Memorial Day

[Guest_2]

Memorial Day is a very special day for me. A day of reflection on days gone by and a reminder to all of those that have given so much, even their lives so that all can enjoy the freedoms that we all have.

One thing we all share is that we all have a family member somewhere in our family tree that has served.

My American Legion will once again be spending the day going 7 different cemeteries to honor those that have gone before us. Our local Pastor will read the names of those that have pasted, our Color Guard will fire a 21 gun salute and finally our bugler will play taps. As the former Commander I can tell you it is a very moving ceremony and does make one think.

Please take a moment this weekend to reflect and remember our past and present service men and women.



Please take a moment and watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9BSMDcg27k

[thumper650]

Well said, Jim.

Thank You for your service.

[inuyasha]

Hi Jim
have a great day my dear friend and comrade


What is a Veteran?


Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.

Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.

Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.

You can't tell a vet just by looking.

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies
unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the
freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag."

Father Denis Edward O'Brien/USMC
For our Veterans


O Lord, today I thank You for our veterans, for their willingness to risk all so that our nation might dwell in peace and safety. May they find the honor and recognition they truly deserve. I pray that You will heal the physical, spiritual, and psychological wounds some of these veterans have suffered. Bring a lasting peace to those who mourn the loss of comrades. Help them to find Your love and mercy, so that they may cope with the actions they may have had to take while they served our country. Make them realize that the rules of engagement in war do not always follow the laws of Christianity, but give them solace by Your scripture passages that show them that sometimes battle is necessary for the common good. Amen.
Take care and ride safely my friends
Yours Hank

[Admin]

Great post, and thank you to all our Veterans! :tup: