The issue was not about whether or not to have a statue and honor Major Roberts. It was about holding the dedication for the statue on Memorial Day - a hallowed day reserved for those who served this nation and not for someone who did not. It would've been all well and good if another day had been chosen.

He fought for America but not for Independence, after some 200 years I would thought just a little bit more understanding could be applied. There seems to far more acceptance of the two sides in the Civil War, than the war of Independence. When the War of Independence was fought the two sides had just as many ties between the Countries as the two sides of the Civil War had. Was war of Independence fought with greater bloodshed or where any more atrocities committed which makes so much worse that he can't be accepted as the father of the Regiment.[/url]

Originally Posted by LeEnfield

He fought for America but not for Independence

That's exactly the point. Memorial Day is only for those who fought for this country since it became a sovereign nation.

How would you feel about a statue dedicated to Canute for example on Trafalgar Day? Just not appropriate timing is all, nothing more and no disrespect to Major Roberts.

Let us not forget that Memorial Day is the one day a year we honor our war dead as a nation. It isn't "just another day".

Charge 7......You have lost me, Just what has King Canute got to do with Trafalgar Day. The king sat on the beach and ordered the tide not to come in, funnily enough it ignored him and his threats, over a thousand years later Nelson fought the Battle at Trafalgar, Now just how are these two incidents related as I would love to hear.

Originally Posted by LeEnfield

Charge 7......You have lost me, Just what has King Canute got to do with Trafalgar Day. .

Again, you are missing the point. That was called a sarcastic reference. Canute has as much to do with Trafalgar Day as Major Roberts has to do with Memorial Day - that was the point.

Okay Charge7....not being an American I will bow to your more intimate knowledge on these matters.

Originally Posted by Duty Honor Country

It is not everyday that something that has to do with history makes it into the news. It seems that NY is honoring Major Robert Rogers, the father of the US Army Rangers, this Memorial Day. Major Rogers fought well during the Indian campaigns but fought for the British during the American Revolution

What do you all think?

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. - Maj. Robert Rogers, the frontiersman whose 18th century manual on guerrilla warfare has become a blueprint for Army Ranger fighting tactics, is getting what some consider a long-overdue honor: a statue in his memory. But some veterans believe unveiling the monument on Memorial Day is insensitive because Rogers was loyal to England during the Revolutionary War.
"I think it's a travesty that we would think about honoring a person, especially someone who fought against us, on that day," said Bob Bearor, who served in the Army's 101st Airborne Division in the 1960s. "It's a sacred day. ... Let's honor our dead who died for our country."

The life-size bronze statue is scheduled to be unveiled during a ceremony on Rogers Island in the Hudson River, 40 miles north of Albany. The island served as the base camp for Rogers' Rangers during the late 1750s, when the British and French fought for control of North America.

REAM MORE

Of cause honor the man who was instrumental in saving the colony, do not forget this was before the War Of Indep.It is quite likely that without him you would not have survived the Indian Wars.And so he served the Brits, a lot of colonists did,Wasn,t that what you fought for, Independence in all things.i.e. Freedom to choose.

Originally Posted by greenarmy1980

I am also sure though, that there would be some sort of protest or negative sentiment from some veterans for commissioning the statue in the first place since he fought against our constitution.

He fought against our Independence, the Constitution came later.