THIS MEMORIAL DAY BLOG IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF:

DANIEL JOSEPH GUNN (ARRRIVED 1652)

HAROLD EDGAR GUNN, SR

JAMES CHRISTOPHER LEE

WILLIAM H. GARDENER

JOHN MORGAN THOMAS

J. FREDERICK DRAUGHON

BUDDY BUIE, SR.

LT. JOHN FAULKNER

ERIC, RICHARD, JOHNNY, NIGEL, TREVOR, JULIAN, AND DUTCH

PRIVATE ROGER YOUNG

CPL. PATRICK TILLMAN-POSTHUMOUS PROMOTION

There are no words that say it any better-"Greater love..."

Thank-you. Thank-you so very, very much.

****** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Our world, our society, is crumbling around us, and like ostriches, most of us are sticking our heads in the sands because we feel so damn helpless.

We needn't do so.

We have so very many standard bearers, men and women who have given their lives to show us the way.

Today, if you happen on this blog, and manage to read down this far, I'm asking you to please Google the following name:

Private Roger Young.

Learn about this fine, fine American, and then, tell your children. Tell your neighbour's children. Hell, tell anybody you can corner long enough to get this man's story out.

If all our school children were taught about Private Roger Young, they would understand Pat Tillman; they would understand the significance of today.

For you see, Private Roger Young was so much more than a Congressional Medal of Honor awardee-posthumously-he was an American man with incredible integrity and honour.

Private Young became a private when after several months of active service in the Infantry-South Pacific Theater/WWII-he realized he was losing his hearing, and the then Sgt. Young was deeply concerned that he would lead his men into an ambush because of the hearing loss.

How many men or women do you know today, over 60 years later, who would have the decency to go to their commanding officer and ask to be demoted so as to remove himself from the potential to cause the loss of his comrades at arms?

Roger Young did.

After his death-a death suffered through combat activities wherein his actions saved the lives of his platoon-he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Burl Ives sang a song (written by Frank Loesser) about him that was played all over the world for years:

"Roger Young/Roger Young, fought and died for the men he marched amoung..."

If every American school child learned the story of Private Roger Young, and carried that lesson in his or her heart, maybe our kids would be inspired by it enough to turn away from the rampant cynicism chewing our country up and spitting it out.

And then maybe, just maybe, they would understand why, nearly 70 years after Private Young's body was buried "on the Island of New Georgia in the Solomons" a young man named Pat Tillman turned his heart away from fame and riches as a Cardinals football player, and to the honor and complete wealth of being a real American.

And maybe they would do the same.

Oh, they've got no time for glory in the Infantry.
Oh, they've got no use for praises loudly sung.
But in every soldier's heart in all the Infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.

(Shines the name, Rodger Young!
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
To the everlasting glory of the Infantry.
Lives the story of Private Rodger Young.)

Caught in ambush lay a company of riflemen
Just grenades against machine guns in the gloom.
Caught in ambush till this one of twenty riflemenVolunteered,
volunteered to meet his doom.
Volunteered, Rodger Young!

Fought and died for the men he marched among.
In the everlasting annals of the Infantry
Glows the last deed of Private Rodger Young.

(It was he who drew the fire of the enemy
That a company of men might live to fight.
And before the deadly fire of the enemy
Stood the man, stood the man we hail tonight.)

On the island of New Georgia in the Solomons
Stands a simple wooden cross alone to tell.
That beneath the silent coral of the Solomons
Sleeps a man, sleeps a man remembered well.
Sleeps a man, Rodger Young!

Fought and died for the men he marched among.
In the everlasting spirit of the Infantry
Breathes the spirit of Private Rodger Young.

No, they've got no time for glory in the Infantry.
No, they've got no use for praises loudly sung.
But in every soldier's heart in all the Infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.

Shines the name, Rodger Young!
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
To the everlasting glory of the Infantry
Lives the story of Private Rodger Young.


From the liner notes of The Voices of Westpoint record album:

Private Rodger Young, a native of Tiffin, Ohio, was a member of the 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for the supreme sacrifice which he made on July 31st, 1943, during the battle for the Solomon Islands.

This arrangement of Frank Loesser's simple and direct song of commemoration was created for the Cadet Glee Club by CWO Boots.