Memorial Day

I am the voice of America’s fallen patriots. I am a soldier, Sailor, A Marine, Airman, and A Coastguardsman. I am the young man or woman who set aside my dreams, gave up my job and left my beloved family to don the uniform of my country and fight for freedom in a far away land when duty called for me to do so. I served with General George Washington at Valley Forge. I was there in 1914 to fight World War l and again in 1939 for World War ll. I struggled across the frozen battlefields in Korea, fought in the steaming jungles of Vietnam. I endured the deserts of Saudi Arabia as I helped liberate Kuwait. I went to Iraq after the terrorism attack on 9-11. I went to Afghanistan in search of the terrorist leaders.  I died at the hands of my captors when I became a Prisoner of War, but still I have always been there when freedom and democracy was in danger.
I am not here today because I gave my life for what I believed in. I died in the arms of my fellow soldier whose tears for my passing mixed with my blood as he held my head in his arms and comforted me while I left this life. I am not present in body, but never doubt I am present in spirit. I am here in the furls of the Grand old’ Stars and Stripes you raise each morning in my honor. I am the face on the statues you carved in bronze to remember me by. My name might appear on a Black Granite Wall you erected in Washington DC. But most of all, I am here in the memories of the veterans who survived the wars I fought, the families who gave me up when I came home to be buried. I think of the children who grew up without my guidance, the families and loved ones of those of us who are still not home. Yes I am in every heart and mind this day.
I was dismayed and hurt when you brought me home from Southeast Asia to a nation ungrateful and uncaring for the sacrifices I made, but my spirits were again uplifted when you remembered me as you supported my brothers and sisters who stood in the sands of Saudi Arabia. The cheers were belated, but they helped to heal the hurt of my former homecoming. I was proud of the support given to my brothers and sisters during the war in Iraq, which is still going on.
I do not wish to be remembered as a hero. If my actions in battle were heroic, it was not to make me a hero, it was because I believed in my country and I believed in freedom and freedoms way of life. If I saved my fellow soldier’s life and gave my own in doing so, I did it because he was my friend and fought for the same principals I fought for. He would have done the same for me given the same chances. If you wish to remember me as a hero, remember me as a champion of Freedom and Democracy for the Greatest Nation on Earth, the United States of America. Remember me when your country’s Armed Forces again need your support in future conflicts.
Remember me when you cast your vote for the leaders who must continue to preserve the way of life I died for. Ensure the ideals I fought for are never taken from you, for if they slip from your grasp, I will have died in vein and the whole concept of freedom will be lost forever.
             Remember that I am the reason you have gathered here today, I am the reason you are able to congregate without fear of repression or hostile actions to prevent you from doing so. I am the reason you are able to experience the magnificent grandeur of a country untouched by the hand of the enemy and not scared by the terrible weapons of war he brings with him.
Before you pass from this life, ensure that what I did for my country is not forgotten in the memories of your children and all the future generations that must carry on the principals I died for. Instill in them the same Patriotism you demonstrate here today. Teach them that our Nation and our way of life, though not perfect by any means, is by far the best to be found on the face of this Earth and giving of myself is the reason for it.
             If you will do these things I have asked, then I will join you again next year when you honor me once more, and I will rest in peace knowing the greatest nation on Earth, the United States of America will never parish.
GOD BLESS AMERICA THE LAND OF THE PROUD, THE FREE…