Hello again, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode of Freedom's Creed. Another Memorial Day is upon us, and whatever you are doing this weekend and on Memorial Day, I invite you to please take some time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. So in your get togethers with family and friends and the enjoyment of barbecue or whatever you like to do on Memorial Day, I invite you to seriously consider what those who did pay the ultimate sacrifice have done for defending not only our freedom here in the United States, but across the world, especially during the time of the greatest generation, so-called by Tom Brokaw, which I agree with 100%, by the way. Let me just say that there is something that I truly believe about history, which is we can't change past history. We're only making current history now, and it remains to be seen how future history will be remembered by those who record it and by those who seek to preserve it. In today's episode, I want to talk about one of the ways that we can remember the fallen by talking about the tomb of the unknown soldier and some history with that and my experience having visited that place on more than one occasion. And then also I want to relate some personal accounts of my father-in-law's involvement in the Second World War. So let me begin by saying that if you've never been to the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, I would highly encourage you visiting that location at least once in your life and watch, of course, the changing of the guard, which is a very somber, very reverent time, and it's amazing how quiet it gets there when you're there listening to it. All you really hear is the birds chirping and the commands of those who are associated with the changing of the guard. Now, if you're interested, I have taken this information from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on www.arlington cemetery. Let me preface all of this by saying that I minored in history in college, and so I do love history. I do love all of the aspects of it, good and bad, and believe that it's important for all of us to remember history and to look back at that as a learning process or a way that we can overcome the things that we don't want to repeat again that were really negative for society or what have you. So to bury one's head in the sand, so to speak, and say, oh yeah, you know what, I don't really want to remember that because it was really terrible. It's good to remember it. And it's good to repeat good history, and it's also important to definitely not repeat the bad history that all of us are aware of. Now, according to the website, it says that in the United States, prior to the Civil War, unidentified remains were often buried in mass graves at Arlington National Cemetery. These include unknown soldiers and sailors from the War of 1812 who were discovered buried at the Washington barracks and reburied at Arlington National Cemetery in 1905. During the Civil War, high casualty rates and lack of personal identification led to large numbers of unknowns originally buried along marching routes or battlefields. The system of national cemeteries was established in 1862 to ensure the proper burial of all service members. Here's something also that I found interesting with respect to the background of Arlington. It says that at Arlington National Cemetery there are individual Civil War unknown burials as well as the remains of 2,111 Union and Confederate soldiers buried beneath the tomb of the Civil War unknowns. While exact numbers are unknown, estimates indicate that nearly half of the Civil War dead were never identified. I don't know about you, but that is something that I did not know prior to taking a look at this. It's incredible to think that nearly half of those who were killed in the Civil War were never identified. That's really sad. Let's fast forward to World War I. The website says that during World War I, U.S. service members received aluminum identification discs, the precursors to dog tags, to aid the process of identifying remains. I think we sometimes forget about the horrors of war and the mangled and torn up bodies and flesh that takes place and it becomes difficult to identify people who were killed and maimed in not just the Civil War or World War I, but all the wars that have been fought. Of course, nowadays there is a way to identify people because we have DNA testing and the technology that is available that wasn't so long ago. Now I think is there to help to comfort families and those who lose loved ones in war. One of the challenges from World War I, of course, was repatriating the deceased to their respective countries. And it wasn't just the Americans who were trying to repatriate the deceased back to the United States, but it was also countries like France and Germany that had the same issue that we did in terms of repatriating the deceased back to their respective countries. The article states that France and Great Britain each repatriated and buried one unknown soldier on Armistice Day, november eleventh, nineteen twenty. Great Britain buried its unknown warrior inside Westminster Abbey in London, and France buried its unknown soldier at the base of the Arc de Triomph in Paris. I'm sure I didn't pronounce that very well, but you get the idea. It was in France. Paris, to be specific. Here's something else that I was not aware of. In December, New York Congressman and World War I veteran Hamilton Fish Jr. proposed a legislation that provided for the interment of one unknown American soldier at a special tomb to be built in Arlington National Cemetery. The purpose of the legislation was to bring home the body of an unknown American warrior who in himself represents no section, creed, or race in the late war and who typifies, moreover, the soul of America and the supreme sacrifice of her heroic dead. Now, I especially love the fact that it pays no respect to the creed or race of the individual. To me, that is significant. Then what happened in October of 1921, there were four unidentified U.S. military personnel, and they were actually exhumed at the American military cemeteries in France. And what they did was they took these four caskets and they took them to a city hall, and then two officials from the military's or the