National anthem (Page 2)

Was he in 4th Mar Div or 5th?

My great uncle Floyd was in 4th Marines.  Tarawa, Iwo, Oki. He came to my wedding and I was wearing my blues and I said "When's the last time you wore these?  He said "I never got anything but Fatigues...and a hospital gown.  He said he wore his fatigues for boot camp, took a picture in a mockup of his alphas, and then wore fatigues until he was hit on Oki and shipped home.  When they let him out of the hospital, he was wearing the clothes he wore when he showed-up to boot camp.  Amazing.

That's why those guys were the greatest generation.  Nothing given.

If anyone goes to Kona, there's a monument in Waialea to the Marines who camped on Camp Tarawa.  Here's a pic:

(Camp Tarawa.JPG)

Here's another one from the big island.  If you've seen "Sands of Iwo Jima", you've seen these trees. 

OK, Threadjack off...

(Camp Tarawa Trees.jpg)

In my limited experience, usually it takes a minute before everyone realizes that it is playing, due to the sound system distance. But the vast majority of the crowd turns silent. There will always be a couple jokers in any crowd, no matter where you go. 

The first TriRock Annapolis, the on-site band tried the Jimi style anthem. I'm usually down with that, and tried to give it a chance, but yeah, the crowd was overwhelmingly not impressed. I mean, you're a few yards away from the US Naval Academy. This year's anthem singer was much more appropriate. The organizers saved the "rock" in "trirock" for afterwards, with an AC/DC cover band. 

He was actually in the 2nd Marine Division and had fought at Tawara and Tinian.  He and others were moved to shore up the 3rd Marine Division before they joined the fight on Iwo Jima 5 days after the battle began. They were supposed to be "mop up" but if you know your Marine Corp history then you know how that went.  After Iwo he went back to the 2nd and was part of the occupation of Nagasaki after the bomb.

I can tell you this....if you didn't stand when the National Anthem was played and my Grandpa was within reach of you, you were standing soon enough. They same with your hat, he'd be happy to remove it for you if you were too lazy. 

Those guys were/are a hoot!

I was raised in a military family, so we were raised with the respect for the flag and national anthem and my kids were also raised the same way.  At races or other events I will just say "please have some respect" to the people near me and that is usually very effective.

During the Olympics Usian Bolt was being interviewed after his race and during the interview a medal presentation was going on in the background.  When they started playing the US national anthem, Bolt stopped the interview and stood at attention.

x2...every race I've been to, they just start playing and it takes a bit for people to realize it's going. Then people stand and get silent. 

That's cool.  He was both showing respect for a national anthem and showing respect for someone else's moment of glory.  That's really cool. 

So if Usain Bolt can do it.  Why can't everyone else?

I stand at attention and sing along (quietly).  My wife finds it odd but has not said anything all this time.

re:  people fidgeting - participants and athletes get a little slack, individually they should not be too distracting, but when you have a large group of nervous fidgeting people it does seem like you are stand in the middle of a group of chickens.