The Meaning of Memorial Day!

[HARDCORE]

I AM A VETERAN LAIN UNDER THE SOD,
I?M IN THE GOOD COMPANY, I?M UP HERE WITH GOD
COME TO MY GRAVE AND VISIT WITH ME,
I GAVE MY LIFE SO YOU COULD BE FREE.
TODAY IS MEMORIAL DAY THROUGHOUT THIS GREAT LAND
THERE?S AVENUES OF FLAGS, PARADES AND BANDS.
I CAN HEAR THE MUSIC, THE FIRING SQUAD AND TAPS
HERE COME MY COMRADES, THE LEGIONNAIRES, THE BLUECAPS.
ONE OF THEM JUST PUT A FLAG BY MY STONE.
SOME DAY HE?LL HAVE ONE BY HIS OWN.
SOME THINK OF THIS DAY AS JUST A DAY FREE FROM TOLL,
WHILE OTHERS ARE BUSY WORKING THE SOIL.
THEY SAY THEY HAVE PLANS, OTHER THINGS TO DO.
DON?T PUT US ASIDE AS YOU WOULD AN OLD SHOE.
COME VISIT MY GRAVE IN THIS CEMETERY SO CLEAN,
THIS IS WHAT MEMORIAL DAY MEANS.
THERE ARE MANY OF US LYING IN WAKELESS SLEEP
IN CENETERIES OF GREEN AND OCEANS OF DEEP.
IT?S SAD THAT FOR MANY WHO FOUGHT SO BRAVE,
NOW NO ONE COMES TO VISIT THEIR GRAVE.
THEY DIED SO YOU COULD HAVE ONE WHOLE YEAR FREE.
NOW CAN?T YOU SAVE THIS ONE DAY FOR ME?
THERE ARE SOLDIERS, SAILORS, AIRMEN UP HERE,
WHO WENT INTO BATTLE DESPITE OF THEIR FEAR.
I?VE BEEN TALKING UP HERE TO ALL OF THOSE MEN.
IF THEY HAD TO DO IT OVER, THEY?D DO IT AGAIN.
LOOK, SOMEONE IS COMING TO VISIT MY GRAVE.
IT?S MY FAMILY, FOR THEM MY LIFE I GAVE.
MY WIFE, I REMEMBER OUR LAST EMBRACE,
AS I LEFT THE TEARS STREAMED DOWN YOUR FACE.
I THINK YOU KNEW THE DAY I SHIPPED OUT,
I WOULDN?T RETURN, YOUR LIFE?D BE TURNED ABOUT.
THERE?S MY DAUGHTER THAT I USED TO HOLD.
CAN IT BE THAT YOU?RE NEARLY TWENTY YEARS OLD?
NEXT MONTH IS TO BE YOUR WEDDING DAY,
I WISH I COULD BE THERE TO GIVE YOU AWAY.
MY SON?S HERE TOO, DAD?S LITTLE MAN,
ALWAYS LOVE YOUR COUNTRY,
DO FOR IT WHAT YOU CAN.
THERE IS ONE THING THAT REALLY DID BOTHER,
IS SEEING YOU GROW UP WITHOUT THE AID OF A FATHER.
I WISH YOU COULD ALL HEAR ME FROM UP ABOVE,
THAT?S A FATHER?S BEST GIFT TO HIS CHILDREN IS LOVE.
AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO PROVE MY LOVE TO THE END?
IS THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.
I SEE IT?S TIME FOR YOU TO GO HOME,
YOUR VISIT MADE IT EASIER TO REMAIN HERE ALONE.
DON?T CRY HONEY, YOU LOOK SO SAD.
OUR CHILDREN ARE FREE, YOU SHOULD BE GLAD.
DAUGHTER, THANKS FOR THE BOUQUET SO CUTE,
THANK YOU SON, FOR THAT SHARP SALUTE.
COME AGAIN, I FORGOT,
YOU CAN?T HEAR ME FROM UP HER.
BUT I KNOW YOU?LL COME VISIT ME NEXT YEAR.
I HOPE ALL VETERANS ARE TREATED THIS WAY,
ON THIS DAY TO REMEMBER.

Author Unknown

[Jerry D]

for the fallen veteran we dedicate this weekend that his/her service is not forgotten Have a blessed Memorial Day to remember those who came before us to earn our freedom and rights paid for in their Sweat and blood.

May the men and women who have given us the gift of continued life never be forgotten by us or this nation.

