Many Americans have the day off. They’re looking forward to barbecues and picnics, parades, and games. Pursuit of happiness is good, albeit the Republic’s survival would be better served were Liberty pursued as vigorously as comforts and pleasures.
One way to connect with personal purpose is to reflect on those who came before us and endured great hardships and sacrifices, to bequeath to us, their heirs, a system of principles and laws designed to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”
Here is who I will be remembering today, a man I never knew because his time came and was then cut short before I was born:
My Uncle Nick did not make it back from WWII. He was so young, with a life ahead of him that he would never know, and gave “the last full measure of devotion,” sacrificing life, love, and family. Think about that.
I cannot imagine the agony my grandparents had to endure over the loss of their beloved only son. Over 50 years later, a friend visited the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery where he was laid to rest and brought back a photograph of his gravesite which I gave to my mother. She still wept at the loss of her kid brother.
I'm sure everyone here has special memories to reflect on today. Let those solemn remembrances come with introspection and a prayer: May we be worthy.
My grandmother's youngest brother was killed as a medic in Korea. He was only a little older than my dad and uncles and Grandma and Grandpa took him in as a boy after her parents died.
ReplyDeleteMy uncle sent his brother in the South Pacific the new book "God is my Co-Pilot". His brother never received it, as his B-24 Liberator flew off on a mission and did not return, fate unknown. The Pacific is a big place - even if enemy action did not bring a plane down, a navigational error or just plain bad luck (weather, mechanical failure) could. The book was returned to my uncle in North Carolina. The package stayed on the top shelf of his bedroom closet for the rest of his life.
ReplyDeleteMy Uncle, O'neil R. Linford, was flight engineer on a B-24 that was shot down in China in August of 1943. He was my Mom's younger brother. I don't think that she ever fully recovered from his death. He is who I think of on Memorial Day to remind myself of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
ReplyDeleteI've posted this here before.
ReplyDeleteI served with SSG Strickland. He was killed in a training accident on the Big Island of Hawaii in the mid 1980's. I haven't forgotten you.
Joe K