(8:30PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)
Last night, on the PBS Newshour, they had an appropriate July 4th interview, especially in these times of two occupations:
Marine, Author Reflect on Honoring Fallen Comrades You can read the transcript and more at that link.
Author Jim Sheeler and U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Steve Beck talk about Sheeler’s book, “Final Salute,” which chronicles the Marines who notify families about the death of their loved ones during war and provide support as families cope with their loss.
You can listen with this link or link at site page above.
There is also a Slide Show: Beck Discusses the Photos that Have Become Icons of the Cost of War, with a non-flash version.
You can visit this interview from March 21, 2006
NewsHour Poetry Series: The Returning Dead with links to view or listen.
As Of July 2 2008, There Are 87 Pages w/5 ‘Silent Honor Rolls’ Each, Number Of KIA’s Varies With Each ‘Silent Honor Roll’;
Many now have numbers in the teens and twenties
In Honor – In Memory
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I just read the interview and watched the slide show. Lt. Col. Beck has one of the hardest jobs I can imagine. He’s a true hero for performing this service and his dedication to helping the families. I would like to read that book.
Thanks for reporting this here jim.
Yesterday I went our annual (35 yrs and counting) Fourth of July celebration. The event started as floats paraded through the backwoods, followed by the judging of the floats, and finally we staged a play. The day was a gift from the Maine heavens…fabulous and perfect.
My favorite float was named “False Flags” and during the judging I clapped really hard; still it didn’t make the final three. I loved the float because on the back it said: “Truth is my bitch.”
But to move along from the big parade, I want to talk about the play which opened with a chorus line (dressed as chickens/peckers) singing “Give Peace a Chance.” The peckers were a mix of young and old. People who went back to some of our first great musicals like “Nuns with Guns” and “Walmarticus and the Golden Choreboy.” Ah…those where the days. Anyway, among the founding singers stood our children back from the those foreign sounding places like: New York, Boston, Hawaii, and Colorado. Hey, our kids did alright. The small peckers, the darling ones with their angelic voices, are the grandchildren who, with luck, will carry on.
They sang; I sang; the entire audience sang…”All we are saying is give peace a chance.” Tears found the brim of my eyes as my mind wandered across the years. We…or some of us…have been singing this for over thirty years. No one is listening.
I honor Lt. Col. Beck for doing a job that I could not do, and doing it with with sensitivity. My wish is that no one had to do that job. All of the pain and loss for another war of choice.
How long has the world been singing for peace, and how many generations of we peckers will the future line up to sing yet another chorus? How many years until the oil is gone dragging the empty suits behind them.
A human life for … what?
I’m getting tired of living re-runs. Said it once, say it again, this is no country for old hippies. Something’s got to give.
Ten years from now, we will see how market forces change our notion of independence. It sems to be the only thing that prods the people of the USA into action.
It’s time for a new version of independence, and that’s from imported oil.