If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Good to hear something about this war moves Bush to tears.
Catholic Mom,
I was thinking of that poem when I made the comment. That poem has always bugged me. (Since freshmen year in High School 1978 so we are talking 30 years.)
The poem is an obvious anti-war screed. It should be the motto of those code pink kooks.
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (March 18, 1893 – November 4, 1918) was a poet and soldier, regarded by many as the leading poet of the First World War. His shocking, realistic war poetry on the horrors of trench and gas warfare … sat in stark contrast to both the public perception of war at the time, and to the confidently patriotic verse written earlier by war poets such as Rupert Brooke.
He is perhaps just as well-known for having been killed in action at the Battle of the Sambre just a week before the war ended, causing news of his death to reach home as the town’s church bells declared peace.
As a veteran of this war and who happened to be in Al Anbar (we had units operating in Ramadi) at the time MA2 Monsoor died to save his comrades, I cannot read the poem as an anti-war creed. It is an honest observation of the realities of war from a warriors point of view. For those in combat, there is nothing sweet; neither life, nor death. The only redemption is the bond shared by those in the fight.
The sweetness is found only by those who reap the fruit of the warriors’ labors, those at home who do not know the hell of war and the price paid by those who fight.
You have the freedom to be cynical and sarcastic. You also have the freedom to be thankful.
Take a moment to be thankful for the sweetness that Petty Officer Monsoor has given you.
I am thankful for the life of Petty Officer Monsoor. I am deeply grieved at its brevity. I see nothing “sweet” or “fitting” about his death. I am not reaping any “sweetness” from it.
Thank you for YOUR SERVICE TO OUR NATION!!! You are a real hero!! Thank you!!
We can never repay the debt we owe to our brave soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airman and Coasties. (I don’t think I left anybody out!).
Thank you again, frreed. You are an American Hero!!
This is to Catholic Mom
I looked at the same Wikipedia article about Wilfred Owen. It mentions that Mr. Owen was a homosexual and in a relationship with Siegfried Sassoon who became a leading socialist. So, yes, Wilfred Owen was a Commie (or at least socialist) Pinko (he was at least “pink”). So, he is not exactly my ideal of a poet. If somebody wants to talk about a World War I based Poem, I prefer “In Flanders Fields”.
# 10 I think he (Wilfred Owen) was also a religious Anglican. However, all that is irrelevant. He was not a man glorifying war from the safety of his hearthside. He was a man caught in the middle of a man-made horror and trying to describe what it was like.
# 8: Then his death was in vain
That is the absurd “catch 22” that alllows politicians to send young men to their deaths. To say that the death of such a brave young man was, at some ultimate level, “in vain” seems almost unbearable; therefore it becomes the forbidden thought that no one must utter. Therefore no one utters it. Therefore more young men get sent to die.
If you don’t want to fight a war, don’t join the military. MA2 Monsoor was a Navy SEAL. They want to go fight for the country they, and we, live in. Yes he did decide. Do not insult him or any other member of our all volunteer force with the notion that we are somehow pawns of the state.
You started this little snip fest with a cheap shot at the president. I assure you that he has shed many more tears over the losses in Iraq and Afghanistan than you ever will.
There are hundreds of thousands who serve our country of their own will and have pledged to defend it even with their lives. Their deaths are a dreadful and painful thing for all who know them and understand their sacrifice. The problem is that too many more hundred thousand have no idea what that sacrifice is about and choose to take their political shots while using their “concern” for the members of our armed forces as a shield.
Your words show that you do not understand why MA2 Monsoor and so many others do their jobs with honor, courage and commitment to God and country.
Listen to the ceremony, lay down your anti-Bush goggles for a minute and maybe you’ll begin to understand.
I’ve been there and done that, and I’ve lost friends (Vietnam), so I know what war’s like. While you may not like President Bush or his policies (I’m not an admirer of his), I do respect his position as President. He has to make some very tough calls every day, and I would not care to be the Commander-in-Chief……believe me! The expression on his face, however, shows me that he is a man of emotions……and you may or may not believe it, but I think he cares about the men and women serving our country, and by extension, the free world.
Like any commanding officer, he has responsibility for thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coastie, and that responsibility is a crushing load for one in his position. No military man or woman likes the responsibility of having to console a family member for their loss…..I surely didn’t! It’s something you NEVER forget, nor get over. It tears at your insides.
May this brave sailor rest in the arms of the Lord, and may his family know God’s peace.
You started this little snip fest with a cheap shot at the president. I assure you that he has shed many more tears over the losses in Iraq and Afghanistan than you ever will.
I’m sorry — it was not a cheap shot. I believe the man has blood on his hands. That fact that, as commander in chief, he has to make the tough decisions, does not mean that he is moral absolved from the consequences of those decisions. You may disagree, as is your right.