Army's Quartermaster Corps prepared the city hall for the selection ceremony. On October 24, 1921, Major Robert P. Harbold of the Quartermaster Corps rearranged the caskets so that each rested on a shipping case other than the one in which it had arrived. The Major then chose a Sergeant Edward F. Younger of the Headquarters Company 2nd Battalion, 50th Infantry, to actually select the unknown soldier. Sergeant Younger selected the unknown by placing a spray of white roses on one of the caskets. So we truly don't know the identity of the unknown soldier. Eventually, the unknown soldier was shipped back to the United States and actually lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, where about 90,000 visitors paid their respects. Again, this was 1921, so that seems like a lot of people who paid their respects to this unknown soldier when in reality what they were doing is paying their respects to everyone who was involved in that horrible war. On November 11, 1921, the unknown soldier was placed on a horse-drawn caisson and carried in a procession through Washington, D.C. and across the Potomac River. A state funeral ceremony was held at Arlington National Cemetery's new memorial amphitheater, and the unknown was interred in the tomb of the unknown soldier. And it says here that the tomb of the unknown soldier consisted of a simple marble slab. During its early years, thousands of visitors came to Arlington National Cemetery to mourn at the tomb and to pay their respects to the unknown soldier and the military personnel he represented. Here's some other tidbits about the actual tomb. It says that the sarcophagus is decorated with three wreaths on each side panel, north and south, and on the front, which is facing the east, three figures represent peace, victory, and valor, and then the back, which is the west side, features the inscription here rests in honored glory, an American soldier known but to God. A similar process took place to get an unknown World War II veteran and a Korean veteran interred at Arlington as well. Now, jump forward to the Vietnam War. There were similar processes that were taking place to bring Vietnam unknown veteran that would represent all unknowns during that war to Arlington. But then their conclusion, I think, was that there was advances in technology that would make it easier or make it possible, I guess I should say, to identify the remains of those who were lost in that conflict. In fact, it says that in May of 1984, only one set of recovered American remains from Vietnam had not been fully identified. Similar to previous wars, the unidentified remains of the Vietnam War veteran lay in state and the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., and a military procession transported the casket to Arlington National Cemetery for burial. And then on Memorial Day, 1984, President Reagan presided over the internment ceremony at Arlington. Now, the Vietnam War Unknown would lay at rest for nearly 14 years. Then the Department of Defense and civilian partners continued working to identify remains recovered from Vietnam. Through these efforts, they reviewed evidence that suggested the Vietnam War Unknown was likely Air Force First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blasey, a pilot who had been shot down in 1972. At the request of Blasey's family, and his name is spelled B-L-A-S-S-I-E, so I hope I'm saying it correctly, the Department of Defense actually exhumed the remains from the Vietnam Unknowns crypt on May 14, 1998. Using DNA testing, scientists positively identified the remains as those of Blasey. In accordance with the wishes of his family, Blasey was reinterred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. The crypt designated for the Vietnam War unknown remains vacant. On September 17, 1999, National POW MIA Recognition Day, it was rededicated to honor all missing U.S. service members from the Vietnam War. So no matter how you slice it, ladies and gentlemen, our government and military do a pretty good job of honoring those who fought and died for the preservation of liberty and freedom, not just here in America but around the world. We've come now to the actual guarding of the tomb. They say that in March 1926, soldiers from nearby Fort Meyer were first assigned to guard the tomb of the unknown soldier. The guards present only during daylight discouraged visitors from climbing or stepping on the tomb. In nineteen thirty seven, the guards became a twenty four seven presence standing watch over the unknown soldier at all times. The third U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, was designated as the Army's official ceremonial unit on April 6, 1948. At that time, the Old Guard began guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier. Soldiers of the Old Guard also serve as escorts to the President and conduct military ceremonies in and around Washington, D.C., including military funeral escorts at Arlington National Cemetery. And as I said, I have visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington, and again, if you have not, I would encourage going because it is really a remarkable experience to see. And it's interesting to note that soldiers who volunteer to become tomb guards must undergo a strict selection process and intensive training. Each element of the tomb guard's routine has meaning. The guard marches twenty one steps down the black mat behind the tomb, turns and faces east for twenty one seconds, turns and faces north for twenty one seconds, and then takes twenty one steps down the mat. Next, the guard executes a sharp shoulder arms movement to place his or her weapon on the shoulder closest to the visitors, signifying that he or she stands between the tomb and any possible threat. The number twenty one symbolizes the highest symbolic military honor that can be bestowed, and that of course is the twenty-one gun salute. So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, a quick sort of fifteen-minute history lesson, I guess, on Arlington and the tomb of the unknown soldier. Now, please stay with me for the rest of the episode because this is, as I said earlier, a personal account of my father-in-law, which actually was gleaned by my wife when she sort of interviewed him a couple of years before he passed away. And