It’s here again. Memorial Day.
I was talking to my Uncle Gerry last night and he asked me to take a moment today and think about the men (and women) who gave their lives for their country over the centuries. Yes, centuries. Uncle Gerry was in Korea, and while he doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about it, it clearly shaped much of his life. And, it took his hearing even though he pretends his hearing is fine, he’s partially deaf from the airplane engines that roared in his head. He’s not a complainer though, and never speaks of what he gave up or the nightmares that haunt him still. While we share some DNA, I am not like him. I would be singing about it and throwing it people’s faces all the time.
He told me yesterday that friendships like those made in the heat of battle are hard to replicate. I am not sure what that means, having never served myself, but I think that when you don’t know if today is a death day for yourself or your best buddy next to you, and that those beside you in the airplane, or on the ground, might make the difference between life and death and vice versa, I imagine it’s a bond that can’t be replicated in back yard barbeques, or pitches made together in corporate America.
Last Memorial Day, I wrote about the flags in Arlington Cemetery and how the military patrol Arlington making sure none of those flags stand at anything other than perfect posture. But today, this year, it’s not about the flags. In searching for some inspiration, I came across this quote.
We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them. -Francis A. Walker
So, this year, I would like to praise my uncle and those that served with him, before and after him, and those to come in the years to come. Bless you great people, you are an inspiration to us all.
