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Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! November 11, 2011 "Guns on the Q.T. - Thank God for That"By GreyhawkA Mudville Veterans Day tradition, I first posted this one from Baghdad in 2004. My grandfather (whose grandfather fought for Ohio in the Civil War) was a medic on the battlefields in WWI, the letter reproduced below was to the girl back home who would become his wife. Note: Veterans Day, 2007, and I'm in Iraq. And in November, 2004 I was also in Iraq. On that tour my mother sent me a copy of the following letter, written by her father from "somewhere in France" on November 11, 1918. His war was over - but a very few years later his sons would find themselves completing the mission. Take from that what lesson you would - for now, from two combat zones, from my family to yours, a safe and happy Armistice Day...
The following is transcribed from my grandfather's letter home from the front to my grandmother. Somewhere in France Interesting that they were shelled on the day before the war ended - when everyone knew it was going to end the next day. More here. (Original post: 2004-11-11 18:19:51) Posted by Greyhawk / November 11, 2011 11:11 AM | Permalink 4 TrackBacksLest we forget those who took the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation. Today is a day to thank those who have served this country. Read More Some recommended web reads honoring America's soldiers today.Generations of Valor-by Anne Morse on NRO. President Bush Commemorates Veterans Day, Discusses War on Terror-from The White House. Vice President Chaney at the Tomb of the Unknowns-from The W... Read More Real World: - I made a major friend faux pas earlier this week by forgotting Riika's birthday. I'm a bad, bad friend. I deserved to be taken out and spanked severly. Riika's been such a good friend to me over... Read More I have been debating all day about whether I would post something today, and what I would post today. Veteran's Day makes me a little melancholy any year. Read More 13 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
![]() Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com ![]() Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
Greetings from Atlanta, GA!
Today seemed an appropriate day to say hello (hughhewitt.com pointed me your way not long ago) and to say thank you. Your service to the cause of freedom is too precious for words - just like the service of those who came before you.
Because of the letter you posted, I was struck (again) by how "real time" our world has become. As one who cares so much how you all are doing and is praying for the most successful outcome, being "in touch" is amazing, reassuring, and a little scary, but seems our duty, too.
Not quite two weeks ago, I cheered my LT JG sister through the Marine Corps Marathon - her first. I hustled around and managed to see her at miles 4, 9, 16, 21, 24 and just before the finish line - I was pooped, and I was only cheering!
Just to let you know, we're keeping the faith and cheering you all the whole way home.
To you and all who serve (and have served), best wishes and many thanks on this Veterans Day.
One look at the date & I began to weep...what a treasure you've shared with all of us. Thank you & your family for your service to this Nation.
I stood in prayer today at the 11th hour for all of you.
With gratitude that I can't express, and a special thank you to your wife & your children for sharing you with all of us--I've learned that when one serves, you all serve, and I'm in awe of Military families,
God speed soldier, come home safely, and thank you from this grateful American.
My grandfather (another doughboy) is said to have arrived in France the day the Armistice was signed. And, yep, they were still shelling each other to the last.
Hang in there! You're doing the Lord's work!
A belated happy Veterans'Day! We love you! God be with you always, just as He was with Grandpa.
I dont know if i had any ancestors in WW I but i did have a father and three ucnles in WW II but only one ucncle is left
One of my treasures is a US printed history of The Great War printed in 1919, the year my father was born. It is mostly a collection of anecdotes interspersed with straightforward history.
Your grandfather's letter mentions the shelling the night before. One of the anecdotes from my book is of an American gun crew counting down the seconds to 11AM local time before firing "the last shot of the war."
I've often wondered who was killed or wounded by that shell, since it had to have landed and exploded after the war had ended.
Against that, it is interesting to read in the letter that, at the time, it was not known that the fighting would actually stop and that indeed it was over, over there.
So glad to have my own computer now so I can read your site everyday. Glad to read your Veterans Day post and to see your grandfather's picture. I am so proud of you. Stay safe. Love you. Keep up the good work.
This spring a distant cousin gave my father my great grandfather's dogtags that he wore in WWI. No letters though. Gramps spoke only a few words in English and could not even write his own name.
The US lost more troops in the last 11 hours of WWI than we have lost worldwide since 9/11...
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Remembering All Our Vets
God Bless our Vets
One and All
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Interesting, I always assumed that the slang word "dope", meaning "information" was a product of the 60's drug culture. Dope being a shorting of the word Dopamine. It surprising to find it used that long ago. I wonder what it originally meant.
gryph,
I used to use dope as an indication of the sight accuracy of my rifle at the range, so I imagine (nothing more) that the term straight dope came from there. And from that the abbreviated form came into use.
good post. thnx