It’s Billy’s Blog

Via WTAM 1100:

A high school east of Cleveland is saying “no” to two teens who want to wear their military uniforms on stage at their high school graduation.

Will McDonnell, an active duty marine, and Tony Workman, an Army National Guardsman, are graduating from Chardon High School in Geauga County.

McDonnell took extra classes and met his graduation requirements last fall so he could attend a 13-week Marine Boot Camp in February. Workman went through the Army’s 10-week basic training last summer.

McDonnell tells Newsradio WTAM 1100 he was stunned when his dad told him the news. He says he and Workman had previously been told they would be allowed to wear their uniforms.

Welcome to the real kids.

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Finding the cause is, after all, the first step to finding a cure.

Sorry, C.J. I couldn’t resist.

So, I’m sitting here, reading this story, and I’m trying to not tear up:

This year dozens of members of Les Fleurs de la Memoire have shown up at Colleville-sur-Mer for the annual Memorial Day ceremony, which begins with a flyover by U.S. fighter jets in the missing-man formation.

A French priest recites the Lord’s Prayer, then a rabbi chants the Kadish. And a French military band plays the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

But behind the grand ceremony, a simple tribute unfolds at the back of the cemetery. Jean Michel Miette, 50, kneels in front of the grave of Jennie’s uncle, Pvt. 1st Class Walter C. Malcolm. Miette is the one who adopted Malcolm’s grave and he has come from Paris this morning to honor him.

Miette, like Jennie Malcolm, discovered Les Fleurs de la Memoire last summer. He says the organization has enabled him to honor the American soldiers who sacrificed their lives for his country and for liberty.

I’ve spoken to vets who’ve returned to France to honor their fallen comrades. They have nothing but good things to say about the people who live in the countryside, near the sites of the actual invasion. It is in the big cities, especially Paris, where America is sneered at, where it is considered uncouth and somewhat unsophisticated to express an appreciation for the sacrifices of those who died for their freedoms they enjoy.

On second thought, maybe the French aren’t all that different from us at all.