A solemn day for all Americans
May 31, 2010 (Monday)
Today is Memorial Day. On this day we honor those who have died in the service of this country. To date 1,223,198 military people have died in all the wars fought by this nation. All the numbers, classified according to wars and other facts, can be found by clicking here. Update the section on Iraq and Afghanistan to 5.462 who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror. The Washington Post has an ongoing news item, listing them and displaying their photographs. Click here to see it.Last night, on PBS, we saw the National Concert for Memorial Day, and the closing song was introduced as “The Second National Anthem,” a description I personally liked very much, because I think it really should be the national anthem: “Oh, Beautiful for Spacious Skies.” The chorus never fails to stir my heart and nearly always brings tears to my eyes and chills in my spine: “America! America! God shed His grace on thee..”
Those who have served, and are serving now, in the armed forces of this great land, have made our freedoms possible. All around the world are cemeteries, with row on row of grave markers for Americans who have died in the cause of freedom for all people. Let us take the time this Memorial Day to honor those who died to make freedom possible for all of us.
