As a Nation we have set aside today to remember the people that have died serving our country and its people. Yes, this means you and me. Our Nation’s flag is to be raised at dawn to the top of the flag pole and slowly lowered to half staff where it is to remain until noon. This is for the memory of the fallen. At noon the flag is to be raised up again to full staff so that we will not forget.
Freedom is not free!
The greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their children. -William Havard
We forget the cost of our freedom, the rights we were born with, the struggles of the founding fathers of our country. I have visited the places with the names of those who have died. These are places of redemption, quietness, and reflection. There are too many names, overwhelming:
Each star represents 100 Americans who died in World War II.
There is a place in our country where there is an unmarked grave. It has an armed honor guard that is wearing a well worn path looking both ways–remembering, guarding, and respecting those who are laid to rest there.
These heroes are dead. They died for liberty – they died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless Place of Rest. Earth may run red with other wars – they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation. ~Henry Ward Beecher
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier looks over our Nation’s capital, bearing a witness if you choose to look up.
We tend to forget that our freedom is not free. A price has been paid for freedom. We also forget that the price for peace and freedom was paid long ago on a Cross.
