Memorial Day has become a day of picnics, parades and of course we cannot forget the day off from work "the unofficial" start of Summertime fun.
But I think we have forgotten the real reason this is a holiday. So below is my tribute to all those who have given so much, so we might enjoy the picnics, parades and the day off.
Please take a moment and reflect on this somber day.
3rd stanza of American the Beautiful:
O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
‘Til all success be nobleness, and ev’ry gain divine!
Memorial Day
PoemKelly Strong
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 died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
No, freedom isn’t 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, feedom isn’t free.
THANKYOU
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