On Sunday, we started the ceremonies with breakfast with the sailors and then a riotous trolley ride down to the beach and the Silversides. We were greeted by a large ensemble who played all the Armed services hymns, the Star Spangled Banner, a lovely Pearl Harbor melody, and God Bless America. After a greeting to the ladies, "Thanks to the ladies who waited for their guys to come home." Muskegon fliers performed a 4 plane fly by and then returned with the lost airman peeling off with no lights on. As he slowly peel away we were reminded these guys didn’t want to leave just yet, but it was time to go "north" towards heaven and the stars. We were reminded that British fliers started the tradition of the fly by and the lost man formation to honor the Red Baron. These WWI men honored fellow fliers even though they were the enemy. Taps for the fallen, military hymns, and an Invocation: "Lord, You make us one family, and these men, veterans, serve us. Send forth your Spirit to help us. Thank you Lord for our American rights and freedom." US Senator Carl Levin spoke about Submarines: Responsible for sinking 1150 merchant vessels carrying supplies to Japan and 276 warships including 8 air craft carriers. 55% of Japan’s shipping was sunk by submarines. Success did not come cheap: 52 subs were lost and 3505 men went down with the boats. Contending with faulty torpedoes that either didn’t detonate or turned back around and sunk the sub; the men were not afraid. There is a "touch of the pirate" in every submariner. The submariners last are now on eternal patrol. We named each boat, tolled the ship’s bell, and ladies dropped flowers into the water. We ended the day at the pub in the hotel; one submariner and I went to Sunday Mass, and 3 Quillback men and wives had dinner together.
Monday, Memorial Day, I started with a Memorial Day Mass and Chuck went to the park for speeches and tributes. In the Mass the priest asked us to pray for all fallen veterans some of whom died without the benefit of the grace of the final Sacrament called Last Rites. Later when we watched the movie Pearl Harbor I saw a priest wading in the water putting oil on any forehead he could find. I remember the priests who responded to 911 also… it’s a last blessing… I always call Last Rites "being well oiled." God bless our fallen patriots. During the Mass I remembered Mom and Jack who called Memorial Day Decoration Day when the graves of soldiers were decorated with flowers and flags. Chuck and I once found a cemetery deep in the south where the ladies of the town decorated only Southern soldiers but then relented and decorated graves of Union soldiers too. We went on to Monet’s garden where I drew the Iris flowers that are ready to burst open. Four were open already. Spring is springing in the far north! On to the LST 393 A giant delivery ship (like the big car ferries we see on the big lakes). She carried tanks on her lower deck and trucks and jeeps and cargo on the upper deck. After very elaborate planning and practice the LST is "beached" into the sand and the giant doors and ramps open and the tanks lumber off. Then the trucks and jeeps drive onto an elevator platform, lowered to the first deck and drive off. Pretty amazing! The rain began and we spent a few hours at the pub in the Holiday Inn watching baseball… We watched movies We were Soldiers… and we were young (an amazing movies with Mel Gibson) and of course finished the evening with Pearl Harbor. God bless America. Love Susie