Five Frames for Memorial Day

On Memorial Day we remember and honor those who died serving in the United States Armed Forces. I dedicate this post to those who died and those who served.

Honor Guard

Here is part of a Navy honor guard who were waiting to participate in a ceremony on the mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. I spotted the honor guard marching in and took several photos as they approached. They stopped in the shade (wise move). Their fourth member, who seemed to be the one in charge, strode off to consult with the event organizer. He left these three at ease.

Poppy, Vietnam War Memorial

Here is a remembrance poppy at the foot of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC. The poppy became a symbol of the fallen in war after the publication of the poem, “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae, a Canadian poet and physician. McCrae fought in the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium where the Germans first used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon. The effects were truly horrible. In his poem, McCrae speaks for the dead and describes poppies blowing between crosses “row on row” that mark the resting places of the dead. Read the poem at the Poetry Foundation. It was originally published in the English magazine Punch on December 8, 1915. To view the page where the poem was published, click here. Note that John McCrae was not credited. He is listed in an end-of-year index.

Korean Memorial

These stainless steel figures represent a platoon on patrol. The juniper represents the rugged terrain of Korea (there are also marble blocks, which are unseen in this photo). There are nineteen men: fourteen army, three marines, one navy corpsman, and one forward air observer. The figures are one part of a multi-part memorial.

World War II Memorial

The World War II Memorial is dedicated to Americans who served in the military and as civilians during WWII. This is a view looking south toward the Pacific arch. There are fifty-six of the smaller columns representing the forty eight states, Alaska and Hawaii, which were territories, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Sword, Traveling Vietnam War Memorial

The Wall That Heals visited San Angelo in November of 2017. It was quite windy that day (imagine, wind in West Texas…). The image of the tassel blowing and its reflection caught my eye. The framed tribute is for Gene Ray Phipps of A Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, who died on December 28, 1967. His name is engraved on panel 32E, line 89. Panel 32E is the one on the right in the photo. Line 89 is the 9th line from the bottom. The first name on the line is James K Palmer, the next name is Gene R Phipps. I didn’t know when I shot the picture that I had captured the name of the honoree as well as the sword.

Bonus Frames

I’d like to call attention to two frames from earlier posts. The first is “At the Wall, San Angelo, 2017”, from the post Five Frames of People from Five Cities. This is a picture of a woman at the Traveling Vietnam Wall in San Angelo.

The second is “Remember” from the post of the same name. It is a photo of a lady making a rubbing from the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.

The title of this last post may well serve as my Memorial Day message: Remember.

Thanks for reading.