RE: “Then his death was in vain. He died as a service to you and his heroic act was as much for you, us, as it was for his fellow SEALS . . . ”
The good news, FrReed, is that I and many others like me am thankful for the sweetness, and am deeply appreciative of his service in defense of our country.
Greater love hath no man …..
Dulce et decorum est. Pro patria mori.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Good to hear something about this war moves Bush to tears.
Catholic Mom,
I was thinking of that poem when I made the comment. That poem has always bugged me. (Since freshmen year in High School 1978 so we are talking 30 years.)
The poem is an obvious anti-war screed. It should be the motto of those code pink kooks.
Pinko commie.
As a veteran of this war and who happened to be in Al Anbar (we had units operating in Ramadi) at the time MA2 Monsoor died to save his comrades, I cannot read the poem as an anti-war creed. It is an honest observation of the realities of war from a warriors point of view. For those in combat, there is nothing sweet; neither life, nor death. The only redemption is the bond shared by those in the fight.
The sweetness is found only by those who reap the fruit of the warriors’ labors, those at home who do not know the hell of war and the price paid by those who fight.
You have the freedom to be cynical and sarcastic. You also have the freedom to be thankful.
Take a moment to be thankful for the sweetness that Petty Officer Monsoor has given you.
I am thankful for the life of Petty Officer Monsoor. I am deeply grieved at its brevity. I see nothing “sweet” or “fitting” about his death. I am not reaping any “sweetness” from it.
Then his death was in vain. He died as a service to you and his heroic act was as much for you, us, as it was for his fellow SEALS
frreed,
Thank you for YOUR SERVICE TO OUR NATION!!! You are a real hero!! Thank you!!
We can never repay the debt we owe to our brave soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airman and Coasties. (I don’t think I left anybody out!).
Thank you again, frreed. You are an American Hero!!
This is to Catholic Mom
I looked at the same Wikipedia article about Wilfred Owen. It mentions that Mr. Owen was a homosexual and in a relationship with Siegfried Sassoon who became a leading socialist. So, yes, Wilfred Owen was a Commie (or at least socialist) Pinko (he was at least “pink”). So, he is not exactly my ideal of a poet. If somebody wants to talk about a World War I based Poem, I prefer “In Flanders Fields”.
# 10 I think he (Wilfred Owen) was also a religious Anglican. However, all that is irrelevant. He was not a man glorifying war from the safety of his hearthside. He was a man caught in the middle of a man-made horror and trying to describe what it was like.
That is the absurd “catch 22” that alllows politicians to send young men to their deaths. To say that the death of such a brave young man was, at some ultimate level, “in vain” seems almost unbearable; therefore it becomes the forbidden thought that no one must utter. Therefore no one utters it. Therefore more young men get sent to die.
No one was “sent”. We all volunteered.
You don’t get to decide that you’d like to go to a country and fight a war there. You get sent.
If you don’t want to fight a war, don’t join the military. MA2 Monsoor was a Navy SEAL. They want to go fight for the country they, and we, live in. Yes he did decide. Do not insult him or any other member of our all volunteer force with the notion that we are somehow pawns of the state.
You started this little snip fest with a cheap shot at the president. I assure you that he has shed many more tears over the losses in Iraq and Afghanistan than you ever will.
There are hundreds of thousands who serve our country of their own will and have pledged to defend it even with their lives. Their deaths are a dreadful and painful thing for all who know them and understand their sacrifice. The problem is that too many more hundred thousand have no idea what that sacrifice is about and choose to take their political shots while using their “concern” for the members of our armed forces as a shield.
Your words show that you do not understand why MA2 Monsoor and so many others do their jobs with honor, courage and commitment to God and country.
Listen to the ceremony, lay down your anti-Bush goggles for a minute and maybe you’ll begin to understand.
I’ve been there and done that, and I’ve lost friends (Vietnam), so I know what war’s like. While you may not like President Bush or his policies (I’m not an admirer of his), I do respect his position as President. He has to make some very tough calls every day, and I would not care to be the Commander-in-Chief……believe me! The expression on his face, however, shows me that he is a man of emotions……and you may or may not believe it, but I think he cares about the men and women serving our country, and by extension, the free world.
Like any commanding officer, he has responsibility for thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coastie, and that responsibility is a crushing load for one in his position. No military man or woman likes the responsibility of having to console a family member for their loss…..I surely didn’t! It’s something you NEVER forget, nor get over. It tears at your insides.
May this brave sailor rest in the arms of the Lord, and may his family know God’s peace.
I’m sorry — it was not a cheap shot. I believe the man has blood on his hands. That fact that, as commander in chief, he has to make the tough decisions, does not mean that he is moral absolved from the consequences of those decisions. You may disagree, as is your right.
RE: “Then his death was in vain. He died as a service to you and his heroic act was as much for you, us, as it was for his fellow SEALS . . . ”
The good news, FrReed, is that I and many others like me am thankful for the sweetness, and am deeply appreciative of his service in defense of our country.