MEMORIAL DAY

The young soldier lay in the field feeling the chill of the mud as it soaked into his tattered uniform and cooled his cheek.  He lifted his head, and tried to close his nostrils to keep the stench of sulfur from choking him.  As he took a last look past the bodies of other fallen soldiers, he heard the agony of men dying in pain.  The young man, a husband and father could make out the dirty and torn flag waving in the air through the mist and smoke.   The soldier knew he would never see his family again as he breathed his last.  This scene has been repeated over and over, war after war, for various reasons all across the globe.

This brave volunteer, one of millions who chose to make the ultimate sacrifice defending our way of life, will be but a footnote in history.  No one will build a statue of him.  No one will study him in school.  Future generations in his own family will not even remember his name.  Oh, he may have his name listed on some monument somewhere along with others from his home town in some memorial.  But the valor of this soldier and hundred of thousand others just like him have made this country what it is today.

My Fathers generation, called the “Greatest Generation,”  fought one of the most deadly and brutal wars in world history.  This generation began life by surviving the Great Depression.  That experience developed not only their moral fiber but also their strong will and determination.  Most of the returning vets refused to tell war stories.  They chose to just get on with their lives and rebuilt the country.  But this is the war where the most soldiers fell.  We need to remember them.

Bill O’Reilly on Fox News runs a segment called “Watters World” where they show how stupid people on the street are about our country and our history.  For those who watch, there is laughter at how uninformed young Americans are about our past.  But, when we do not know our history, and do not understand what past decisions were made and why, then we are prone to make those mistakes again in the future.

Our schools do not teach American History anymore.  The youth of today does not even know the name of past wars, who fought it, why, or who won.  They just “Google” it if they want to know something.  Let me ask, Who will input the information for Google?

Memorial Day is a day for us to remember the fallen soldiers from all the military actions, from all the past wars, even if the youth of today have no knowledge of our past.  It is a time to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom and way of life.

We need to fly our flags in remembrance of this sacrifice.  There are far too many flags that adorned caskets of our best and brightest.  We need to remember the sacrifices the families endured by giving their sons and daughters to us.  A national moment of silence is to take place at 3 P.M. Eastern Daylight Savings Time.  Spend a few minutes to remember.