May 30th ~ Memorial Day

Memorial Day honors the American Military who have died in their service for their country.

Before proceeding, please stop, and take a moment to silently REMEMBER those who gave the
ultimate sacrifice in preserving OUR precious freedom!

This weekend is Memorial Day. A day when America remembers and pays tribute to her fallen Soldiers. Or at least that is what they should be doing. Actually they should be remembered "every day" For without them (our soldiers) and the "ultimate sacrifice" so many made in doing their job, we would not be waking up to blue skies, getting ready for summer Bar-b-cues and planning summer vacations.

Instead, we might be sitting in a heap of rubble right now. Waking up instead to bleak skies. And instead of getting ready for summer Bar-b-cues, we'd be trying to figure where our next meal would come from and how we would feed our families. Instead of planning our summer vacation, we would be planning where we would sleep tonight and where we could seek shelter for our family.

It is our Soldiers that protect and guard our freedoms. Many times at great sacrifices to themselves. To me that is a Hero.. One who puts others before him or herself. The job of being a soldier is more involved than many of us know. And the more I learn about it the more in awe I am of these great men and women. Our Police and Firefighters fall in this same category as well. These jobs all require "special" people.

I will be headed for DC this weekend to honor our fallen soldiers,
from all wars. For they surely ARE NOT FORGOTTEN!
As well as offering my prayers for those who serve today.

My humble thanks to all our Military Men and Women for watching, defending, and protecting this great land of ours. Those who didn't make it home, my prayers go out to your families and children left behind. Some of whom never got to know you. They are proud I am sure, but it is a sad proudness. Because no matter what, a loss is always felt deeply and for some will be felt always..

To those soldiers who lost so many friends and feel the pain and
guilt of having made it back, when they didn't. That haunting question, "Why him, why not me?". My prayers go out for you as well.
I have no answers and know that no matter what one can say to you,
it will neither take the pain away or answer that question for you. Only "one" person can, and when your time comes to meet with your maker, I am sure that question will be top of your list, as well as a few other ones I'm sure.

Memorial Day is the day we remember and honor those who lost their lives fighting for our nation in ALL wars. Please take a few moments now to remember our Fallen Soldiers, by reading and visiting some of the following links I've posted.

To all of you, God Bless and have a "safe" Memorial Week-end.!

When my sons where younger and in Scouting, one of the things
we did each Memorial Day Week-end, was to visit the local veterans cemetery and put flags at each of the markers/stones.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands, we throw
The torch-Be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The making of this poem by John McCrae

Symbolism of the Poppy

The red petals stand for the vast outpouring of blood;
the yellow and black center, the mud and desolation of all battlefields; the green of the stem is symbolic of the forests, meadows and fields where generations of Americans have perished to make generations free. The stem represents the courage and determination of our fallen warriors. The assembled product, a flower, is a symbol of Resurrection, which is sure to follow.

The papaver rhoeus (or poppy to most of us) was brought to Europe by the Romans. The poppy thrived in the fields of Flanders. In 1915 Canadian Col. John McRae wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields". In 1918 McRae died and among his dying words were "Tell them this, if ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep". American poet Moina Michael was so touched by these words that she vowed to wear a poppy for the remainder of her life. In France, Madame Yvonee Guerin proposed the women make artificial poppies to raise funds for the destitue and disabled. In America, disabled and hospitalized veterans began making the artificial poppies and it became a project of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The workers were paid a penny a piece for them. In 1924 the V.F.W. copyrighted the designation "Buddy" Poppy. The V.F.W. purchases the poppies from the disabled and hospitalized veterans who make them and offer them to the public for donation. All monies raised are returned to needy veterans and their families through various programs. The poppy is generally accepted as a symbol of remembrance of those who have died in wars.

"Freedom Is Not Free"

Author Unknown

I watched the flag pass by one day. It fluttered in the breeze
A young Marine saluted it, and then He stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform, so young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought, how many men like him, had fallen through the years?

How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many Pilots' planes shot down?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?

No, Freedom is not free.

I heard the sound of taps one night, when everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play and felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times, that taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin, of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children, of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands, with interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard at the bottom of the sea,
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.

No, Freedom isn't free!!