Monday, May 30, 2022

How we should remember, honor and protect the legacy of America's fallen veterans on Memorial Day - and protect our soldiers in future conflicts.

 How we should remember, honor and protect the legacy of America's fallen veterans on Memorial Day - and protect our soldiers in future conflicts.

 

Greg Krasovsky

May 30, 2022

 


Today, I decided to take some time away from my family and write this Memorial Day post.

It's easy to get taken away by the start of summer and all the usual rituals of Memorial Day Weekend, like barbeques, picnics, trips to the Shore and etc.
 
There's nothing wrong with celebrating the start of the American summer, especially after two years of COVID-19 restrictions.
 
But let's not forget the American soldiers who, while defending America, made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives!
 
So let's make time for a moment of silence today at the end of Memorial Day weekend to honor those who served our nation and have joined our Maker on the other side.
 
After all, Memorial Day is celebrated to honor American soldiers who have given their lives in the US Civil War, the World Wars, and other conflicts.

So, let's thank those who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms.

Let's recognize the sacrifices that these fallen soldiers made for us and thank their fellow soldiers, friends, and family.

Regardless of our political affiliation or stance on domestic & foreign policy, let's stand united in honoring the sacrifices made by our veterans to keep America free and safe.

But giving America's fallen heroes the honor that they are due is not enough.

We must make every effort to make sure that we will not forget them or the conflicts in which they lost their lives.

Since Memorial Day is a national holiday, let's come together today as a united people, despite our political differences, as American citizens and patriots to honor and protect our veterans!
 
Today, on Memorial Day we can try to unite as one people for a common cause-- and not just to remember, honor and value the sacrifices made by our fallen veterans for us.
 
Let's do everything in our power, both as individuals and a nation, to make sure that future combat losses among American warriors are prevented and/or kept to a minimum through sound political, economic, and military policy both at home and abroad.
 
How? Easy!

Let's help our current and future veterans stay out of harm's way by keeping them out of unnecessary and avoidable military conflicts & interventions.
 
Our regular soldiers are not experts in

    - geopolitics,
    - cold wars,
    - the power and influence of trans-national Military Industrial Complexes (MICs) and Financial Industrial Groups (FIGs) over governments and countries worldwide,  
    - globalism,
    - economic competition & warfare,
    - the insane willingness to consider using terrorism, false "Black Flag" operations, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons to achieve political & economic objectives (sometimes not even as a last resort!),  
    - government and private sector propaganda in mass and social media,
    - the control and manipulation of America's country's Intelligence Community by MICs and FIGs and
    - government & social control by large FIGs through
       -- education (public and private) on all levels (primary, secondary and higher) and
       -- popular entertainment, including Movies, TV, Music and popular literature (see below).
 
Frankly, neither are most Americans.
   
Instead, regular soldiers and officers are true patriots who follows the orders of their military chain-of-command, all the way up to the President, our elected commander and chief.
 
Who remembers these lines from Lord Alfred Tennyson's narrative poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854), about a "failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War" (see below), published just six weeks after the event!

    “Forward, the Light Brigade!”

    Was there a man dismayed?
    Not though the soldier knew
      Someone had blundered.  

     Theirs not to make reply,  
     Theirs not to reason why,  
     Theirs but to do and die.  

     Into the valley of Death  
     Rode the six hundred."
   
Aside from making one ask why the British were fighting Russians in Crimea (imperial & colonial geopolitics!) back in 1854 (obviously not to defend England & Wales from Russian invasion), let's think about how many thousands of American and British soldiers have died -- needlessly! -- in conflicts and military interventions with dubious connections to defending America's freedom and homeland from foreign enemies.

Yes, when it comes to regular soldiers, when their political and military leaders foolishly or needlessly send them into harm's way in conflicts started NOT to protect their people, homeland or "way of life", but to pursue the ruling elites' econo-political objectives around the world, "Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die." Period.  
 
Why you ask?

Because these conflicts were important, beneficial, or even necessary for the financial-industrial groups (FIGs) -- originally primarily domestic, but recently (thanks to globalization) substantially transnational.

