Memorial Day

This isn't my favorite holiday of the year but I do want to wish all of you an enjoyable and safe 3 day weekend.
Just a little while ago it dawned on me that it was May 25th. On that day in 1969 I lost a couple of good friends, Ralph Vitch and Mario Lamelza, during Operation Lamar Plain. Just a few weeks before I had been thier squad leader in the third platoon but in early May I was given the job of company commo chief.
At the time it was easy for me to beat myself down with thoughts of "if only I was still there with them they might not have died". Well that's a crock of shit of course and if I had been with them maybe I'd be dead too. Memorial day will always remind me of that point in time though and I will hoist a few cool ones this evening in memory of Ralph and Cool Breeze.

I'm ready to get into grilling this weekend with some salmon fillets, some Johnsonville brats as well as some chicken breasts and a couple pounds of ground beef. We got NASCAR on saturday night and the Indy 500 on sunday and I got plenty of Miller Lite in the fridge. On monday evening I'll finish things off with what has become a tradition of mine. I mix a stiff Tangueray martini, go out on the patio and while thinking about it all I get a little too drunk and have a good cry.

God bless all the vets!