I will say, for my part, in the nearly 30 years that I was acquainted with this man and knew him, he never once talked about any of the experiences that he had when he was involved in World War II. I don't believe that was exclusive to him. I think all of the people who served in that war were like that. They looked at it as simply doing their duty, and it was something that they all volunteered and wanted to do. My father-in-law actually attended West Point for about six months prior to going off to war. His father and I believe his grandfather also attended West Point. I will be reading from this account that my wife obtained from her dad, which she herself typed out and had printed. While my father-in-law was at West Point, he received a card in the mail stating that everyone between a certain age had to report to the draft station for duty. And it says that the summer of nineteen forty three I left West Point and headed to Georgia. This is my father-in-law speaking, of course, where my father was stationed. I went down to the draft reporting station. I was nineteen, soon to be twenty. At the station I passed the test and was given a dime and told to call my parents and tell them I would not be coming home. Can you imagine what that was like for him and other young people his age to be told something like that, very sobering? He also said that the whole country rallied behind the war. I didn't feel afraid or overly heroic. I was in the service and more than ready to fight for my country. It was the right thing to do, so I felt at peace. To me that's impressive that a nineteen year old, soon to be twenty-year-old, would have such a great perspective. He made it through his training and all of that stuff, and then shipped over to Europe. They had to wait for equipment. And in fact, he says here that we had no equipment for two days other than our handheld rifles, because the order came down from Patton that he needed all our gear, so he took them. Hey, Patton needed the gear, he was going to get what he wanted to get. He goes on to say that we were then told to rush the bushes at the top of the beach where the Germans were hiding and shooting at us. All we had was our rifles and bayonets. We rushed the hill and routed out the Germans and the bushes. No one got killed, and that was good. Our landing shifted the balance of the battle in our favor. In the fight for Utah Beach, we had to literally kill the Germans until they surrendered. I had to deal with the prisoners of war. They were just like us, only German. I think we sometimes forget in the sort of romanticizing war that Hollywood has done, that the people who were fighting each other were the same. They're human beings and no different than you or I. Eventually the guys he was with made their way to Paris and they were kind of on the outside of Paris, and he says that I was put into a forward observation unit. There were five of us in a pickup truck, and I was the sergeant in charge. We went up the road a little ways and then got into trouble. The Germans were right there firing on us. We didn't have anything other than our guns. We needed a machine gun. We got on the phone and called for one, and we got one. We successfully fought our way out of that mess with no casualties. The Germans had possession of part of Paris, and the Americans had the other part. He was involved in lots of different skirmishes and some of the big battles like the Battle of Gaston, the Battle of the Bulge, and the fight over the Ramagen Bridge. And incidentally, when I served in the military, I was in Germany for a little while, three years, much later than this, of course. But he had served in when he was in Germany and the 1st Armored Division as well, and I served in the 1st Armored Division while I was there. He was also part of the 3rd Armored Division and then got back to the 1st Armored Division at some point in time. This next account with him is under that heading Battle of the Bulge, and for his part, he was involved in helping the infantry, and they were trying to stop the Germans. He says we couldn't zero in on the German location, so I was brought with my five member team to find them. The battle lasted about a month. There were lots of deaths and lots of shooting on both sides. It was cold. We slept for four hours and then had duty for four hours in teams of two. I was tired, yet I couldn't sleep. He indicated that the French who were there just left and he left his team to essentially fend for themselves during that part of the time. It was during this time that I was sent with a team of six others to locate the German snipers. All of a sudden I got very ill and had to get into the bushes to take care of the problem with my intestines. I let others know what was happening and that I would catch up. While I was in the bushes taking care of business, the snipers found my team and killed them. They came looking for me in the bushes, but could never find me. Finally they moved on. I radioed back and gave them the location of the snipers and told them what had happened and asked for orders. I was told quote, get your ass back here, unquote. So I did. The bodies were located and recovered. Sent back to their families by a medical and recovery unit. It was very disturbing to me the way it all happened. This just reminds me, ladies and gentlemen, that war is hell. It's a terrible thing, and our leaders should do everything in their power to avoid it. A little later here in the account that he gave to my wife, he said that one time we were far out in front and the army behind was in retreat. We did not have any tanks to back them up, and we came upon a German outfit that had a tank. We positioned ourselves in the woods. He said we had a hundred and fifty five millimeter cannon, better known as a howitzer in today's parlance, that they had with them. So he said we loaded the shells and waited until the tank came within a hundred yards. We fired and it blew the tank to pieces. It was scary to have to let the tank get that close, and I was glad that it was over, and it worked out the way it did. You know, a hundred yards seems like a long way. Think about a football field, but when you're being faced down by a tank, a hundred yards is pretty darn close. He went on to say that once we were on the