A Commemorative Marker....

I was unable to post last night, the wifi was turned off at the hotel I was staying in!  
So.... This is a day late blip..    .Friday I met up with AsburyDan and he took me around Little River, Calabash, A park, 2 cemetery's, and I'm not sure what else as It's been a day and the details are escaping me.
    Tonight's post is a commemorative marker at the cemetery of the church he and his lovely wife attend.  All of the veterans of the civil war that died in the Conferadte army have this marker on their grave.  It represents the family loss  for their fallen.  There is also a flag flying beside the grave.  It was the first Confederate flag.  Dan's great grandmother helped sew the original first flag.  It never flew in the battles because it was considered to look to my like the Revolutionary War Flag.  The flag that is now considered the Confederate flag was hastily made before the first battle.
     Several of the graves are marked with this marker and flag.  They are placed in respect to the family for their loss of life and grief.  It isn't a commemoration of whether the war was right or wrong, but respect for the family who's loved one died.
      The first extra is of another headstone that was hand chipped and carved for the family member.  Many years later, the edges were carved with electric tools to enhance the face.
     The second extra is the Vereen Gardens!   The family Vereen, came to this land before the reveloutinary  war.  The family had a white side and a black side.  The Vereen family donated all of the land and the Vereen cemetery to the state of North Carolina for all to enjoy.  Ben Vereen, the actor in the movie Roots, was born at the homestead.  He is a family member of the black side of this family, that enjoys full privileges and family honors.  Apparently the family honored all of their descendants openly.  
     The third extra is of the familial cemetery.  Some of the headstones dates show the passage of family members before the start of the war, others are after the war, and some more lately.  You will notice the flag by the block behind the angle.  The is the Revolutionary Flag that flew during that war.  The family members that fought in that war all duels, marked
   There was so much more at the Gardens that I got pictures of that there isn't enough space or time to relate to you.  The Gardens were wonderful!
     Extra 4 os of the battleship memorial, USS North Carolina located in Wilmington, NC.  After I left Dan, I drove to Wilmington  and visited the ship.  In all the years I have visit WW2 ships, I have never had so much open access to the interior of the ship.  I spent 3 hours on 7 decks, below the catwalks.  I was treated to seeing the galley, the scullery, the bunks, the mess halls, the showers, the laundry, the generators, the the piping, the wires, gauges, the duct work, all of the insides that made the ship a war machine.  We were allowed to stand on the gangways over the boilers that are on the keel that drive the ship from the drive shafts to the propeller!
    What was the greatest gift I received from that ship was a feeling of how the men worked, where they ate, slept, showered, got water tight hatches locked in each section, what they endured, and for the many who died.
     I enjoy many freedoms in the United States that others in the world don't have.  I was very moved and touched by the feeling on board, of bombs going off, to machine guns rat ta tat   tatting at dive bombing planes.  Once in the ships history  a torpedo bit the bow, flooding several decks.  The water tight doors were closed, men were trapped, to save the rest of the crew and the ship from sinking.   When you stand there, 6 decks below, ladders to climb up....  your below the water line.......  
I left the ship humbled, appreciative and grateful for the men who keep this country free.

    I wish to apologize to all my blip-friends  for not commenting on your journals.  I am now a day late,  had a fabulous day at New Bern today at the only palace in The US,  but that will have to be a story for another morning.....    I am safe and in the Outer Banks!