Memorial Day

https://youtu.be/6m4tMWqJDdw

 

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/U-n-V_AzAgI

 

Saturday, April 2, 2005



In 2003, Sergeant Kenneth Levi Ridgley volunteered to serve as a medic during the initial invasion of Iraq, helping to care for the wounded from Baghdad.

Last August, Ridgley, by then a squad leader with Fort Lewis' Stryker Brigade, had a new wife, Charity; bought a house in her hometown of Steilacoom; and adopted her 3-year-old son, Dillon, before heading back to Iraq.

On Wednesday, Ridgley, who planned to become a registered nurse after leaving the Army, was killed in an ambush in Mosul. He was 30 years old.

"He was my only child," Betty Richards, his mother, said from her home in Olney, Illinois., last night. Because he was her only child, he might have been excluded from Iraq, she said. "I tried to get him not to go, but Levi was doing what he wanted to do. I'm not sure what I'm going to do now.

"I just tell some of the girls I work with that Levi adopted Charity's little boy, and hopefully, I will be a part of that family," she said.

Last night, she leaned heavily upon her husband, Clarence Richards, whom she married when Ridgley was 13 months old. Clarence Richards was "the only daddy he has ever known" and an example Ridgley followed in creating his own family, she said.

Ridgley's stepbrother and three sisters, Clarence Richard's children, were en route to the Olney home, where a circle of family and friends gathered. A memorial service is planned at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at at Fort Lewis' Evergreen Chapel.

Ridgley was the fifth member of the armed forces with ties to Washington state to die in Iraq in March as well as the 52nd Fort Lewis soldier and the 85th with ties to the state to die there since the invasion of March 2003. Nationwide, more than 1,500 U.S. troops have been killed.

The Defense Department said Ridgley was killed by gunfire Wednesday in Mosul. Insurgents attacked while he prepared to get off a Stryker armored vehicle to check a suspicious vehicle at a checkpoint. Five soldiers were injured.

"My son was a big horse person," Richards said. Curious since childhood and always attempting some skill or other, Ridgley left college after four years of indecision about what to do with his life and became a certified farrier -- a blacksmith -- and had worked in Colorado as a wrangler and horse-shoer. "It really made a man of him," she said.

Ridgley graduated in 1993 from East Richland High school, where he joined the Illinois National Guard his senior year. His service helped pay tuition to Southern Illinois University, where he was a roper on the rodeo team.

Ridgley left the Guard after six years to pursue his trade, but after three years joined the Army. "After 9/11 he said he regretted that he had not just joined Army right after high school," his mother said.

She last heard from her son last Sunday. "He wanted a new thermos and coffee mug because his was getting beat up," his mom said. She and her husband bought and mailed them the next day.

"It's probably still in the mail being sent to him," she said.

 

Remembering those who gave all . Thank you, R.I.P.

 

SPC. Trevor Pinnick was another young man who lived within 30 miles from me in Lawrenceville, IL.




Specialist Trevor A. Pinnick
A native of Lawrenceville, IL, Spc. Pinnick graduated from Lawrenceville High School just two years ago. In high school, he met his wife, Martha, and they were married on July 9, 2010. Their daughter, Melody Renee Pinnick, was born on Sept. 15, 2010. Before he joined the Army, Trevor Pinnick worked as an assistant manager at the Lawrenceville Drive-In.

Spc. Trevor Pinnick with his wife Martha
Spc. Pinnick entered the Army in August 2010 and was trained as a Combat Engineer. He deployed to Afghanistan in April. This was his first deployment. According to one of his cousins:

"He volunteered to go to Afghanistan. He said it was what he signed up for and what he was going to do." In Afghanistan, Spc. Pinnick searched for and defused improvised explosive devices on one side of the road while another soldier did the same on the other side.
Family members recall him as a young man with a warm and light heart. He loved to play practical jokes. Another cousin said:

"You'd never imagine that something like that would happen to Trevor. He was just so full of life. You never thought that would be over." According to his father, Thomas Pinnick, himself a veteran of the Marines and the Navy, Spc. Pinnick planned to pursue a career in the Army. His father said:
"He was a very brave soldier. He was the greatest husband, the greatest dad, the greatest son, the greatest brother, and he was a brave soldier."
Spc. Pinnick's daughter Melody
His awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon. In addition to a large extended family, Spc. Pinnick is survived by his wife, his daughter, his parents, his older brother, Thomas Pinnick Jr., and his twin sisters, Kayla Lynn and Bethany Rose.


Spc. Pinnick's body arrives at Dover AFB.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTG_iXwIjDc

 

I've always been of the mind that Memorial Day shouldn't be celebrated but observed. To me, saying have a great Memorial Day is like telling someone to have fun at a funeral. I know several gold star parents. Memorial Day isn't fun for them, even 47 years later.

 

If you guys get the chance visit Arlington some day and watch the guard change at the tomb of the unknown soldier. That brings it home.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-GU39Owwho

 

Arlington has always been on my list. Memorial Day is more than just those who paid the highest price giving their all for us. It's about all who served and those who are still serving today....

 

Inspiring, thanks for the link.

Having never served, but appreciative of all of those who have-----"Thank-you", to all of those citizens who have served.

whilst we may not be a perfect nation, as i always try to impress upon my family, WE ARE ALL FORTUNATE TO BE BORN WITHIN THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeiMHK8Jom4

 

Sunset at the National Cemetery Washington's Crossing

 

Never forget the service and sacrifice of veterans and their families

 

Actually....Memorial Day is just about those lost while serving. Veteran's Day is the day of celebration for all military service men and women.

But Memorial Day is meant as a observation day. A day to reflect and quietly pay tribute in some way to the heros cut down.

And yes...Arlington is on my list as well.

 

You are correct. I guess I try to honor everyone who served or is serving any chance I get.

 

If you've never seen this, you should. Very well made and worth owning.

 

Yes, we must never lose sight or forget what the day is about or any day for that matter, of all the lives lost and families torn thru the years for this country and for others.
It's a heavy thought to think of the countless fallen ones and the families and friends they left behind and effected by it..

It's very humbling to go to the memorials, and get a first hand look at the amount of lives lost by these wars.
Arlington comes to mind, also the Vietnam memorial with all those names and many others, it sure gives you a sense of perspective of the tremendous loss (when you see it in person). When you realize with each name on the wall or grave marker, there was a life lost/given and loved ones left to deal with the aftermath of grief, mourning, and forever while here on earth yearning to see them again.

Knowing the ones I knew that didn't make it is heartbreaking..... The heartbreaking stories of our Commanding Officer showing up to the door step of a newly wed answering the door with the baby on her hip of a fallen brother, her seeing Skipper in his dress blues to tell her, her young husband was killed..

To the small town, home town hero lost. The one everyone knew.

To the newly engaged, wedding date set.

The husband and father of many young children..

Many more the list goes on, all honorable good people, and they are just a handful of so many lost.

God bless them all and their family and friends.

Thank you all brothers and sisters for your sacrifice.

 

Something i heard in the army and never forgot...

We drink beers in November, and shed tears in May. Veterans day we play, memorial day we pray!

Well I'll be drinking beers memorial day too, but those who gave all will be on my mind!




Now... What sales are there this weekend???