front lines, holed up in the top of a two story house, we had been there for days with no problem. Then our side came through with lots of trucks and equipment. One of our trucks got stuck and had to back up right to the side of the house. It hit a mine that the Germans had planted and blew up the truck and all the people in the truck and took out the side of the house. That was scary. We had been in the house all that time without knowing that there was a mine there. He continues My five man squad was picked up and flown to Baston because the Germans had broken through. We were temporarily assigned to the eighty second Airborne. We were overrun by the Germans, and I spent the night in the sewer. A rat got in my shoe because it was warm there, and the night was cold. We had to be quiet and spend the night in the sewer in the filthy water, and I could do nothing about the rat because we didn't want to be found. It was great when morning came and we could get out of there. At another point he said one night when I was at forward observation, we were engaged in close range fighting. We were running from house to house for cover and position. I saw a German soldier coming towards me. He ran into the house where we were. Since I was the one who had seen him, I was ordered to go find him. I didn't want to go, but I had to. So I went down the steps that led to the cellar. It was pitch black. I fired my gun all around the cellar. There was no sound or firing back, but I knew he was there. I went back and reported what I had done. We kept a watch all night. He never came out. In the morning, when we could see, we went to flush him out. It turns out that I had shot him in the stomach when I went down there the previous night. Unfortunately, the soldier died through the night, and his mind my father in law's that is. He said it could have either been him or my father in law. It's easy to see why the veterans of the Second World War, or really any war for that matter, just don't talk about their experiences. This next little section is under the heading of the Battle for the Remag Bridge. He said we were near a home on the back of the town. Woody, apparently a buddy of his, shot a deer and took it to the family, father, mother, and a teenage girl, who were starving because the SS had come through and taken everything by force. They were also scared. They were very grateful for the deer. The next day the wife came out to the barn where we were and told us that the Germans were there with a spotting team. They had figured out where I was and were there to eliminate us. I thanked her and took the truck with the big cannon on it and pointed it at the spot where she indicated they were and shot at them. They surrendered. That German family saved my and Woody's life. I feel it was because we had showed them kindness when their countrymen wouldn't. Now I don't know what he was doing before this, but at one point he said that I got my very first sleeping bag from a deceased American because there weren't enough, and I was never issued one. I mean wow, a basic creature comfort that any of us would like to have when camping in the woods, let alone fighting in a war. Let me finish up by reading a couple more things here. He said while in Germany I was part of a unit that liberated one of the German concentration camps. I try as hard as I can to forget it. I don't want to think about it. I don't want to talk about it. What I saw was horrific. All you need to know is that I was there and helped to free those people. I can only imagine what that must have been like for him and all the others who were part of this theater of war. Here's something pretty amazing from his account to my wife. He said there were forty-nine people sent out in my platoon. Only seven came back, and I was one of two that were never wounded. I don't want to keep in contact with the other six. Now let me stop there by just saying that I think that it's easy for us to pass judgment on someone who would say something like this, why they wouldn't want to keep in contact with any of these people that were involved in that terrible war. Of course, some people have communicated and good for them, and of course we're losing that greatest generation of World War II veterans. He goes on to say it was a terrible thing that brought us together, and I don't want to think about it. One fellow keeps trying to contact me, but I don't reply. After Germany was defeated, I got orders to go to the Pacific and fight the Japanese. But before I could go, we dropped the bombs on Japan and they surrendered. I stayed to help with the road duty at Ramagan for about six weeks. Then I boarded a boat and headed for home. I had to register for the draft for Korea, but I didn't have to go. Are you kidding me? He had to register for the draft to go to Korea after having the experience in World War II that he had? That seems kind of odd to me. I'm not sure why he would have had to register for the draft for that conflict. Anyway, he didn't have to go to Korea, and he actually graduated from college between World War II and the Korean War, and he said I spent most of my time up at the front and spent some time with the eighty fifth Forward Observation Unit. I would do it all again. Isn't it amazing that he said that he would do it all over again? I find that incredible and speaks to the character of his generation. He said that most people supported the war effort, and he said few soldiers had breakdowns, but most didn't. And he said morale was high, and the support from home kept us all going. The bottom line is that he said that he would do it all over again. All those decades later he knew still that what they had done, the Allies and everybody who was fighting against such evil tyranny would do it all over again. Ladies and gentlemen, whatever you're doing this Memorial Day, take a moment to reflect upon those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, who have laid down their lives for our freedom so that we can barbecue, so that we can be at peace with one another. And peace is something that we should all be striving for. I want to end this episode with a quote from Harry Truman. He said this quote, our debt to the heroic men and the valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices. End of quote.