[HARDCORE]

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day!!!

Always remember our Fallen Heroes each and every day of the year!!!!

Mrs. H.

[HARDCORE]

Found This And Thought It Was Good To Read Again. '

Rick & Brenda

[DeadlyDaring]

The True Meaning of Memorial Day

Just turn the sound up and stand to attention
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK0T4pVHP28[/media]

Salute

[DeadlyDaring]

Returning Meaning to Memorial Day
By Bret Schulte
Posted May 22, 2008

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/...orial-day.html

Memorial Day is Monday. Some believe it shouldn't be. While millions prepare to go to the beach or take a family picnic or just spend a day at the mall, veterans groups and others fret that the meaning of Memorial Day is lost amid the hubbub of a long weekend and the unofficial marker of summer. "Memorial Day is to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice," says Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "Its meaning goes way beyond the three-day weekend." He and others fear that Memorial Day has become nothing but a vacation weekend. But it didn't use to be.

Memorial Day began in 1865 in the mind of Henry Welles, a druggist in tiny Waterloo, N.Y., who wanted to honor the memory of those who died in the Civil War. He found an ally in a friend and customer, Union Army Brig. Gen. John Murray. A year later, they led Waterloo in the first annual observance of a day honoring fallen soldiers. Flags were lowered to half-mast, and locals joined in a parade to three local cemeteries to pay their respects. Some argue that similar traditions had already seized grieving communities across the nation, especially in the war-torn South. Why the credit today goes to Waterloo is largely because of Maj. Gen. John Logan, a friend of Murray and the founder of an organization of Union veterans. In 1868, he designated May 30 as the day to honor dead comrades—largely by scattering flower petals at their grave sites—and ordered local communities to join in Waterloo's celebration. Known as Decoration Day, the idea reached even President Ulysses S. Grant, who presided over a ceremony that year at Arlington National Cemetery.

After World War I, Decoration Day came to include all fallen American soldiers. In 1954, Congress renamed the holiday Memorial Day and eventually dubbed Waterloo its official birthplace. Through the decades, the date of May 30 remained fixed. But that changed in 1971 when Congress declared Memorial Day an official holiday and, much to the delight of the beleaguered American worker, altered its observance to the last Monday in May.

Over the years, Memorial Day's new function as a holiday weekend has become a source of increasing concern for veterans and others. Creators of RestoreMemorialDay.com have launched a petition drive, which has picked up nearly 10,000 signatures, to return the day to May 30. Among the petitioners is a mother who lost her son in Ramadi, Iraq. "Should another mother have to endure the pain of losing a soldier in our fight for freedom, I want them remembered not for the parades and the picnics, but for the love and sacred remembrance they are so deserving of," she writes. "Is it too much to ask we remember one day for them?"

Sen. Daniel Inouye feels much the same way. In 1989, the World War II veteran introduced a bill to Congress that would return Memorial Day to its original date. The bill stalled in the Judiciary Committee. In 2003, the Veterans of Foreign Wars passed a resolution at its 104th National Convention in support of the traditional Memorial Day holiday. It would amend Congress's 1971 decree "to strike the words 'the last Monday in May' and insert the words 'May 30.' " The VFW still supports the idea, because, "right now, the great majority of Americans view Memorial Day as a three-day weekend," Davis says. Changing the date "recognizes the sacrifice of 1 million Americans who have died in uniform...to help free the world from tyranny." But after seven years of war in Iraq, the VFW's priorities are of a more pressing nature: such as improving healthcare for veterans and passing a new GI Bill.

Still, the fight remains. Inouye has continued to reintroduce his bill every new session. The senator believes "the true meaning of this day has been lost and that it should be a time to honor and reflect on the sacrifices made by the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States," says his spokesman, Mike Yuen. But it seems the popularity of the three-day weekend is winning out. Inouye has never even had so much as a cosponsor for the legislation. "This is something the senator is committed to," Yuen says. "He may be a solitary soldier in this battle, but he's a committed soldier."

[DeadlyDaring]

What Is Memorial Day?
by
LT Bobby Ross

My years whirl past me. Swirling. Dry, broken grass hovering in a spring breeze. Can I remember my experiences in war? Hardly. Fighting for my country, my youth invested, seems such a long time ago, and so unimportant. The calendar this year marks Memorial Day on the 29th of May,2000. Have I lost something? The traditional Memorial Day, also known as Decoration Day, is on the 30th of May. This observed Memorial Day on May 29th coincidentally allows for a national three day holiday. Such is commercialism's capitalistic American display. But why do I feel so stricken, like I have abandoned old friends from long ago? Their ghosts consort with my floating years, and their spirits coast around my presence.

