Author
Remembering veterans today: ‘It’s altogether fitting and proper’
Promptly at 5 p.m., every day, rain or shine, blizzard or heat, a volunteer bugler wearing a period World War I U.S. Army uniform stands at attention near the flagpole at the National World War One Memorial not far from the White House in Washington D.C. On a brilliant autumn day, I watched as a Black soldier attired […]
Remembering why we celebrate Memorial Day
These remarks were given today at Terrace Gardens Cemetery today (Memorial Day) in Billings: Thank you on a beautiful Montana morning. We are truly blessed in the “Big Sky” country: Vast skies, beautiful mountains and prairies, sunshine, fresh air, wonderful starlit evenings, the quiet, and above all—freedom. Freedom, like the big sky, is a beautiful […]
Judging history, soldiers and a battle nearly 150 years is an impossible task
Battlefield valor cannot be judged as good or bad. Individual valor is not a reprehensible stain, but a condition of the human experience when facing extreme danger. The Remove the Stain Act, reintroduced in Congress in 2021 (HR 2226/S1073) by Rep. Kai Kahele, D-Hawai’i, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, denigrates the valor of the American […]
Crow youth honor veterans in anticipation of Memorial Day Weekend
On Thursday, Army veteran Ed Saunders went to the Crow Agency. The following photos and account he wrote and agreed to share with the readers of the Daily Montanan: Today I went to Custer National Cemetery, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, at Crow Agency to decorate the eight Medal of Honor graves there. Disabled American […]
Who among us?
The winter day was cold. Montana cold. Frigid. Snow lingered. Brilliant sunshine and clear skies fooled people, making them believe warmth would come. It didn’t. Distant mountains and vast prairies surrounded the United States national cemetery on a high ridge overlooking a scenic river valley. Quiet conversations began among the elderly few gathering again at […]