Memorial Day is the one official day set aside to REMEMBER and HONOR all Troops who have paid the ultimate price in service to America. Last year, I was honored to share with you all a column written by Robert Stokely, proud dad of SGT Mike Stokely, who gave his life in Iraq on August 16, 2005. As always, Robert's words echo the hearts of other Gold Star Families I am so privileged to know and love.
Robert begins:
It is a day we have the opportunity to stop, even for a brief moment, and Remember With Honor the 1,000,000 or so men and women who gave their lives on the field of battle to found, protect and preserve our freedoms and American way of life. A high price was paid by each one of these men and women.
Some gave their tomorrows for us to have a new today each and every day. To say they were all in is an understatement. Those who had no children committed the tomorrows of future unborn generations who will now never be born.
And their families have paid a never ending price as well....
GO - read the rest - here.
The fact is, on this day many Families honour and remember their own loved ones who gave their all in service to an ideal greater than self. These lives, these loves rest in peace in cemetaries across America and around the globe, and yes, while every one of them is known to God, even those of us who love and respect our Troops - and their families - cannot know every one of them.
The National Moment of Remembrance is at 3 pm wherever you are. The National Moment of Remembrance, established by Congress (Public Law 106-579), asks Americans, wherever they are at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day, to pause in an act of national unity for a duration of one minute. The time 3 p.m. was chosen because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday. The Moment does not replace traditional Memorial Day events; rather, it is an act of national unity in which all Americans, alone or with family and friends, honor those who died in service to the United States. Each year at 3:00 p.m. on Memorial Day, Americans unite in a National Moment of Remembrance which honors America’s fallen and their families.
MY PROMISE I promise you dear soldier
to remember what you've done
all the sacrifices you have made
in battles lost and won.
I promise you dear soldier
that you will not have fought in vain
even when the years have come and gone
and only your tombstone does remain
I promise you dear soldier
a poppy I will wear
to show the world I'm proud of you
and that I will always care
I promise you dear soldier
to teach my children well
so that they will always remember
and to their children the stories tell
To you I make this promise
an oath straight from my heart
to never, ever forget you
and that in my life you have a part.
Lest that we forget
the terror that is war
and all that has been given
by those who fought before
written by Maria Sutherland
November 2000
(H/T E-Pals for Heroes)
Will you Remember With Honor?
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