Chamblee54

There was a meme on facebook this morning. “R.I.P. Justin Allen 23, Brett Linley 29, Matthew Weikert 29, Justus Bartett 27, Dave Santos 21, Jesse Reed 26, Matthew Johnson 21, Zachary Fisher 24, Brandon King 23, Christopher Goeke 23, and Sheldon Tate 27…. All Marines who gave their lives this week in Iran because of the Israeli war in Iran! There’s no media for them at all… not even a mention of their names. Please honor them by copying and pasting this post. R.I.P. It is the least we can do 🇺🇲 🇺🇲 🇺🇲 🇺🇲 💜✝️💜.”
The bs detector went off immediately. I googled “R.I.P. Justin Allen 23, Brett Linley 29, Matthew Weikert 29.” I quickly found this: “FACT CHECK: No Marines have died in Afghanistan this year.”
Marine Corps Times had links for the fallen Soldiers and Marines listed in the meme. “Army Sgt. Justin B. Allen, 23, of Coal Grove, Ohio; assigned to 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.; died July 18, 2010, in Zhari, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he was shot by insurgents while conducting combat operations.”
Snopes and Politifact had information about this gimmick. Apparently this meme comes up every now and then, with the name of the current conflict used.
“Please honor them by copying and pasting this post. R.I.P. It is the least we can do. 🇺🇲 🇺🇲 🇺🇲 🇺🇲 💜✝️💜” Does it really honor fallen soldiers to past a nonsense image on Facebook? To this observer, this meme is an insult to the memory of these troops. The insult is compounded by emojizing the American Flag, a Purple Heart, and the Cross. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur Rothstein took the social media picture in September 1942. “Detroit, Michigan Lathe operator at the Allison Motors plant.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah