Bury Me Broken

Happy Memorial Day

I would first like to express my appreciation and thanks to the men and women in uniform currently serving to protect this country, in Afghanistan and Iraq, throughout the entire Middle East, in Europe and Asia and at home in the United States. We have no other career in the United States that requires the dedication, the risk of life and whose success is the only way in which this country can continue to be a blessing to its millions of citizens through its continued existence.

Many people can take this holiday to be with family and loved ones. Those that serve the public may have to work for a portion of the day as well as those that work in critical capacities such as police officers, firemen, doctors and nurses. On the other hand, there are tens of thousands of servicemen across the globe that will only hear from family and loved ones by phone, that can only pray for the safety and security of their family while standing guard to secure it far from home. Their dedication is to be lauded today as we shoot fireworks and eat barbecue; it is they that make this day possible.

I would also like to express my personal gratitude to the men and women that have served in wars past. I salute the veterans of foreign wars that are commemorated on this day. I hope that their hearts are bursting with the displays of fireworks, watching children at play and seeing Old Glory wave in the wind, a symbol of their sacrifice to keep this nation protected.

To those who have exited this plane for another, I also express personal gratitude. Men began this country with a concept of freedom and we strive toward this ideal daily. Many men answered the call and served in militia in order for this nation to assert its independence from Great Britain. There are thousands of heroes, millions of men and women that donned uniforms and fought in the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the World Wars as well as recently in the Korean War, war in Vietnam, the Gulf War and our interventions in Grenada, Panama, Kosovo, Somalia, Bosnia and presently Afghanistan and Iraq.

I also give thanks to my father. My earliest recollections of him in uniform and stories of standing out in blizzard weather in Newfoundland guarding jets in the Air Force inspired me to do my best which included a short stint in the Army Reserve.

posted by niteskolar @ 9:33 AM