FIGs that have funded and controlled America's two major political parties (Democrats & Republicans), these party's leading politicians on every level (local, state and federal), elected and appointed government officials and even senior civil servants in every branch (executive, legislative and judicial) of the American government (some call that the "Deep State").
 
FIGs that control over 90% of mass media and now social media as well -- and through them control what news the American citizen receives on TV, the Radio, and the Internet.

News coverage is tailored (i.e., altered and censored) to present the perspective that the FIGs need the population to accept in order to achieve their purposes -- which may not be in the best interest of regular Americans.
 
So, the American public gets the right news coverage to prepare it for war months if not years before it’s scheduled to start.
 
First, the enemy gets dehumanized, their leaders demonized, their objectives (even if just defensive) get painted as aggressive and threatening to the entire world and America, if the target country is halfway around the world.

How? The enemy is shown to

    - disregard international law and basic universal human rights,
    - beat, detain, torture, and incarcerate innocent peaceful protesters,
    - conspire and plan to attack America or its key allies,
    - support and/or direct terrorists, including their plans to strike the American Homeland,
    - interfere in the domestic affairs and politics of America and/or its allies
 
Usually, that's enough to put into place sanctions and embargoes against the target country, even if these measures hurt innocent people, including women and children who have no say in their country's government and are powerless to change it.
 
BTW, these sanctions are carefully chosen not just to hurt the target country (that's been found guilty without judge or jury) but to help (economically or politically) the ruling elites and FIGs of America and its allies.
 
Then in the months and weeks preceding the start of hostilities, the war drums start to beat and tug on the strings of every decent, peace-loving, law abiding and G-d fearing American.

How? The enemy is shown to

    - harbor plans for immediate or future attack against America,
    - use Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) - chemical, biological, nuclear, or even cyber-weapons,
    - be willing to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity,
    - hurt and kill helpless, vulnerable, and innocent elderly, women and children,
 
After that, it's time to start the holy war to protect America, democracy & freedom, America's allies & friends anywhere the world.

Especially when (actually, specifically because) there is money to be made in the target and/or adjoining country(ies) -- I'm talking about billions, sometime hundreds, sometimes even trillions over many years or decades -- from
 
    - supplying (i.e. selling) weapons and other necessities & logistical support to the war effort,
 
    - confiscating the target country's gold & currency reserves abroad,
    - oil & natural gas
    - precious metals & stones (gold, silver, diamonds, palladium, titanium, etc.)
    - other precious & rare metals
    - ores in high demand (iron, copper, nickel, aluminum)
    - agricultural land & commodities (wheat, barley, oats, corn, soy, potatoes, sugar, salt & etc.)
    - fresh water supplies
    - other extractable & exportable natural resources (like lumber, construction-grade sand)
    - key geographic location (including land, air, and sea corridors)
    - human resources (including cheap labor and key highly educated and trained specialists in strategic industries)
 
So hostilities start, regardless if they are official wars (with the necessary congressional approval) or special military operations based on presidential findings, and American veterans start to die.
 
Some will die as true heroes by defending their fellow soldiers, some by going against insurmountable odds on the battlefield, some continuing the fight even when gravely or fatally injured.
 
Their bodies will be shipped home with honor and dignity, their families and loved ones will weep and suffer their loss, some will be buried as All American heroes at Arlington National Cemetery.

But if these true patriots are sent to the battlefield for the wrong reasons (i.e. financial gain & political power) by politicians who have sold their soul long time ago to special interests that own them (the ruling elites and trans-national FIGs), then we have failed once more to protect our citizen-soldiers.    

If we want to protect our country's population (and taxpayers) from being used and our soldiers from being killed to make some FIGs more money and to give them even more political power, then we need to become united and stay vigilant in keeping these nefarious MICs and FIGs in check, including by

- reducing their power and money base by voting with our wallets and feet (by refusing to buy their products and services and to work for them)

- avoiding the news & mass media outlets that they own or control and refusing to believe the news they broadcast, print or upload online without rigorous fact-checking from independent sources,

- understanding the propaganda content of the entertainment (movies, TV shows, Music and popular art & literature)

- removing their influence from educational curriculum in America's schools and universities,
    
- reducing their influence of the Democratic and Republican Parties and their politicians,
- removing their money from electoral campaigns on every level of government,
- curtailing their influence in all branches of government,
- removing their control from over America's military leadership and the Intelligence Community,

- removing their ability to influence the executive branch to start military conflicts abroad without full justification before and oversight by the American people.


