I’ll be taking Memorial Day off. If you are in DC for the holiday I highly reccomend the exhibit of WWII photos in Union station, where I passed a very pleasant hour wating for a train. Best wishes to all veterans of all wars (on all sides). Given that I just visited Turkey, I thought these words of Turkish leader Ataturk (who led the Turkish army at Gallipoli), written to a group of Australian parents visiting Gallipoli in 1934, are very appropriate:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives; You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears;your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.