Memorial Day
Some of this is republished from last year;
The other day, my friend, Matt Burden, wrote on Facebook that this weekend should absolutely include barbeques and picnics because that’s how our fallen warriors would want us to spend a weekend remembering them – that we can push all of the worries in the world to the side because of their sacrifice. His point was that we don’t need to visit graves, plant flags and flowers in veterans’ cemeteries to honor their last full measure of devotion. All we need to do is live a life worthy of their sacrifice, and the sacrifice of their families.
Most of those warriors would be embarrassed by the attention, well, I know I would. But then, I’m embarrassed when someone thanks me for my service. It’s not that I’m not grateful for their verbal expression of gratitude, it’s just that I never know what to say. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of every one of my friends and soldiers who have been lost because of their service to the American people. In my mind, what I’ve done doesn’t even approach that which they’ve done for this country and I honor their memory by living a life that they would consider worth what they gave to us.
In that regard, every day is Memorial Day for me. I don’t need to visit Arlington Cemetery and stand among the headstones. Everyday, I stand among the headstones in my mind.
Mostly, those warriors who went on before us, just want you to enjoy the life that they helped secure for you. Enjoying the time that you spend with your family and friends, doing the things with your life that make you smile is honoring the sacrifices that were made for you. I think “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” were all mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.
It’s not what you do one day out of the year that honors veterans, it’s what you do the other 364 days. It’s not the “thank you for your service” that matters, it’s what you say to me before you know that I’m a veteran.
So I hope you have an honorable Memorial Day weekend.
And there’s the Lee Brice song, “I Drive Your Truck”, that celebrates how Paul Monti remembers his son Jared Monti;
A few years ago, Tim Martin’s wife sent me this photo.
Another pal dropped by to see him for me on Memorial Day two years ago;
And one to add for this year is Sam Naomi, of the tall corn – he was TAH’s resident Korean War veteran who passed February 27th four days short of his 91st birthday.
AverageNCO sends this one that he visited yesterday;
Category: We Remember
Amen.
Word
Agreed, Jonn.
I wrote an article with a somewhat similar theme a couple of years ago, and I considered reprising it today. But Jonn’s post above is both more succinct and IMO apropos for Memorial Day.
“So long as we remember them, they are not truly gone.”
Peace out.
PFC Tamario Burkett 3/23/2003
LCpl Gregory Howman 9/15/04
Cpl Christopher Ebert 9/17/04
LCpl David Houck 11/26/04
Cpl Benny Cokerham III 10/21/05
LCpl Cliff Golla 9/1/06
LCpl Nathan Elrod 10/21/06
LCpl Noah Pier 2/16/10
Cpl Joshua Blankenship 7/16/10
This is who I’m remembering today.
Semper Fi Marines
Always in our hearts
Forever in our minds
Never forgotten
God please rest them well. Thank You for giving them to us, even for such a short time.
Now is the warrior dead, his brave hour done;
Stilled are the lips that seldom laughed or sighed.
I mourn that he will never see again
Red sunset flaming on Judea’s tents,
Nor know the kinship of his fellow men,
Nor storm the conquered city’s battlements.
He will not watch the wind comb fleecy clouds,
He will not feel the noonday sun blaze hot,
He will not know when quickening spring unshrouds
Each hill and plain and valley, but forgot
He will be one with all things he loved well.
Nor envy us who still in turmoil dwell.
Cpl Scott F. Andresen 13 MAY 69
He is not forgotten
Rest in eternal peace.
God bless each and every one of the great warriors that have given the ultimate for us to enjoy this day! God bless each and every one of their families that will no longer be able to be with the fallen. I thank every one of them and their families. I am so thankful that I am still here to enjoy this wonderful day. BZ to all that have passed before us. God bless all of you that have served. I thank each and every one of you!!
HM3(FMF) Travis Youngblood
SOC Michael Koch
Good Sailors that served their country with pride… and gave their lives for it.
Thanks to both of you for being part of my life. God Bless both of you and your families.
SSG James Enderle, 10 Dec 2003
One of the finest humans I have ever met.
Survived the war to die in a car accident when he got home….
My thoughts and heart to all of you who loved and lost… I raise a glass in celebration to all ho gave that last full measure.
P.S.
Jonn,
May I post this on my FB please?
Yep.
Thank you.
Praying for the families of my colleagues from MNF-I Command Group who were KIA on 20 Jan 2007 in southern Diyala Province, Iraq:
COL Brian Allgood
COL Paul Kelly
CSM Marilyn Gabbard
Rest In Peace, and not forgotten…
I sent this out to those on my “special” list today:
Taken from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:
“…..But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—….”
Remembering SGT Keith Coe, KIA 27 April 2010, Khalis Iraq. RIP brother.
Michael Ray Peddle … CPL USMC … 5JUL1970 … KIA RVN
The following is an excerpt from a short story I wrote decades ago concerning the death of a Corpsman who was KIA, RVN. I worked stateside with him prior to his going to Vietnam:
“Yet I am blessed to have called him friend for a time and thankful that, on this one night, he found joy and humor in his life, thought it was brought about by the sorrow of another’s death.”
To those who have passed before me, who accepted me for the person I am, who gave me a glimpse into their lives and whose influence helped to make me a better man …
‘Such is friendship that through it we love places and seasons … so friends impart favor even to the places where they dwell.’
Sure is getting dusty in here, hard to see the keyboard. Rest in Peace my brothers and sisters in arms.