A tribute to Navy gunner Loyce Edward Deen, a Navy gunner that was killed in action in late 1944.
The fingerprinting.
The plane being pushed into the water.
So hard to watch.
h/t Forcibly Deranged.
A tribute to Navy gunner Loyce Edward Deen
17 Comments on A tribute to Navy gunner Loyce Edward Deen
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http://www.loyceedeen.org/
I’m speechless, nothing seems appropriate other than thank you and God bless you.
No words. God bless.
Joining too many other shipmates in the sea forever.
I wonder how many in this generation have any grasp on the depth of sacrifices made only for them to cast aside.
Quiet and solemn remembrance for all those who have been taken from their families and friends. Lord, give them peace and strength.
May he Rest in peace in the arms of God.
The waste of life because greed, hatred and lust for power is hard to stomach.
unfortunately, it is the tragedy of the human experiment that we cannot overcome the weakness to covet what our neighbor possesses.
war is the ultimate tragedy, but sometimes it is necessary.
this young man, as many countless millions of humans, has paid the ultimate sacrifice so his loved ones could stay free.
it is a lesson we have, too soon, forgotten …. one has to keep on keeping the peace, or one becomes the conquered
R.I.P. Swabby. your sacrifice is still, today remembered
The music from The Victory At Sea documentary’s is very moving and sober. I can still remember when the TV signed off at night at 1 AM on KHQ TV channel 6 (Spokane) after the Tonight Show, the NBC affiliate would play Victory At Sea followed by the national anthem. They did this until the late 60’s and early to mid 70’s.
And the left keeps urinating on America with no conscience as to the price many have had to paid for it with their one life!!
The price of freedom. No other words.
I think Dvorak would be pleased to hear his composition played to honor our dead heroes.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13
…it’s a wonder to me that so many young men and women answer the call for harsh discipline, bad food, terrible hours, awful pay, and putting life and family on hold, all for the privilege of having trained killers shoot at them without warning or mercy.
A wonder it is, and a blessing of God to those of us that shelter behind them.
They train endlessly, watch ceaselessly, and run clear eyed into danger for a not always grateful Nation, at least half if which treats them with suspicion and scorn as the political class has taught them to.
Finer minds than mine have tried, and failed, to encompass the enormity of sacrifice that our soldiers and sailors, airmen and Marines, reservists and regulars put on the line for us. Abraham Lincoln himself, in one of his greatest speeches said as much.
“we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”
True then…true now.
The bulwark of freedom is not a wall. Walls can be breached, overflown, undermined, or gone around if troops don’t man them. The bulwark of freedom is not a ship. Ships can be crippled and sunk if sailors do not sail them. The bulwark of freedom is not a plane. Planes are useless with no pilot to fly them. No, the bulwark of freedom is in the most precious treasure our Nation has, the lives of her young men and women, those few that have the ability to serve and fewer still with the courage to risk everything for a Nation that knows them not, but would be quickly overwhelmed without them.
No greater love.
The only One who sacrificed more was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and it is a measure of them that they too can sacrifice all for an often ungrateful population. It must be a blessing of God upon them that gives them the strenght to serve and the courage to die, that their Country, their familes, their ideals, may live on because of their sacrifice.
No greater love indeed.
In the video above, we see tragedy and loss, waste and death, the results of inhumanity and tyranny.
We also see courage and skill that got that plane home, humanity in the solemnity and dignity the deceased is treated with, the careful recording for posterity of the one who sacrificed all, and the remains granted the dignity that a viable, repairable aircraft is treated as a humble wooden box rather than disrespect the body of one who gave his all for God and Country, for shipmate and for friends. It was an expensive burial that didn’t even come CLOSE to the worth of the man commended to his Lord in the waves.
The chaplain can say the words, but those men in train of the aircraft as it left the deck for the last time gave the unspoken benediction to their departed shipmate. No words could solemnize his passing more than their silence.
And that’s not even the most awe inspiring part.
All around them the ship continues to operate. There is no holiday for death. The ship must be ceaselessly run and unblikingly guarded, death or no death. There’s a war on, after all, and that does not stop for mourning.
And when the aircraft sinks beneath the waves with its forlorn cargo, those men who saw him to the water are expected to lift their bowed heads, wipe their tear-rimmed eyes, change out of their bloodied clothes, and return immediately to the fight, stepping over the body of the fallen with full knowledge that they may be NEXT.
No greater love.
Times have changed since then.
The weapons are better.
We still need those young men and young women to be our bulwark. That has NOT changed. They are ALL that keeps the other 7/8ths of the world from overwhelming us.
And thank God they have that same steel as their forebearers. Thank God this Nation is not completely dissolute.
Let us take a moment on this day to thank God for them, and all that answered the call before them.
Dear Lord, we stand before You today in praise and thanksgiving that You have always gifted this unworthy nation with warriors at need to protect her from the evil without that would overwhelm her. These are noble people who ask little for themselves, but we can ask on their behalf that you continue to gift them with the courage and bravery, duty and loyalty, wisdom and respect that we take for granted because it is so common in them, without even realizing how rare it is in the Nation at large. Please protect them from evil, strengthen their arms, give them victory on the field that we ALL have time behind them to find Victory in Jesus in a peace that we would never know but for them. Bless all those that have borne this Nation’s arms and suffered this Nation’s scars, give them the peace that they have fought so long for and help them recieve the Ultimate Peace Your scars purchased for them. God protect them as they protected US.
And we ask it all in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.
Happy Memorial Day,
SNS
After GHWB proved he hated Ronny with every beat of his heart ;conservatives openly derided him for his rich, well connected VP and son. Because they had rich, well connected friends these cowards were able to get into the N. Guard. JFK had made it clear that the “elites” in the N. Guard would never be exposed to danger. and before the COWARD GWB having been rightly hurt by being called out as a CHICKEN SHIT – he still is!- changed the policy!
Also an example of how America hating “journals” intact do no research. Had Rather done some reading of conservatives he’d not wasted so much money and time at Kinkos! He’d just reprinted their remarks!
The yellow bellies conservatives called out for those under 50 ( If you’re > 50 and know not to whom I refer SHAME ON YOU!) were GWB and Quayle!
DISCLOSURE
I HAVE SHED MORE BLOOD FOR AMERICA THAN 3 (three) GENERATIONS OFTHE BUSH CLAN COMBINED! I have little tolerance for cowards who play warrior!
They either are truly yellow bellied cowards or they hate America.
Jarhead:
Much was made of LBJ’s having won the Navy Cross in WWII. He won it because he was a passenger on a navy plane that was in the same time zone as a Japanese plane. No other passengers on the plane got the Navy Cross. None of the crew got the Navy Cross. Only LBJ got the Navy Cross.
And if anyone else had been the captain of PT 109, there would have been a court martial.
May Loyce Deen Rest In Peace.
RadioMattM: LBJ was awarded the Silver Star for his “valorous” behavior as a passenger on B-26 bomber on a fact finding mission for FDR. Representative Johnson was on a bombing mission to attack the Japanese at Lae, New Guinea, when his plane developed a mechanical problem and had to turn back to the American airbase. He was never under enemy fire. He claimed to have flown so many combat missions on his tour, that the airmen called him “Raider Johnson.” All BS.
@ an ole sxJarhead ~ I see you’ve changed your moniker already … you’re not fooling anyone, Mr. “I’ve shedded more blood”
@Gin Blossom
The generations after the Greatest mostly have no clue about the sacrifices that were made to keep us free.
And most of them don’t care.
But some of us do.
God Bless Gunner Deen.