] [Thread] [Date] [Author]

["David Fisher" <dfisher(--nospam--at)fpse.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: David Fisher [mailto:dfisher(--nospam--at)fpse.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 1:51 PM
To: 'seaint(--nospam--at)seaint.org'
Subject: RE: "Decoration Day" [WAS: Lag screws...]

Nice post, Bill...


I agree...every Memorial Day, I make a special "extra" call to my father and
to his brothers...all WWII/Korea vets.

After catching up on what they are up to, I always say "Thank you"

Like the rest of their generation (and also to those who continue to do it
today), they put their lives on the line so we could enjoy all of the
benefits you list in this great country.

My wife and I went to see "United 93" yesterday...while not technically
soldiers, it was very uplifting to see ordinary Americans stand up and fight
back against cowardly terrorists when they all knew they faced certain
death.

When the movie was over, not a single person said a word as they walked out.

Very eerie; not unlike the time I saw "Saving Private Ryan" on the big
screen.

Maybe people were thinking about some of the things you mentioned.



David L. Fisher SE PE
Senior Director

Cape Cod Grand Cayman Holdings Ltd. - Cayman
Fisher+Partners Structural Engineers Ltd. - Cayman
372 West Ontario Chicago 60610
75 Fort Street Georgetown Grand Cayman BWI
319 A Street Boston 02210


312.573.1701
312.573.1726 facsimile
312.622.0409 mobile

www.ccgch.com
www.fpse.com






-----Original Message-----
From: Polhemus, Bill [mailto:BPolhemus(--nospam--at)wje.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 1:28 PM
To: seaint(--nospam--at)seaint.org
Subject: "Decoration Day" [WAS: Lag screws...]

-----Original Message-----
From: jascopac [mailto:jascopac(--nospam--at)pacbell.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 12:55 PM
To: Seaint(--nospam--at)Seaint. Org
Subject: Lag screws in Microlam and Paralam

God bless all of the service men and women who gave their lives for our
country!

-----/Original Message/-----

I actually had the occasion to shed a few tears over the weekend. Don't
know why, after all these years, this has really hit me as hard as it
has.

First, I watched "Saving Private Ryan" on the TNT cable network Friday
night. The opening and closing scenes of that film are so moving, I can
hardly bear to watch.

Then, I watched the telecast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's "Music and
the Spoken Word," at the end of which they played a rendition of "Hymn
to the Fallen" by John Williams (the actual title of the theme to
"Saving Private Ryan"). During the music, they showed scenes from
Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns, the Vietnam
memorial (including "The Wall") and other sites dedicated to our war
dead.

That actually turned out quite embarrassing, as my wife happened on me
sitting there in the TV room, with the tears just streaming down. Hate
to cry in front of the wife.

Finally, I saw all the episodes of the miniseries "Band of Brothers"
which played one after the other on The History Channel on Sunday and
Monday. I had seen a couple of those some time ago, but never had the
opportunity to watch all of them. My sixteen year old daughter watched
them with me, and I was actually gratified to see what an impact it had
on her. She was quite in awe of the experiences of these men.

At the end of all this, I am left feeling humbled and - dare I say it -
quite UNWORTHY of the sacrifice made in my name as an American. These
are people who chose to risk their lives, and lost the bet, so that I
and so many others can sit around and watch television, or play golf, or
go see a movie, or play in the backyard with our children or
grandchildren, or the myriad small and insignificant things with which
we seem to fill up our days.

These men never had the chance to live complacent lives. Whether by
chance or by design, they followed the path to eternity out of the realm
of this mortality, some of them dying horribly and painfully,
frightened, calling for their mothers, but all of them doing so out of
the deliberate notion that there is something in this world worth dying
for.

And they are still doing so, even today.

I do not believe I will ever be able to earn that sacrifice. I am
ashamed that I spend so much of my life in frivolous disregard of what I
have, that was purchased with blood and fire on the battlefield.

I have resolved to bear this more in mind, and make certain that in
future my life's choices are made with the deliberate knowledge that I
have the luxury of choice because others paid with their lives to give
it to me.

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