8 Million Wreaths Will Be Laid To Honor U.S. Veterans This Weekend

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— WreathsAcrossAmerica (@WreathsAcross) December 14, 2018

Popular Mechanics: This Weekend, 1.8 Million Wreaths Will Be Laid to Honor U.S. Veterans

The foundation Wreaths Across America will coordinate wreath­-laying ceremonies at 1,640 locations across the United States, at sea and abroad.

This Saturday, December 15, is National Wreaths Across America Memorial Day, when hundreds of thousands of holiday wreaths are laid in tribute to U.S. veterans. This year, more than 1.8 million wreaths will be placed by two million volunteers at 1,640 locations worldwide. According to Amber Caron, WAA's director of communications, children accounted for nearly one-third of the volunteers last year.

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WNU Editor: Even President Trump got involved .... Trump, criticized for skipping earlier visits, travels to cemetery (AFP). See video below.

The Mother Who Lost Five Sons In The Great War

Distraught: Amy Beechey received the news of each of her sons' deaths with sadness

The Mother Who Lost Five Sons: On Armistice Day, The Heartbreaking Story Of The Biggest Loss By A British Family In The Great War -- Daily Mail

The moment Amy Beechey saw the envelope with a French postmark she feared the worst. Sent from a military hospital in Rouen, dated December 29, 1917, it brought the news she had been dreading.

Her son, 36-year-old Rifleman Leonard Beechey, wounded and gassed at the battle of Cambrai a month earlier, had died of his wounds. Tetanus set in and the doctors could do nothing to save him.

He would, the chaplain told his mother, be buried in Rouen, far from the Lincolnshire countryside where he and his seven brothers had grown up, together with five sisters (a sixth sister had died aged five).

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My Comment: Words always escape me when I read stories like this one. U.S. President Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby .... a mother who also lost 5 sons .... is probably the closest that one can come to in understanding this loss. The letter is posted below ....

Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln

Families Of Fallen Soldiers Gather In D.C. This Weekend

Families Of Fallen Soldiers Gather In D.C. -- Washington Post

About 2,000 families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are expected to join a Weekend of Remembrance activities in Washington.

Organizers say the Friday and Saturday events will be the nation's largest gathering of families of fallen soldiers. The group Families United is hosting the event for the second year.

A dinner will be held Friday evening at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

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My Comment: The official site is here.

10 Soldiers I Met One Night in Afghanistan

Commentary by Lt. Col. David Fahrenkrug, 379th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron Commander. (Hat Tip: The Tension)

Commentary:

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Aug. 3, 2008 -- The war in Afghanistan can often seem far away. Yet recently, the cost of war became very apparent. I did not know the soldiers' names that night. They were simply passing through. The 10 soldiers had finished their tour of duty in Afghanistan, but none of them were going home the way they intended. They were killed during a fierce battle near the village of Wanat in the Afghan province of Kunar. Their tour of duty cut short by insurgents determined to overrun a coalition operating base. The Taliban failed, but not without exacting a toll from American forces on the ground.

A small group of Airmen from across the base gathered that night to pay our respects and give these soldiers a final salute. The main ramp was a flurry of activity, typical these days, even at 1 a.m. But with the lights casting our shadows on the C-17 Globemaster III loading ramp, all of that faded away. My thoughts were only on those soldiers and their families -- their sacrifices and the loss their families must be feeling. These men died serving our country and I was humbled to be there that night to honor them. As I paid my respects, my heart ached for the families who will live with this pain for the rest of their lives.

This event demonstrates the reality of war Airmen work so hard to overcome.

These men died during an attack by a well organized force of more than 200 insurgents. Insurgents seized an opportunity to attack a newly established forward operating base. Coalition forces were outnumbered three to one and they were not yet fully prepared to defend their base. Airpower; however, was there to make the difference. In less time than you will wait for a bus, Air Force aircraft were overhead to identify insurgents and provide warning to other coalition forces and unleash destruction on the insurgents. The attack was defeated. Once again the insurgents witnessed the coalition's decisive advantage in fighting the insurgency in Afghanistan -- airpower.

Airmen throughout Southwest Asia do everything they can to provide airpower for the defense of our forces and to defeat enemy forces who engage our troops or attack civilian populations. Airmen work tirelessly around the clock so Americans and coalition forces have the combat airpower they need precisely when they need it. While that may be of little comfort to the families whose father, or husband, or brother who was killed fighting the war on terrorism, airpower did make a difference for dozens of others. The forward operating base at Wanat survived and soldiers are alive today because airpower was there.