May 25, 2008
A Memorial Day Worth Remembering
Andy Rooney On How Memorial Day Should Be Celebrated
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Rooney On Lives Taken
Andy Rooney explained the true meaning of Memorial Day, honoring those who did not give their lives, but had them taken.
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Obie Slingerland and Andy Rooney were best friends and co-captains of the high school football team. (CBS/60 Minutes)
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World War II
Remembering the more than 50 million lives lost.
The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, the day we have set aside to honor by remembering all the Americans who have died fighting for the thing we like the most about our America: the freedom we have to live as we please.
No official day to remember is adequate for something like that. It's too formal. It gets to be just another day on the calendar. No one would know from Memorial Day that Richie M., who was shot through the forehead coming onto Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, wore different color socks on each foot because he thought it brought him good luck.
No one would remember on Memorial Day that Eddie G. had promised to marry Julie W. the day after he got home from the war, but didn’t marry Julie because he never came home from the war. Eddie was shot dead on an un-American desert island, Iwo Jima.
For too many Americans, Memorial Day has become just another day off. There's only so much time any of us can spend remembering those we loved who have died, but the men, boys really, who died in our wars deserve at least a few moments of reflection during which we consider what they did for us.
They died.
We use the phrase "gave their lives," but they didn’t give their lives. Their lives were taken from them.
There is more bravery at war than in peace, and it seems wrong that we have so often saved this virtue to use for our least noble activity - war. The goal of war is to cause death to other people.
Because I was in the Army during World War II, I have more to remember on Memorial Day than most of you. I had good friends who were killed.
Charley Wood wrote poetry in high school. He was killed when his Piper Cub was shot down while he was flying as a spotter for the artillery.
Bob O'Connor went down in flames in his B-17.
Obie Slingerland and I were best friends and co-captains of our high school football team. Obie was killed on the deck of the Saratoga when a bomb that hadn’t dropped exploded as he landed.
I won’t think of them anymore tomorrow, Memorial Day, than I think of them any other day of my life.
Remembering doesn’t do the remembered any good, of course. It's for ourselves, the living. I wish we could dedicate Memorial Day, not to the memory of those who have died at war, but to the idea of saving the lives of the young people who are going to die in the future if we don’t find some new way - some new religion maybe - that takes war out of our lives.
That would be a Memorial Day worth celebrating.
Written By Andy Rooney
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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See all 98 CommentsThis is one of your best; very brief, words well chosen. Thank you
Doug
Vietnam, class of ''68
There is more bravery at war than in peace, and it seems wrong that we have so often saved this virtue to use for our least noble activity - war. The goal of war is to cause death to other people.
I respectfully disagree with Andy''s initial part of the statement as I believe and see that there is more bravery in peace than at war. The bravery in war is recognized thru media but bravery in peace is not as visible. That does not mean there is more bravery at war than in peace.
Bless your soul Andy!
There is more bravery at war than in peace, and it seems wrong that we have so often saved this virtue to use for our least noble activity - war. The goal of war is to cause death to other people.
I respectfully disagree with Andy''s initial part of the statement as I believe and see that there is more bravery in peace than at war. The bravery in war is recognized thru media but bravery in peace is not as visible. That does not mean there is more bravery at war than in peace.
Bless your soul Andy!
take care
Bill Auburn,NH
Julie Zolot
Chicago, IL
Your segment tonight was simply amazing. You actually made your feelings known. I am a fifty-seven year old grandma who''s always felt that the idea of "war" was abhorant. Your comments could actually make a difference. Thank you a hundred times over.
Respectfully,
Sunny Lindsay
Salt Lake City, Utah
WA MacPhee
101st Airborne, Rangers
Vietnam 1965-66
Thank you for your Memorial Day reflection. We should also remember those, like yourself and my father, whose war experiences influenced many generations to come because of their survival of ineffable suffering. Elizabeth
Our nations military is still behind the times. I was amused when they went all politically correct and decided not to call dependent family members "dependents" any more. If it''s good enough for the IRS....
But I was never comfortable with the "gave their lives" bit. No, they didn''t. When you give something, you don''t fight to hold onto it, you don''t endure years in prison camps hoping to be rescued, you don''t go down fighting when you "give" your life. Yet another politically correct phrase, designed to gloss over the fight and make it seem somehow better. It wasn''t a noble sacrifice, it was dirty and stinky and bloody and sweaty, and they fought with everything they had.
