BAND OF BROTHERS

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"We few, we happy few,

we band of brothers

For he to-day that

sheds his blood with me

shall be my brother"

William Shakespeare, "Henry V"

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Last year for Memorial Day, I wrote about my three Scottish Munro great-uncles who fought in World War I. Two were killed in the war, and one died afterward, as a result of being gassed.
This year, I honor my two American Munro uncles who fought in World War II, and made it back home afterward, to Crosby, ND.

Donnie fought in both the European and Pacific Theatres. His younger brother, Scotty, who dropped out of high school to join up, fought in Europe. He went back to school and graduated after the war.

Donald "Donnie" Munro

James "Scotty" Munro

Donnie and Scotty, you're both gone now, but this is for you, with love and gratitude:

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"These mist-covered mountains

Are a home now for me

But my home is the lowlands

And always will be

Some day you’ll return to

Your valleys and your farms

And you’ll no longer burn

To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction

Baptisms of fire

I’ve watched all your suffering

As the battles raged higher

And though they did hurt me so bad

In the fear and alarm

You did not desert me

My brothers in arms

There’s so many different worlds

So many differents suns

And we have just one world

But we live in different ones

Now the sun’s gone to hell

And the moon’s riding high

Let me bid you farewell

Every man has to die

But it’s written in the starlight

And every line on your palm

We’re fools to make war

On our brothers in arms"

"Brothers in Arms," Dire Straits

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Watch "Brothers in Arms" here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M9U1OU0MzU&feature=related

To learn about a true life WW II band of brothers in arms - the members of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division - watch "Band of Brothers", the excellent 2001 10-part miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. To learn more about it, go here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185906/