|
When the Music Stopped....
This was written by a Chaplain serving in
Iraq
:
For those who are unaware, the
National Anthem is played at all military base
theaters before the movie begins.
I recently attended a showing of 'Superman 3' here at
LSA Anaconda. We have a large auditorium we use for
movies, as well as memorial services and other large
gatherings. As is the custom at all military bases, we
stood to attention when the National Anthem began
before the main feature. All was going well until
three-quarters of the way through The National Anthem,
the music stopped.
Now, what would happen if this occurred with 1,000
18-22 year-olds back in the States? I imagine there
would be hoots, catcalls, laughter, a few rude
comments, and everyone would sit down and yell for the
movie to begin. Of course, that is, if they had stood
for the National Anthem in the first place.
Here in
Iraq
, 1,000 Soldiers continued to stand at attention, eyes
fixed forward. The music started again and the
Soldiers continued to quietly stand at attention. But
again, at the same point, the music stopped. What
would you expect 1000 Soldiers standing at attention
to do?? Frankly, I expected some laughter, and
everyone would eventually sit down and wait for the
movie to start.
But No!!... You could have heard a pin drop, while
every Soldier continued to stand at attention.
Suddenly, there was a lone voice from the front of the
auditorium, then a dozen voices, and soon the room was
filled with the voices of a thousand soldiers,
finishing where the recording left off:
"And
the rockets' red glare,
the bombs bursting in air,
gave proof through the night
that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave,
o'er the land of the free,
and the home of the brave."
It was the most inspiring moment I have had in
Iraq
and I wanted you to know what kind of Soldiers are
serving you. Remember them as they fight for us!
Pass this along as a reminder to others to be ever in
prayer for all our soldiers serving us here
at home and abroad. Many have already paid the
ultimate price.
Written by Chaplain Jim Higgins.
LSA Anaconda is at the
Ballad
Airport
in
Iraq
, north of
Baghdad
.
God Bless
America
and all troops serving throughout the world.
|
Hicksville
Vietnam War Era Memorial
65
new names were added in April, for a new total of 1,412!
More names continue to come in from the work at the
Library and the continuing contributions of our entire
Alumni. During
the past month we continued to succeed in filling in a
number of blanks in the data next to previously recorded
names. You can
continue to help with this by scanning the list of names
using your class year or years you may be familiar with to
see if you have something to add.
Memorial Qualifications:
A person must have been on active duty in one of our
Armed Forces during the Vietnam Era.
The person did not necessarily have to serve in
Vietnam, because by being in service at that time he or she
faced the possibility of being sent to Vietnam and was an
integral part of strengthening our Armed Forces during a
time of war.
Overall
qualifications include:
- must have been a
resident of
Hicksville
at some time before entering our Armed Forces
- must have attended a
public, private or parochial high school while living in
Hicksville
(attendance at HHS not required)
- must have served on
active duty anywhere in the world during
America
's Vietnam Era (1961-1973 per the www.vietnamwar.com
history timeline)
- Both men and women
qualify (We're stating this as we still have very
few women on the current list)
While
we have accumulated 1,412 names, we know there are still
more people out there who served and meet these
qualifications, but have yet to be identified.
Rough estimates indicate we should be able to collect
between 2 and 3 thousand names. We have access to
official records in
Washington
,
D.C.
but have found that many people left
Hicksville
before entering the service and show a different town or
city as their home at the time of entry. So, we need
to continue this grass roots effort and will also continue
to use official records as a means of confirmation of all
personnel on the list.
Our
Project Team consists of the following members:
·
Ken Strafer,
Founder (HHS '62)
·
Joe Carfora,
Master List (HHS '62)
·
Carl Probst,
Input Data, Class of '59 & Others (HHS '59)
·
Tony Plonski,
Input Data, Class of '64 & Others (HHS '64)
·
Tommy
Sullivan, Press Release Editing (HHS
'63)
·
Walter
Schmidt, Hicksville Local Coordinator & Town of
Oyster Bay
Veterans Services Officer (HHS '65)
·
Joe Ingino,
Veterans Advocate, Hicksville &
Long Island
(HHS '67)
·
Jay Tranchina,
Input Data, Class of '64 & Others, plus local press
contact (HHS 1964)
·
Bill Walden,
Commander of
Hicksville
VFW Post (HHS '65)
Here's what we continue to need from each person reading this to
do:
Please
click on the following link and review the current list of
names:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmMG_lUq31y2dGx6a0tNeWRBRW13RC13bnVoblhFV3c&hl=en&authkey=CMWhluwO
If
you know of someone who is not listed, or if you have
information we are still missing, please send what you have
to Joe Carfora at jcarfora1@nc.rr.com.
Please use the information contained on the current
list as a guide for the data we need.
With the tremendous growth our
list has seen over the past number of months, it continues
to be very important for interested Alumni to review the
list of classmates names with the hope of supplying us with
the information we are still missing next to the names of
many individuals. The
missing information is marked in red with question marks on
the spreadsheet to make it simpler for you to see what's
needed.
Thank
you!
The
Vietnam War Era Memorial Project Team
Footnote extracted from www.vietnamwar.com:
During 15 years of military involvement, over 2
million Americans served in
Vietnam
with 500,000 seeing actual combat. 47,244 were killed in
action, including 8000 airmen. There were 10,446 non-combat
deaths. 153,329 were seriously wounded, including 10,000
amputees. Over 2400 American POWs/MIAs were unaccounted for
as of 1973.
|
