A Poem to honor those who sacrificed all for our nation

[MightyGiants]

Happy Memorial Day Everyone.  My your holiday be safe and joyful.  Never forget and honor the sacrifice of those who gave their all so that we may be free. 


I Came To Visit You Today



I came to visit you today
To place this flag next to your grave.
The sacrifices you have made
Will forever be indebted this day.

I came to visit you today
To place this flag next to your grave.
It doesn't matter if you fought or not
'Cause with that uniform it doesn't matter what.

I came to visit you today
To place this flag next to your grave.
The memory of what once was you
Still lingers true for those who knew.

I came to visit you today
To place this flag next to your grave
To just say thank you on this Memorial Day.

Shauna Ruud. "I Came To Visit You Today." Family Friend Poems, May 23, 2018. https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/i-came-to-visit-you-today




Mary McHugh mourns her slain fiance Sgt. James Regan at "Section 60" of the Arlington National Cemetery.

Do you say 'Happy Memorial Day'? Why some military families wish you wouldn't. 
"In between beers and hot dogs, I hope they take a moment to reflect on why Memorial Day exists," one US Army captain says.

https://www.today.com/parents/parents/happy-memorial-day-rcna27365

[MightyGiants]

https://x.com/NFL/status/1795092602468917578

[kartanoman]

Lest we forget.

Thank you, Rich @MightyGiants , for these powerful reminders of the solemnity of what Memorial Day is all about.

May they rest in peace with the thanks and honor bestowed unto them by their great country and all it's citizens forever more.

[BluesCruz]

That gravesite photo cannot be unseen

Sad, Poignant, Unfixable

Its amazing that humans have never learned to drop the weapons and just enjoy their limited time on our planet as fellow residents on this beautiful blue marble.

Im old, have seen many epochs of war having somehow escaped the free trip to Vietnam (high draft lottery number).....I thought it (war) was dying down and yet its only gotten worse in this new century.  Heaven help us. Truly

[kartanoman]

That gravesite photo cannot be unseen

Sad, Poignant, Unfixable

Its amazing that humans have never learned to drop the weapons and just enjoy their limited time on our planet as fellow residents on this beautiful blue marble.

Im old, have seen many epochs of war having somehow escaped the free trip to Vietnam (high draft lottery number).....I thought it (war) was dying down and yet its only gotten worse in this new century.  Heaven help us. Truly

You, along with many here, have bore witness to life and experience, not merely on a national scale but an entire global, where your message rings even louder and more powerful.

To state that humans have never learned is to dismiss those who have given their hearts, their efforts and, sometimes, their lives, in the name of peace. I understand your global statement, and the frustration behind it, but we should never quelch the indomitable spirit of those who tried, even at the expense of their own lives, to further the cause for peace.

For I have known many who are honored on this day who gave of themselves not to answer the call of a draft card, but to answer the burning passion within them to make a difference in this world. For it this day we mourn their loss, but rejoice their cause, and their legacy will live on because they made a difference.

Peace!

[BluesCruz]

You, along with many here, have bore witness to life and experience, not merely on a national scale but an entire global, where your message rings even louder and more powerful.

To state that humans have never learned is to dismiss those who have given their hearts, their efforts and, sometimes, their lives, in the name of peace. I understand your global statement, and the frustration behind it, but we should never quelch the indomitable spirit of those who tried, even at the expense of their own lives, to further the cause for peace.

For I have known many who are honored on this day who gave of themselves not to answer the call of a draft card, but to answer the burning passion within them to make a difference in this world. For it this day we mourn their loss, but rejoice their cause, and their legacy will live on because they made a difference.

Peace!

You, along with many here, have bore witness to life and experience, not merely on a national scale but an entire global, where your message rings even louder and more powerful.

To state that humans have never learned is to dismiss those who have given their hearts, their efforts and, sometimes, their lives, in the name of peace. I understand your global statement, and the frustration behind it, but we should never quelch the indomitable spirit of those who tried, even at the expense of their own lives, to further the cause for peace.

For I have known many who are honored on this day who gave of themselves not to answer the call of a draft card, but to answer the burning passion within them to make a difference in this world. For it this day we mourn their loss, but rejoice their cause, and their legacy will live on because they made a difference.

Peace!

Agreed.  All respect for the heroes we honor today. 

[AZGiantFan]

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

[Painter]

As one who fought in what is now often referred to as the "forgotten war", I can only feel grief and disgust this day at the reality that so many could still be willing to vote for someone who has referred to those who have served and suffered as "fools" and "suckers", has suggested that an amputee in a parade is "not a good look" and that you can't be a hero if you are captured by the enemy.

As General Kelly put it, God help us. I think that too is worth remembering.