Sound good?

Then please read the quotes below, especially by U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, author of "War Is A Racket"
 
Regardless, please let me know what you think!
 
P.S. You may want to read these posts:

War in Ukraine - A modern example of how indispensable but expendable universal soldiers and ordinary people become victims and participants in the business (racket) of war.

The Ukrainian-Russian-American Observer
Wednesday, February 23, 2022

https://ura-observer.blogspot.com/2022/02/war-in-ukraine-modern-example-of-how.html


Beyond Ukraine - an echo of Dr. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech from April 4, 1967!  

The Ukrainian-Russian-American Observer
Monday, April 4, 2022

https://ura-observer.blogspot.com/2022/04/beyond-ukraine-echo-of-dr-kings-beyond.html
 
***

 
Honor Our Heroes With These Memorial Day Messages and Quotes
 
Famous Memorial Day Quotes
 
    “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy

    “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy
 
    “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” – Joseph Campbell

    “Heroes never die. They live on forever in the hearts and minds of those who would follow in their footsteps.” – Emily Potter

    “Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

    “Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.” – Elie Wiesel

    “The highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country.” – George S. Patton, Jr.

    “Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.” – Sun Tzu
 
    “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Honorable Memorial Day Quotes

Sometimes a card or party decor calls for an inspiring or heartwarming quote of remembrance. These Memorial Day quotes pay respects to those servicemen and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice, while carrying the spirit of their legacy.

    “May we never forget that freedom isn’t free.”

    “In memory of many, in memory of all”

    “We don’t know them all, but we owe them all.”

    “Fallen, but not forgotten”

    “Our flag doesn’t fly because the wind moves it, but because of the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.”

    “We come not to mourn our dead heroes but to praise them.”

    “We stand for the flag, we kneel for the fallen.”

    “All gave some, some gave all. Remember them this Memorial Day.”

    “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”

https://www.greenvelope.com/blog/memorial-day-message
 
***

War Is A Racket
By Major General Smedley Butler

https://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html

***

Smedley D. Butler Quotes
 
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers.

In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914.

I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in.

I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.

I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912.

I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916.

I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903.

In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.

Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints.

The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts.

I operated on three continents.”
    
“WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”

 
“I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”


“To summarize: Three steps must be taken to smash the war racket. 1. We must take the profit out of war. 2. We must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war. 3. We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes.”


“Beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die. The was the "war to end wars." This was the "war to make the world safe for democracy." No one told them that dollars and cents were the real reason. No one mentioned to them, as they marched away, that their going and their dying would mean huge war profits. No one told these American soldiers that they might be shot down by bullets made by their own brothers here. No one told them that the ships on which they were going to cross might be torpedoed by submarines built with United State patents. They were just told it was to be a "glorious adventure".

Thus, having stuffed patriotism down their throats, it was decided to make them help pay for the war, too. So, we gave them the large salary of $30 a month!

All that they had to do for this munificent sum was to leave their dear ones behind, give up their jobs, lie in swampy trenches, eat canned willy (when they could get it) and kill and kill and kill...and be killed”


“There are only two reasons why you should ever be asked to give your youngsters. One is defense of our homes. The other is the defense of our Bill of Rights and particularly the right to worship God as we see fit. Every other reason advanced for the murder of young men is a racket, pure and simple.”


“In a 1931 speech, Butler recounted a story about Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, how he had run over a child with his car, and said, as he moved on, “It was only one life. What is one life in the affairs of the State.”


