Memorial Day ~ Remember And Honor...

They are dead; but they live in each Patriot's breast,
And their names are engraven on honor's bright crest.
~~~~~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Memorial Day formerly known as Decoration Day has become a day our Nation uses to have big sales and family get-together's with BBQ's over a three day weekend. Yes, there are still Memorial Day Parades where towns and cities honor their own Fallen Heroes. They are becoming few and far between and sparsely attended.

Sad, that.

We have no greater obligation to our country than to remember those who gave their lives so that we remain "The Land of the Free and Home to the Brave". Those men and women who willingly paid the ultimate price while serving under our Flag, doing their utmost to deny those whose ideologies can't grasp the fact that freedom is what America represents to the rest of the world deserve that remembrance.

This Memorial Day, please take more than just a few minutes to remember ALL the lives that have been given freely and with honor.

Their only request is that we remember them...Will You?








Memorial Day and every day, I do.



And so it goes......

His Son, Mike...*Note*

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes.
~~~~~Walter M. Schirra, Sr.


No words can express how reading this makes me feel.

Mudville Gazette has re-posted a beautiful letter written in 2005 to honor the memory of a Hero; Sgt. Mike Stokely.

Please go read about Mike in a email from his dad, Robert.

Robert Stokely originally wrote the letter just four months after the death of his son, a touching tribute to the Hero that he raised and then had to bury.

Take the tissues with you, you're going to need them.

I can't fathom the strength required to endure such a tragedy. It's no wonder why Mike was such a wonderful young man and dedicated soldier with parents such as his.

No, Robert, your son is a hero not just in your eyes but in the eyes of America. Forever.


*Note* Brat has a beautiful tribute to Sgt. Mike Stokely. Please go visit and leave a comment for Mike's family. As she has written...ALWAYS REMEMBER.



And so it goes......