May 31, 2021 (Monday)
On this day we observe Memorial Day.
Millions of Americans have given their lives in the service of their country. On November 3 we honor all the veterans and on this day we pause to thank God for those military personnel who died while defending our freedoms. It is hard for Americans to distinguish the two days, as veterans are honored on Memorial Day and those who died are remembered on Veterans Day.
Memorial Day is looked upon as the unofficial start of summer but it was established as a solemn day of remembrance.
Freedom Is Not Free
– Kelly 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,
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, freedom isn’t free.
THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER
(WATCH IN FULL SCREEN MODE)
Click here to take a look at a site dedicated to Memorial Day