I wanted to observe Memorial Day properly. Last year I posted a list of those within my family that have served in the armed forces. None of them lost their lives, but they gave up a significant amount of their time to serve their country. Something I find very amazing and am very grateful for their service and sacrifices. First I would like to post a few things on how we can honor this day appropriately...
Ways To Observe Memorial Day
Memorial Day reminds us of our duties towards the wounded soldiers and the bereaved families, orphans and widows of the dead soldiers. We should honor the dead by adorning their sacred remains with flowers and garlands and show our gratitude towards them in the following ways:
Adorning the graves of the soldiers with flags or flowers.
Visiting cemeteries and memorials.
Furling the American Flag at half-mast until noon.
Furling the 'POW/MIA Flag'.
Keep silence for a minute at 3 p.m., 'National Moment of Remembrance' and listen to Taps being played.
Take a pledge to aid the disabled veterans, widows, widowers and orphans of the dead and keep it.
You may support the efforts to restore the traditional day of observance of Memorial Day back to May 30th.
Offering thanks to the veterans and appreciating the ultimate sacrifices of the soldiers to the bereaved families personally may help too.
One of the ways I will observe the day is to post this. Here is a poem to help us on this day as well:
Freedom is not free
I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Service man saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.
I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.
LCDR Kelly Strong, USCG - Copyright 1981
I hope you all have a wonderful and peaceful Memorial Day....
Not to make light of this occasion but Millie wanted to show her support also, by wearing a patriotic bow in her hair.
