Wednesday, February 14, 2007

A Marine's Funeral

Yesterday I attended a funeral. There was a Marine Honor Guard, a 21 Gun Salute, and Taps was played on a bugle. This was not a Marine who died in Iraq. He was 83 years old. His name was Matthew Monk. He was a WW2 and Korean War veteran. He was a POW in Japan. He was a Father and a Grandfather. He was Sharon's father. I never met Mr. Monk, but I felt I knew him. He had followed along the same path as my father. Both had worked in the Civilian Conservation Corp, and both had left their youth behind on a WW2 battlefield. We must remember these troops also. It is so easy to say we support the troops. This has become just a passe term for political crap these days. Most of our old Vets are in the ground now. New war veterans are created by the minute. Debts that can never be repaid. Families left with empty sorrow. Mr. Monk left behind a family with something to reflect on. Something we all should reflect on. Way beyond 911, and way beyond the shores of America. Thank You Mr. Monk.

2 Comments:

At 10:16 AM, Blogger Anne-Marie said...

Hi Joe,
My condolences to Sharon and her family for Mr. Monk's passing. I completely agree with you that there are a lot of older men and women to whom we owe a great debt, and many of them live in difficult conditions after having sacrificed so much for their country.

My dad was a WW2 vet as well (wrong side, but nevertheless an honourable man) and he always said so many horrible things were seen and experienced that he was glad our generation would never see. I wish it were so for all of us.

Good to hear from you, and I hope that things are going well for you. (Well, aside from 18F, which isn't even what we have here that I'm whining about in the Great White North!)

Regards,
Anne-Marie

 
At 1:26 PM, Blogger Gary said...

That thing you said "a passe term" really resonates with me. "we support our troops" seems like such a throw away political line these days. I really do support our troops though, even though I'm against the war. My respect goes to Mr. Monk, and sincere condolences to his family. Sounds like he was a wonderful man.

Yes, I'm still pluggin away at the writing and recording. Took a while to write up new tunes and I've been trying to spend more time on the recordings. Am about to invest in a much better keyboard, would like to learn how to really play piano well. How about you Joe? Have you ever seen the DVD on the making of Who's Next? It's amazing, they go over the songs at the mixing desk, playing back individual parts, and Pete walks us through how he came up with Won't Get Fooled Again keyboard riff. An amazing DVD. I found it on Amazon for $5.

Will you be going to SXSW?

Thanks as always for your encouragement and support.

 

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