Wizard of Id by Parker and Hart for May 30, 2022

Leave no one behind.

Thank you for remembering.

I miss the olden days – when nearly every strip remembered important occasions – It’s too bad that you can award only one heart per strip – this one today deserves 10 or 20 hearts for remembering!

I’m sorry… I Googled today’s date… even using the American date format… I can’t find anything… except “National Hole In My Bucket Day”…

A little help here please ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

“Remember the Animals!”

To all of the people who responded rudely to Common ‘tator about Memorial Day. It is important to remember that when we are connected to the World Wide Web, also known as the internet, we are commenting in a Global Village. It matters not where we live or even in which Hemisphere we live in, our comment can be read almost simultaneously all over the world. I have observed this many times. Sadly it is usually Americans who are the most insensitive to other peoples’ questions. Several years’ ago a previous comment by a German person said it most clearly. I quote, ’ please remember, dear Americans, the world does not begin and end at the borders of America’. I have read rude and abusive comments to people who have learning disabilities and to people who do not have English as their first language. Americans, is this the image you really want to send to the rest of world? I think not, as I have met many warm-hearted and generous people who have been visiting the shores of my country. People who have been building Houses for Habitat among others.

The gravestones of horses in today’s strip reminds me of some King Arthur trivia. According to Welsh sources, four saints were among the seven survivors of Arthur’s last battle – the Battle of Camlann. One of these saints was Saint Derfel who is the narrator of Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Trilogy. Saint Derfel is said to have survived “by his strength”. Another saint who survived the battle was Saint Cedwin who is said to have survived “by the speed of his horse Hengroen”. There is a site called Dinhengroen in north Wales. This translates as Fort of Hengroen and is believed to have been the fort where Saint Cedwin’s horse Hengroen was buried.

We have two holidays in the US. The last Monday in May is Memorial Day when we honor and remember those who died in service to their country. Then on Nov 11th we have Veterans’ Day when we honor all who served in the military.

Disrespectful and inappropriate and definitely far from amusing.

Thank you

Thank you, Rod! I love how heartwarming a Memorial Day strip can be.

On Guam there’s a military dog cemetery; I’m glad Parker and Hart added that last panel for today.

Honoring the horses too. I like that.

Only fitting. War dogs should not be forgotten either. They saved thousands of lives.

Nice to see that Parker and Hart remembered the Cavalry mounts as well as the Soldiers. I wish they had found a way to include the K-9s as well.

My thanks, and gratitude, to all of those Soldiers, Sailors, Marines & Airmen who gave the last full measure (two foot or four footed).

Equating the lives of people with animals is insulting

Then there’s the U.S. Marine Corps’ Sergeant Reckless – a decorated war horse who held official rank.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergeant_Reckless

Love this!

Don’t forget those brave animals (K9,Horse, ect.) on Memorial Day!

A war fact: If all the deaths of American soldiers in the following wars: Revolutionary, 1812, Mexican-American, Spanish-American, WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan were totaled, that number still doesn’t reach the total dead in the Civil War (Union plus Confederacy).

The QuestThe knight came home from the quest,Muddied and sore he came.Battered of shield and crest,Bannerless, bruised and lame.Fighting we take no shame,Better is man for a fall.Merrily borne, the bugle-hornAnswered the warder’s call:,“Here is my lance to mend (Haro!),Here is my horse to be shot!Ay, they were strong, and the fight was long;But I paid as good as I got!”

“Oh, dark and deep their van,That mocked my battle-cry.I could not miss my man,But I could not carry by:Utterly whelmed was I,Flung under, horse and all.”Merrily borne, the bugle-hornAnswered the warder’s call!

“My wounds are noised abroad;But theirs my foemen cloaked.Ye see my broken sword,But never the blades she broke;Paying them stroke for stroke,Good handsel over all.”Merrily borne, the bugle-hornAnswered the warder’s call!

“My shame ye count and know.Ye say the quest is vain.Ye have not seen my foe.Ye have not told his slain.Surely he fights again, again;But when ye prove his line,There shall come to your aid my broken bladeIn the last, lost fight of mine!And here is my lance to mend (Haro!),And here is my horse to be shot!Ay, they were strong, and the fight was long;But I paid as good as I got!”

Rudyard Kipling

In Flanders Fields

BY JOHN MCCRAE

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

That’s a nice touch for remembering the horses that carried them home! ;-)

Nicely done ♥♥

July 14 (le Quatorze de Juilet) est Le Jour Bastille (Bastille Day) en France. When the revolutionaries stormed the Bastille prison and released the prisoners. Sometime in the 1780s, I think.

Never forget the brave men and women (and horses) this Memorial Day!

God Bless Our Military and Veterans. You have and do sacrifice so much for us.

The Dickens Medal is the highest award that can be issued to an animal. It is considered equivalent to the Victoria Cross. It has been awarded 74 times. Recipients include dogs, horses, messenger pigeons, and a cat.