Soldiers don''t give their lives. Soldiers go down fighting. I am proud to remember the soldiers that have passed through my life. They gave nothing away. They went down fighting.
Unfortunately, I caught only the last few seconds of your comments (26 May), but it was important for me to reply.
Bottom line. You are wrong. Period. Dot.
I honor and treasure your service in WW II. I regard you as a fellow warrior who for some reason has been misguided (I''ve been a fighter pilot since 1958 - taught by Korean War veterans). War is not about indiscriminant slaughter as your sound bit (column??) states. War is waged to COMPEL your enemy to do what you impose.
You dishonor our troops. They have volunteered to be in the military -- every one of them for over the past two decades. In my opinion, to say that they have not ''given'' their lives and that some un-named entity (implied as the US Government) has ''taken'' them is obscene.
My question to you, sir, is, "How do you propose we handle the current world situation, given the fact that we have sworn enemies?" I expect an answer that is solid and not filled with wishes. Additionally, I expect a reply that apologizes to our military forces about them not "giving" their lives, which all of the combat and support troops (includes all services) have done.
In closing, I submit that I am disappointed and troubled by your comments today. Every active duty member of the military and all of its veterans (you included) signed a blank check payable to the United States to the amount of "My Life". Some had to be cashed to preserve our freedoms. That''s what your message should have been. Shame on you.
Certainly that was not your intent, but your pacifism is naive for such an experienced and learned man.
"Because I was in the Army during World War II, I have more to remember on Memorial Day than most of you. I had good friends who were killed."
Andy should remember that WW II was not the only war...there are many veteran''s from other wars who also had good friends that were killed.
RIP to all our deceased veterans and thank you!
Maybe. But many have fought, and some have died, to develop such a way. They are called peaceniks, hippies, traitors, and are derided and marginalized. There is no day to commemorate their efforts. Ya wanna be looked down on in this warrior society?
Join the Peace Corp.
You join the Peace Corp: you pay your OWN way. Not to belittle our brave soldiers and their sacrifice, especially on THIS day. But people have tried to promote peace, and are always marginalized.
An interesting footnote on people who return from the Peace Corp:
They say those who return from Latin America, return with a strong sense of social injustice. Those who return from Asia, return with a strong spirituality, and those who return from Africa, return drunk and laughing. (Some countries are such basket-cases, thats the only healthy response).
Tom Edmunds
The real thing that can make a difference is that we
need to remember that war is a last resort not a
choice, SOLDIERS DYING FOR A CHANCE TO HELP THE
REPUBLICONS STAY IN OFFICE IS A BAD CHOICE:
-Andy Rooney and whomever let this go to copy should be shot between the eyes. How dare they say remembering doesn''t do any good, and furthermore, people who are turning this into yet ANOTHER political discussion. Just honor our heroes, please.
these guys were murdered by the republicons,
so get over the propaganda talking points,
a real american would want to end this needless war,
when we were in vietnam we all knew the truth, now
the republicons hide the truth in propaganda, and unamerican fools like you propagate the LIE
How so?
Have we been worth their sacrifice?
Thus those who died in WWII also died for nothing but the profits of some rich man. When will the rich die for their own profits? And stop lying to everyone, if being a "hero" by dying for rich men is so great, when are the rich themselves, like *** "draft dodger" Cheney, going to start signing up?
That''s why Americans don''t make a big deal about Memorial Day, they know deep inside that letting our kids and young men get maimed or killed so some rich guy can make a few dollars of extra profit or India and China can get a little faster growth rate is horrible and sad, not something to celebrate.
The proper way to celebrate Memorial Day is to begin to fight back, to plan for a world where Americans only die for America, not for thieves like Cheney or Woodrow Wilson.
Great story, Andy Rooney .. .except - what did you do to prevent this from happening to more kids? Did you fight the military establishment, that starts these wars for profit? Did you fight for new laws to make rich kids forced to serve alongside the cannon fodder, the worthless ones designated to die for profit? Did you expose the fact that WWII was caused 100% and absolutely not by Hitler, not by Hirohito, not by anything or anyone other than Woodrow Wilson and the war mongerers and profiteers that got us into WWI?
You did nothing. You gave some lip service that these foolish dead were "heroes" and then enjoyed your, life, creating George Bush and Vietnam and Korea and the rise of China and all the bloodbaths to come.
The only feeling you and your generation are entitles to is a great sorrow at your lost opportunity to learn from your mistakes.
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