Monday, May 29, 2017
Memorial Day 2017 and the Duke of Wellington
Memorial Day is the day set aside by America to honor its war dead and those who serve in the armed forces. We devote much of the day to remembering and giving thanks for all those who have worn the US military uniform and served with valor to protect the United States and preserve the freedom and personal liberties of its citizens. • But, as anyone who has ever served in any military knows, there is a great deal of bureaucratic interference and control by staff groups over the soldiers and their commanders in the field. It sometimes prevents the best use of the military's resources and is often the butt of insider jokes. • The Duke of Wellington, famous for defeating Napoleon at Waterloo, led the allied troops in what is called the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal. The war lasted from 1807 to 1814, as the the allied powers of Spain, Britain and Portugal sought to break the power of Napoleon's empire. The Peninsular War was part of the larger struggle that is called the Napoleonic Wars. The Peninsular War started when French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807, and escalated in 1808 when France turned on Spain, previously its ally. The war on the peninsula lasted until the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon in 1814, and is regarded as one of the first wars of national liberation, significant for the emergence of large-scale guerrilla warfare. Indeed, the word 'guerrilla' came into the English language at this time when local guerrilla fighters augmented the regular allied forces to great effect. • The bureaucrats in Whitehall, the complex of buildings that then and now houses the administration of the British government, were apparently relentless in pursuing the British ground force in Spain under the Duke of Wellington. It seems that finally Wellington had had enough and wrote the following letter to the bureaucrats in London. -- "Letter from the Duke of Wellington dispatched from Spain in August 1812 : Gentlemen, Whilst marching from Portugal to a position which commands the approach to Madrid and the French forces, my officers have been diligently complying with your requests which have been sent by H.M. ship from London to Lisbon and thence by dispatch to our headquarters. We have enumerated our saddles, bridles, tents and tent poles, and all manner of sundry items for which His Majesty's Government holds me accountable. I have dispatched reports on the character, wit, and spleen of every officer. Each item and every farthing has been accounted for, with two regrettable exceptions for which I beg your indulgence. Unfortunately the sum of one shilling and ninepence remains unaccounted for in one infantry battalion's petty cash and there has been a hideous confusion as the the number of jars of raspberry jam issued to one cavalry regiment during a sandstorm in western Spain. This reprehensible carelessness may be related to the pressure of circumstance, since we are war with France, a fact which may come as a bit of a surprise to you gentlemen in Whitehall. This brings me to my present purpose, which is to request elucidation of my instructions from His Majesty's Government so that I may better understand why I am dragging an army over these barren plains. I construe that perforce it must be one of two alternative duties, as given below. I shall pursue either one with the best of my ability, but I cannot do both : 1. To train an army of uniformed British clerks in Spain for the benefit of the accountants and copy-boys in London or, perchance, 2. To see to it that the forces of Napoleon are driven out of Spain. Your most obedient servant, Wellington • That may be my favorite letter of all time. It certainly raises the spectre of the hordes of staff bureaucrats who had completely lost sight of the reason wars are fought. • As we remember our fallen hero soldiers and their brothers in arms lucky enough to come back home from war, let's give a thought not only to their valor but also to their patience with all of us who have never been in the field or faced the enemy. • In heartfelt gratitude to America's fighting men and women. Bless you all on this Memorial Day 2017.
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ReplyDelete'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
The words of President T. Roosevelt at Sorbonne, France in April, 1910
Although he wasn't speaking about veterans, to me this has always brought the soldier and his plight of loneliness.
There is a profound lack of unity in America. In fact, let’s ask a key question: Is there a single significant cultural, political, social, or religious trend that is pulling Americans together more than it is pushing us apart.
ReplyDeleteWhen asked General Mathis said what worried him most in his new position, "I expected him to say ISIS or Russia or the defense budget. Instead, he said, “The lack of political unity in America. The lack of a fundamental friendliness. It seems like an awful lot of people in America and around the world feel spiritually and personally alienated, whether it be from organized religion or from local community school districts or from their government."
General Mattis is a thoughtful warrior leading the most powerful military in the history of the world, and he sees what we all see — that the society he defends is fracturing even as it remains strong in the face of outside threats. When it comes to our national future, we are the problem. We are unmaking the nation that our forefathers made.
Each and every Memorial Day should remind us — in the long row of tombstones marking the graves of Americans from every race, creed, and religion — that we remain in this thing together, and even as we use strong words and speak with deep conviction, we will, at the very least, seek to understand opposing views and, always, defend for others rights that we would like to exercise ourselves.