While enjoying your day off due to the holiday, I hope everyone will take a moment to reflect upon and remember what the true meaning of Memorial Day is. I offer my sincere gratitude to those who have paid the ultimate price to secure our freedom and my thanks to those who are serving today.
Don Z.
Don,
Excellent post. My sentiments exactly.
Amen and ditto. That photo gives a tug at my heart. Thanks for your timely post.
Great pic to get the point across. I always take the kids aside on days like this to remind them what it is really designated for.
The Memorial Day sales REALLY get me steamed!!! I will not shop at a store during the time they are running the sales. I am just waiting for the announcer on the commericials to start saying “TENS OF THOUSANDS HAVE DIED SO YOU CAN SAVE!!!”. [:(!]
csmith–
My sentiments exactly. Let’s remember what this day is for and WHY, not go running off to the local Wal-Mart to save a few bucks on something we probably don’t need in the first place.
Tom
That photo illustrates why I feel so strongly about the flag.
Yesterday I saw a woman in tight shorts made to look as if it had been made from a flag. So, she would essentially be sitting on the flag every time she sat down.
Anyone who has ever seen a flag drape a coffin or seen a flag folded by an Honor Guard and handed to a grieving widow would have more respect than that. I have, and I do.
Although we tend to remember all veterans at Memorial Day (although that’s really what Veteran’s Day is for), the day is really to remember the ones who didn’t come back or who paid dearly enough that they didn’t come back whole. My wife recently lost a high school friend in Afghanistan. I’m lucky in that the guys we lost while I was in Iraq were ones I didn’t know personally… but they all had mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, or friends (someone who would miss them dearly). For all the friends I have in the military, none of them have been lost yet. My wife is still trying to get her head around her friend Willy, an Air Force Special Forces combat controller… she had no idea when I left the Marines for the Air Force he would still be in the thick of it. But then AF Special Ops guys don’t talk about what they do. Not your typical Chair Force, that’s for sure. His wife is pregnant with a third child he’ll never meet.
…and so it goes. And will go. Until we figure out a better way, anyway…
To all who have fallen in the defense of this nation and for freedom worldwide:
Thank you. May God honor your service and sacrifice by granting you peace and rest. May your families be comforted in the knowledge that their loss has brought greater gain for us all.
My recently passed father was a WWII vet. Though he survived the war, still he sacrificed three years of the prime of his life so that I may enjoy the life I now live. He completed his service over sixty years ago, but his headstone proudly bears the bronze plaque commemorating his Army service. When the flag that draped his coffin was folded by a small Army detail at his gravesite, it was one of the most simple yet powerful moments I have ever or will ever experience. All of those now with simple white headstones or bronze plaques have my eternal gratitude.
The debt we owe our Airmen Sailors and Soldiers can never be adequately repaid. I must agree Memorial Day as well as 4 July are days when all businesses and stores should be closed out of respect for those no longer with us and the independence of this country.
Thank You Veterans for what you have given us.
I just did a funeral for one of our finest two weeks ago, and even after 50 years, I was still moved to tears. I never miss a day in the train room with out recognizing that I am there because of good fortune and the sacrifice of others.
I visited the national cemetery here this weekend; the boy scouts had placed flags at all the markers. I recalled when I used to help my sons’ troops do the same in another community.
It was also nice to see lots of flags flying in the neighborhood today.
A picture is worth a 1000 words!!! I salute you!!
W. H. OBrien,Sgt, Army Air Corp,WWII. Purple Heart. My Dad.
Daniel J. OBrien,Spc4, Army,Vietnam.2 PH,Bronze Star.My brother.
William H. OBrien,Jr.,Lance Cpl.,Marines,Vietnam.PH. My other brother.
Thomas Benjiman,SFC, Army, WWII.PH. My Friend.
Jerome Schmid,TechSgt ,USAF, Korea.PH.My Friend.
Theodore Leyde,Pfc,Army,KIA,Vietnam.PH. My next door neighbor.
Yes, I am PROUD of each of them.
Thank you, All that have served.
Terry
I was told that in early April the father of a friend had passed. He drove M4s in either WWII or Korea. Thursday or Friday, I was reminded by someone on the radio that American armed service personnel are so good at their jobs, we usually don’t know or think about it. And it’s true, we are usually only told of the bad things. Even with the fuel prices as high as they are most Americans can go out camping, buy beer and hot dogs then crawl into their sleeping bags and usually the only worry on their mind is,“Will some wild animal get into my food tonight when I’m sleeping?” I know people who have wondered if they were going to get shot at or killed pumping fuel into a rig, eating a meal and sleeping in a sleeping bag. For some it was the last thing they ever did. They are the defenders of freedom. They are soldiers. God bless them all!
Every year since I recieved my honorable discharge my wife and I have driven to Arlington National Cemetary to be with my friends that did not make it back alive. I served during peace time, but there were still some that payed the ultimate price for our freedom.
For us, there is no greater rememberance than to lay a wreath and be with those fine men on Memorial Day. I miss them all.