The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Memorial Day is the observance of those who died defending our country, but during this holiday Weekend, think about and pray for our men and women who serve in the armed forces and are deployed or returning home for a bit and will be returning soon to complete their deployment or facing another deployment. Pray for their wives, husbands and children.
Pray for those in military service, because those who we see on TV surprising their children on leave could be the last time for them with their families. They could lose their lives after they return to their deployments. That happen to a young man last year in the Philadelphia area. Local TV news reported the soldier on leave returning to Philly. I watched him on TV meet his mother at the airport. About a month and a half later after he returned to Afghanistan, he was killed in action. Let us pray for the Lord’s protection over those serving in combat to return home physically and mentally unharmed.
The outer images below are of soldiers returning to their families. In one image, a father is seeing his baby daughter for the first time. The middle image is one of a deploying soldier.
Posted in Events, Family, Military
Tagged Armed Forces, Family, Holiday, Memorial Day, Praying, Soldiers
Today is the 149th National Medal of Honor Day. The Medal of Honor is the highest military honor for individual acts of gallantry. The U. S. government awards the honor and the President as Commander and Chief bestows the medal on the recipient. There are 82 living recipients and 16 are in Washington D. C. to mark the occasion. Read more here and here. See a list of the Medal of Honor recipients here.
Oh, December 7, 2011 is the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii! We do remember those who lost their lives that day. There were many heroic actions that took down our attackers and saved many American lives. One such hero was Dorie Miller depicted in the 2001 movie, Pearl Harbor that starred Ben Affleck. Cuba Gooding Jr. played Dorie (Doris) Miller.
I am not that surprised by those who thought that Mr. Gooding gunning down Japanese aircraft in the movie was unrealistic fodder to pad the Pearl Harbor movie. Back in 2001, a letter in the editorial section of the Philadelphia Daily News questioned why such a scene was in the movie, because the person said he had never read such in any history book (I did). I think the person wrote with sarcasm. It is true that you many not find most of the individual heroism of Dorie Miller or other sailors and soldiers in the history books. The newspaper added a photo of Mr. Miller to the many responses about his heroism.
I saw a few, ” So that really did happen!” comments today on Face Book. Dorie Miller a black Navy cook who had not been trained to use anti-aircraft machine guns, did so and shot down Japanese aircraft. He was awarded the Navy Cross by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Dorie Miller died in 1943 while serving on an escort ship in the Battle of Tarawa which the Japanese torpedoed. In Miller’s honor, the Navy named a Knox-class escort ship, USS Miller FF-1091. Read more here.
Dorie Miller mentioned among the heroic Bluejackets of the Navy
Posted in History, Military, Uncategorized
Tagged 70th Anniversary, Anti-Aircraft Machine Gun, Chester W Nimitz, Cook, Dorie (Doris) Miller, Hero, Military, Navy, Navy Cross, Pearl Harbor, Videos
On this Veterans Day, let us pause to give honor to those who have served our country in the armed forces. I am a great admirer of wounded veteran J. R. 
Martinez, who was on the defunct soap opera, All My Children and still dancing as of this post, on Dancing with the Stars. Mr. Martinez at 19 years of age suffered burns over 40% of his body when the Humvee he was driving hit a landmine in Iraq. The burns have altered his physical appearance, but, his facial scarring seems to evaporate after seeing him in action. He has such a contagious smile and an upbeat personality. God bless him.
Here are the veteran and burn causes that he supports:
Rise and Honor Veterans Day 11-11-11
Please click on the photo of actor of Gary Sinise (CSI-New York) to get info on American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial
Also go here for the Wounded Warrior Project’s benefit services for veterans.
Go here for my 2010 veteran salute
Tagged Armed Forces, Blessings, Causes, Gary Sinise, Honor, J R Martinez, People, Support, Veterans Day
