Memorial Day

[LostinTexas]

Just a reminder of what this BBQ, boat trip to the lake 3 day weekend cost.

Thank a Gold Star family for their gift to us.

Never forget.

[Valmet]

Amen. Very powerful picture 

[tous]

Eric, thank you and the Old Guard (3rd Infantry?)  for seeing so many of our brothers and sisters in arms to their final rest.

We have said it before and it can never be said enough.

 

 

[aomagrat]

[janice6]

7 hours ago, LostinTexas said:

Just a reminder of what this BBQ, boat trip to the lake 3 day weekend cost.

Thank a Gold Star family for their gift to us.

Never forget.

[Eric]

5 hours ago, tous said:

Eric, thank you and the Old Guard (3rd Infantry?)  for seeing so many of our brothers and sisters in arms to their final rest.

We have said it before and it can never be said enough.

 

 

Thank you. Yes, it is the 3rd US Infantry Regiment. There is a 3rd Infantry Division as well, but they are unrelated. The 3rd Infantry Regiment is the oldest active-duty infantry unit in the US Army, serving since 1784.

Here is an interesting TOG factoid:

• A further distinction of The Old Guard is the time-honored custom of passing in-review with fixed bayonets at all parades. This practice, officially sanctioned by the War Department in 1922, dates to the Mexican War in 1847 when the 3d Infantry led a successful bayonet charge against the enemy at Cerro Gordo. Today, this distinction is still reserved for The Old Guard alone.

About the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment

[tous]

Eric, how does one get assigned to the 3D Infantry regiment?

 

[Eric]

9 hours ago, tous said:

Eric, how does one get assigned to the 3D Infantry regiment?

 

When I was in, they had recruiters for The Old Guard come visit our company in Basic. They gave their dog-and-pony show and then asked if anyone was interested. If you volunteered, they interviewed you individually, looked at your performance in Basic and at your ASVAB test scores. You had to have pretty high scores to be considered.
 

You also had to be an 11B infantryman. There were several different MOSes of infantry training together in the same unit. In addition to the 11Bs, there were 11C (mortarmen), 11BC2 (Dragon missile guys), TOW gunners (which I think were 11H) and 11M (mechanized Infantry), which is what I was originally intended to become. They planned on sending me to school to drive The Bradley IFV. They changed my MOS to 11B when I got accepted by TOG.

They also had a height requirement, which was usually 6’ 1”. I am only 5’ 10”, but at the time I volunteered, they were short of people (  ) so they had lowered the requirement to 5’ 10”. 5’ 10” isn’t short generally, but it is in The Old Guard. My height disqualified me for the specialty units like the drill team, the Tomb Guards and the Color Guard. I think the Caisson Platoon also. 
 

In addition to the height requirement for the Tomb Guards, there was another very strict requirement. They had a 26” ceremonial belt that you had to be able to fasten around your midsection, above your waist. So, all the Tomb Guards were tall and skinny as hell. The majority of the troops in the line companies could have performed the duties of Tomb Guard as well as those who were chosen. They look impressive doing their thing, but all of The Old Guard looked impressive as hell. It just takes practice.

[Eric]

[pipedreams]

 

[Eric]

[Eric]

I once convinced a girl that I was dating that the headstones over the Confederate graves in ANC were pointed so that Union soldiers wouldn't set on them. She explained this to her father the next time she talked to him and was really pissed at me afterward. It seems that he laughed at her.

 

[Huaco Kid]

When we first moved to N. Carolina, we were driving through the country and passed a lot of big houses, with lots of land. A lot of them have very cool civil war cannons in the front yard. I asked my friend why you would have such a huge beautiful yard, and point a giant cannon directly at your house?

"They're all pointed north."

[pipedreams]

[DAKA]

53 minutes ago, pipedreams said:

 

AND Arlington is NOT the only Military Cemetery 

[railfancwb]

2 hours ago, DAKA said:

AND Arlington is NOT the only Military Cemetery 

Very true! Late wife’s stepfather and three uncles buried in the one in Nashville.

There are also Confederate military cemeteries. At some point after Lincoln’s War ended it was acknowledged those who died wearing the Butternut were as patriotic as those who died wearing Blue.

Columbus, Mississippi, held a formal [memorial day] observance for both Union and Confederate dead in 1866.

[Batesmotel]

Here lie members of my regiment from the battles of Belleau Wood and Iwo Jima. We started as the 4TH Marine Brigade for WWI and then were renumbered as the 23rd Marine Regiment for WWII. 

[Pogey Bait]

I have a family member buried at Arlington.

Lt. Colonel Horace Meek Hickam

Aviation pioneer killed while practicing night landings in 1934.

Hickam airfield in Hawaii is named in his honor.  

[deputy tom]

National Cemetery of the Alleghenies. Cecil Twp. PA.

[DAKA]

1 hour ago, deputy tom said:

National Cemetery of the Alleghenies. Cecil Twp. PA.

I like the cemeteries that use STONES rather than CROSSES and STARS    (More non-denominational ) 

There is a Military cemetary not far from "here" in Palm Beach (FL) I guess I'll "GO" there...

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery

[pipedreams]

Verdun