“Let the workers in these plants get the same wages -- all the workers, all presidents, all executives, all directors, all managers, all bankers -- yes, and all generals and all admirals and all officers and all politicians and all government office holders -- everyone in the nation be restricted to a total monthly income not to exceed that paid to the soldier in the trenches!   Let all these kings and tycoons and masters of business and all those workers in industry and all our senators and governors and majors pay half of their monthly $30 wage to their families and pay war risk insurance and buy Liberty Bonds.   Why shouldn't they?   They aren't running any risk of being killed or of having their bodies mangled or their minds shattered. They aren't sleeping in muddy trenches. They aren't hungry. The soldiers are!   Give capital and industry and labor thirty days to think it over and you will find, by that time, there will be no war. That will smash the war racket -- that and nothing else.   Maybe”


“A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.   In”


“In the World War, we used propaganda to make the boys accept conscription. They were made to feel ashamed if they didn't join the army.”


“Beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die. This was the “war to end wars.” This was the “war to make the world safe for democracy.” No one told them that dollars and cents were the real reason. No one mentioned to them, as they marched away, that their going and their dying would mean huge war profits. No one told these American soldiers that they might be shot down by bullets made by their own brothers here. No one told them that the ships on which they were going to cross might be torpedoed by submarines built with United States patents. They were just told it was to be a “glorious adventure.”


“Only those who would be called upon to risk their lives for their country should have the privilege of voting to determine whether the nation should go to war.   There”


“The only way to smash this racket is to conscript capital and industry and labor before the nations manhood can be conscripted.”
 

“Yes, we have had disarmament conferences and limitations of arms conferences. They don't
mean a thing. One has just failed; the results of another have been nullified. We send our professional soldiers and our sailors and our politicians and our diplomats to these conferences. And what happens?
The professional soldiers and sailors don't want to disarm. No admiral wants to be without a
ship. No general wants to be without a command. Both mean men without jobs. They are not for disarmament. They cannot be for limitations of arms. And at all these conferences, lurking in the background but all-powerful, just the same, are the sinister agents of those who profit by war. They see to it that these conferences do not disarm or seriously limit armaments.”


“I have visited eighteen government hospitals for veterans. In them are a total of about 50,000 destroyed men -- men who were the pick of the nation eighteen years ago. The very able chief surgeon at the government hospital; at Milwaukee, where there are 3,800 of the living dead, told me that mortality among veterans is three times as great as among those who stayed at home.   Boys”
“AL INFIERNO CON LA GUERRA”
 
“Victory or defeat will be determined by the skill and ingenuity of our scientists. If we put them to work making poison gas and more and more fiendish mechanical and explosive instruments of destruction, they will have no time for the constructive job of creating greater prosperity for all peoples.”
 
“The normal profits of a business concern in the United States are six, eight, ten, and sometimes twelve percent. But war-time profits -- ah! that is another matter -- twenty, sixty, one hundred, three hundred, and even eighteen hundred per cent -- the sky is the limit. All that traffic will bear. Uncle Sam has the money. Let's get it.   Of”
 
 
“In the World War, we used propaganda to make the boys accept conscription. They were made to feel ashamed if they didn't join the army.   So vicious was this war propaganda that even God was brought into it. With few exceptions our clergymen joined in the clamor to kill, kill, kill. To kill the Germans. God is on our side . . . it is His will that the Germans be killed.   And”


“Beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die. This was the "war to end all wars." This was the "war to make the world safe for democracy." No one mentioned to them, as they marched away, that their going and their dying would mean huge war profits. No one told these American soldiers that they might be shot down by bullets made by their own brothers here. No one told them that the ships on which they were going to cross might be torpedoed by submarines built with United States patents. They were just told it was to be a "glorious adventure."   Thus,”


“Then, the most crowning insolence of all -- he was virtually blackjacked into paying for his own ammunition, clothing, and food by being made to buy Liberty Bonds. Most soldiers got no money at all on pay days.   We made them buy Liberty Bonds at $100 and then we bought them back -- when they came back from the war and couldn't find work -- at $84 and $86. And the soldiers bought about $2,000,000,000 worth of these bonds!   Yes,”
 
 
“... I spent most of my [33 years in the Marine Corps] being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers.
In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for [crony] capitalism.”


“Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!   “Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth into battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended in the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames in summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it —   For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimmage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!   We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.   (After a pause.) “Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits.”   …”


“To summarize: Three steps must be taken to smash the war racket.   We must take the profit out of war.   We must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war.   We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes.    ”


“Airplane and engine manufacturers felt they, too, should get their just profits out of this war. Why not? Everybody else was getting theirs. So $1,000,000,000—count them if you live long enough—was spent by Uncle Sam in building airplanes and airplane engines that never left the ground! Not one plane, or motor, out of the billion dollarsʼ worth ordered, ever got into a battle in France. Just the same the manufacturers made their little profit of 30, 100 or perhaps 300 per cent.”
 

“The shipbuilders felt they should come in on some of it, too. They built a lot of ships that made a lot of profit. More than $3,000,000,000 worth. Some to the ships were all right. But $635,000,000 worth of them were made of wood and wouldnʼt float! The seams opened up—and they sank. We paid for them, though. And somebody pocketed the profits.”
 

“It has been estimated by statisticians and economists and researchers that the war cost your Uncle Sam $52,000,000,000. Of this sum, $39,000,000,000 was expended in the actual war period. This expenditure yielded $16,000,000,000 in profits. That is how the 21,000 billionaires and millionaires got that way. This $16,000,000,000 profits is not to be sneezed at. It is quite a tidy sum. And it went to a very few.”


“If we put them to work making poison gas and more and more fiendish mechanical and explosive instruments of destruction, they will have no time for the constructive job of building a greater prosperity for all peoples. By putting them to this useful job, we can all make more money out of peace than we can out of war—even the munition makers. So ... I say, “TO HELL WITH WAR!”
 
 
“And even now the families of the wounded men and of the mentally broken and those who never were able to readjust themselves are still suffering and still paying.   Picture of a WW1 soldier whose jaw was shot”
 
 
“The active pacifists, however, are not of this class: they are not men without impulsive force but men in whom some impulse to which war is hostile is strong enough to overcome the impulses that lead to war.”

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/115545.Smedley_D_Butler


***
 
Suicides among US veterans (near 20/day), one of the greatest crises of our time; 2019 saw 6,261 vet suicide deaths; they suffer in silence & we have failed to give the right mental health treatment

These graphs are staggering for it shows the suicides are elevated & stably so; why would we be sending Ukraine $40 billion & more when we have such loss in our people? Tim Chambers, 'Saluting Marine'

Dr. Paul Alexander
May 30, 2022
 
This is a real crisis we are experiencing, among people who sacrificed for us and laid down their lives. In the past and today.

There must be accountability to the veteran for the failures to them.

‘It is estimated that 37,085 Veterans were homeless and 14,345 were living on the street or unsheltered on any given night in 2019.’

Important source:

Veteran suicide data
 
https://palexander.substack.com/p/suicides-among-us-veterans-near-20day

***
 

The Charge of the Light Brigade
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
 

I
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.

II
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
   Someone had blundered.
   Theirs not to make reply,
   Theirs not to reason why,
   Theirs but to do and die.
   Into the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.

III
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
   Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
   Rode the six hundred.

IV
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
   All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre stroke
   Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not
   Not the six hundred.

V
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
   Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell.
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
   Left of six hundred.

VI
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
   All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
   Noble six hundred!
 

n/a
Source: 2017-11-01

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45319/the-charge-of-the-light-brigade
 
***

Charge of the Light Brigade
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
The Charge of the Light Brigade was a failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War.

Lord Raglan had intended to send the Light Brigade to prevent the Russians from removing captured guns from overrun Turkish positions, a task for which the light cavalry were well-suited.

However, there was miscommunication in the chain of command and the Light Brigade was instead sent on a frontal assault against a different artillery battery, one well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire.

The Light Brigade reached the battery under withering direct fire and scattered some of the gunners, but they were forced to retreat immediately, and the assault ended with very high British casualties and no decisive gains.

The events were the subject of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's narrative poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854), published just six weeks after the event.
Its lines emphasise the valour of the cavalry in bravely carrying out their orders, regardless of the nearly inevitable outcome.

Responsibility for the miscommunication has remained controversial, as the order was vague and Captain Louis Nolan delivered the written orders with some verbal interpretation, then died in the first minute of the assault.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade

***
 

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