Movie Madness Monday: Memorial Day

Welcome to the Memorial Day edition of Movie Madness Monday! Let us today remember the actions of brave men and women everywhere who have served the cause of freedom and justice in the defense of our nation.

So here are my quotes from today's movie. You respond with a quote of your own from the same movie. Let's see how you do:


"I have here a very old letter, written to a Mrs. Bixby in Boston. 'Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln.'"

"Hey, Wade, I got a mother, you got a mother, the sarge has got a mother. I'm willing to bet that even the Captain's got a mother. Well, maybe not the Captain, but the rest of us have got mothers."

"Is that what I'm supposed to tell your mother when she gets another folded American flag?"
"You can tell her that when you found me, I was with the only brothers I had left. And that there was no way I was deserting them. I think she'd understand that."

"FUBAR."

"War educates the senses, calls into action the will, perfects the physical constitution, brings men into such swift and close collision in critical moments that man measures man."
"I guess that's Emerson's way of finding the bright side."

****Wednesday Update: The film for this week is

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN,

which includes probably one of the most intense Normandy experiences ever cinematically rendered. Here was the scene that really got me, though:
There's the adult Ryan saluting the grave of Captain Miller. I have seen grown men, hardbitten men, weep at this scene.

A few years back, the state of Oklahoma passed a law that anyone who did not graduate from high school because they joined the military would be given an actual diploma, from their original school district, if possible. My father dropped out of high school to join the Navy in his senior year of high school to serve during World War II. At the age of 79, he and all of his family-- from California, Missouri, and from Tulsa-- went back to his hometown for a special graduation ceremony for my father and one other gentleman who had also served in World War II.

The entire school district turned out for this Veterans' Day presentation. Some of the high school students made a special presentation, which included some footage of the Normandy invasion from this film. Then my father-- the same father who would not wear anything that looked like a tuxedo to my own wedding, who almost never was seen in anything but work clothes or jeans, replete in electric blue cap and gown, received his diploma as a member of the class of 2002 at his old high school in southwestern Oklahoma. At my Dad's memorial service, the cap, gown and diploma were among my father's most treasured possessions to be displayed.

I still have very emotional memories of this film.