dual personalities

Tag: Memorial Day

May 23, 2015

“Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red”*

by chuckofish

As you know, August 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of WWI and in England they are taking this centenary very seriously. To mark the occasion, they installed (in my humble opinion) the most moving war commemoration ever at the Tower of London. Ceramic artists Paul Cummins and Tom Piper made 888,246 ceramic poppies, which they planted at the tower over a couple of months. Each one represented a single British soldier killed in action during the war. You can visit the official site and read all about it here.  According to the artists, “The scale of the installation was intended to reflect the magnitude of such an important centenary and create a powerful visual commemoration.” I’ll say. The following pics come from all over the internet. The installation started out fairly modestly

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but it grew as hundreds of volunteers planted the poppies.

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Her majesty (and, indeed, other royals and VIPs) came to view them.

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By the time they finished, poppies filled the entire moat and hundreds of thousands of people had come to pay their respects.

 

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They sold the  individual poppies that made up the installation and so raised millions of pounds which were shared equally amongst six  charities. I bought two, one of which I gave to my colleague who specializes in WWI and who helped me edit a big project. After months of waiting, they finally arrived carefully packed in a neat box complete with accompanying certificate and informative booklet. I ‘planted’ mine with one of my potted plants.

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And every time I look at it, I think about all those poor men, including my great uncle Guy, who died in the mud in France and Belgium. So this Memorial Day, don’t just barbeque — watch an appropriate movie, read a book or some poetry (there’s lots of excellent poetry), visit your local war memorial, but do something to remember. The dead deserve it.

*the title of the Tower of London installation

 

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May 22, 2015

“Saddle Up”*

by chuckofish

Well it’s almost Memorial Day! Can you believe it? As you know, this is a day for remembering the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces. Many people visit cemeteries and memorials. We like to watch war movies.

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I grew up watching war movies. I like them. My dual personality suggested I watch the HBO series The Pacific (2010), which is a companion piece to their Band of Brothers series.

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I always take her advice, so the OM and I watched the first two episodes and it was, indeed, impressive–the whizzing, zinging bullets flying by and all. I felt like I had actually been at Guadalcanal for several hours. And, thank you, that was enough for me. I was not really engaged with the characters–the traditional wop, spic, wasp, mic, and jew of all WWII movies. I mean I get it. War is hell. But it is too traumatic watching this series. I know my limits. Don’t judge me for having limits.

Therefore, I will go back to a few of my old favorites this weekend. I am really in the mood for classic black-and-white British movies like The Dam Busters (1955)–The story of how the British attacked German dams in WWII by using an ingenious technique to drop bombs where they would be most effective–

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or The Desert Rats (1953) with Richard Burton in charge of a disparate band of ANZAC troops on the perimeter of Tobruk with the German Army doing their best to dislodge them.

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These movies are tense and realistic and very powerful in their own, non-CG way. How will you celebrate Memorial Day?

There are certainly plenty of good war movies to choose from, and, of course, there is a Memorial Day Marathon on TCM.

We give you thanks, O Lord, for all who have died that we may live, for all who endured pain that we might know joy, for all who made sacrifices that we might have plenty, for all who suffered imprisonment that we might know freedom. Turn our deep feeling now into determination, and our determination into deed, that as men and women died for peace, we may live for peace for the sake of the Prince of Peace, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.**

Have a good weekend.

*Sgt. Stryker in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)

** Prayer found here.

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May 27, 2014

“I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.”*

by chuckofish

Oh, I do love a three-day weekend, don’t you?

That extra day just makes a huge difference. Saturday and Sunday were filled with the usual activities: Estate sale-ing where I found this vintage needlepoint pillow

"He's just a dandy-lion"

“He’s just a dandy-lion”

and this little garden armadillo with a broken ear and tail.

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I went grocery shopping and the boy came over to borrow tools. I went to church, did yard work and laundry. Then the boy and daughter #3 came over for a Memorial Day bar-b-que on Sunday night.

We sat outside and drank beer. Then ate inside–James Beard’s steak and onion sandwiches that were one of my mother’s specialties.

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We had a fun evening (and cake). If you are wondering, we had our Memorial Day bar-b-que a day early, because they were going to the Cardinals game on Monday. It was the 5oth anniversary re-match World Series game with the Yankees (can you believe it’s been 50 years?!) and everyone got a World Series replica ring.

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On Monday I read leisurely and then proceeded to clean out the bookshelves in the den. Quelle dusty job. I moved some books around and made many, many trips to the basement and to the second floor. I found some books that daughter #2 might like to add to her shelves and I found some others that can be moved to the give-away box. In the cabinets below the bookshelves I rearranged and straightened the photo albums. I threw some stuff away like all our VHS tapes of recorded from TV Miami Vice episodes. I found a few long-lost gems, but a lot more things that are in the why-have-I-kept-this-all-these-years category. I was in a clear-it-out mood.  Zut alors! The corner looks nice and refreshed.

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While I was doing this I half-watched some rather schmaltzy war movies on TCM, including The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) made during WWII with Irene Dunne. They pulled out all the propaganda stops with this one! It was enjoyable though, because Irene Dunne is always good and it had the MGM line-up of supporting stars including Frank Morgan (the Wizard of Oz) who personified the all-American American. When the American troops arrived to save the day in both WWI and WWII while the band played Sousa, even I got a little misty-eyed.

But it being John Wayne’s birthday, I had to cleanse my palate with something better.

I chose True Grit (1969).

Poster - True Grit_01Excellent choice.

*Ned Pepper in True Grit (1969)

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May 26, 2014

By the dim and flaring lamps

by chuckofish

Today is Memorial Day and also John Wayne’s birthday!

You can watch war movies all day on TCM. Twelve O’Clock High (1949)–one of my favorites is on tonight, followed by another great one, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).

Or you can choose to watch John Wayne movies.

mustache_bigEither way, have a good day and take some time to remember the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces.

Here is a great rendition of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, written by Julia Ward Howe in 1861 to the tune of “John Brown’s Body”:

Have you ever read all the lyrics to this wonderful hymn? Well, here they are:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:

His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;

I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:

His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:

“As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal”;

Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,

Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,

He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,

So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,

Our God is marching on.

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah.

Our God is marching on.

And here is a special prayer from the BCP for today:

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give thee thanks for all those thy servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them thy mercy and the light of thy presence, that the good work which thou hast begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

 

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