Another three day holiday! Memorial Day! Maybe me and the kids can go camping? Or, to the beach? Memorial Day is fun! This is the inconsiderate, thoughtless approach to this meaningful, and consecrated moment representing one three hundred and sixty-fifth of our year. What is the meaning of Memorial Day? Is it merely a three day escape from our worldly duties? Or, is it the official beginning of summer? Is selling more hot dogs at the ballpark the overriding clarification? Many souls, sacrificed in war, in duty to America, are wandering. They drift in a heavenly place, minus their future here upon earth. Tomorrows were forfeited. Given up so our nation would invigorate free souls, aspire them to freedom, and justly allow their lives lived as they prefer. Raising offspring above restrictions, as they desire.

Those lost lives giving we, the living, what we want freely. Those are the souls we respect on Memorial Day. This means it is a sacred day. Without retrospect, sacrifice is mute. Old Glory does not wave by accident. It flutters in the spring air revealing honor. The color red represents the blood bloom from those who fell, those who clawed, those who cried in horrible pain. Those who died fast. And, those who died ever so slowly. They did their duty. When I see Old Glory waving on a sunny, end of May day, the pigment red gushes from millions of souls, floating, not with us, anymore. They are amongst our heroes, cajoling with angels with their champions, conquerors and commanders.

Friends and loved ones gather, over the rave, witness to those who gave more than anyone should be required to relinquish. They did not want to yield. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and when the moment harshly struck them their fatal blow, they cried for their mother, or their friend. Then there were those, many of those, who knew exactly what they were giving. They moved forward knowingly. They lost their lives so their mission would be accomplished. Fools! Some intellects can say that. One would have to be an imbecile to give up life, no matter what the cause. For a flag? Futile! For a country! More pointless! For freedom! What freedom is there in mortality? Yes, fools they may have been, but their numbers add up in an
awesome display of American loss!

Veterans' Cemeteries, white badges sailing row after row after row upon green grass, almost never ending, creeping onto the horizon. Constant reminders of the devastation of our human treasure. Mothers' tears, enough to fill an ocean to overflow. Sweethearts, broken hearted, reading telegrams. Sons and daughters, many unborn, wakening at birth to a devastated family suffering from a victim of war there no more. And what does all this macabre math equal? Memorial Day is the correct answer. Few Americans know a person who died in war. Their family trees have lost some leaves, falling as they fought in one of America's wars, or discarded in the peacetime military. We are a busy people.

We have business to capture. Our kids are in school. We have chores. Mundane, or surrealistic. We are a spirited society, seeking applications to improve ourselves and our communities. We are a helpful populace, always there when the going gets tough to help those who have suffered the tragedies of nature, whether a hurricane or a famine. Americans are always the first on the scene worldwide bearing their gifts of human spirit and abundance. This is why it is so puzzling that the meaning of Memorial Day seems to lack substance to many of our own people. Even with the day itself. Put back to accommodate a holiday schedule fixed by some organism no one knows, yet powerful enough to do so, the day itself lacks consequence to too many.

Many who never knew a person who died in service to America are wrought with the invisible pain of not feeling for those who do. Americans take things for granted. We have so much. So very much. Endless choices. These options are not available worldwide. Our shelves are full. Unlike many in other nations of the world. So many are empty or offer very limited selections. Those American fighting men and women killed in battle whose souls are floating actually made available these wondrous choices we have every day of our American lives. Yet, most of our youngsters have no idea whatsoever what this means. They don't learn this in school. We must teach them.

For without knowledge, they may end up thinking, or believing, all these marvelous selections came without circumstance. Minus anything. Equaling no meaning. Our nation needs to halt and perceive the flags and flowers on our Veterans graves on this consecrated holiday. We need to lift a common voice of adoration to those floating spirits of our onetime American Warriors, and extol them with a salutation. We have not come that far with our technological miracles of this millennium to become crass. We still need respect. Our backs can not turn from formality. Our eyes can not look away from custom. Our voices must not resonate in silence against honor and glory. To do so will leave us hollow, only to fill us with that which is desolate and lacking potential.

This is not the true meaning of Memorial Day. The heartfelt significance requires reminding. Story telling. Wisdom being passed on from our Veterans to our younger generations. An interpretation certified by those who remember the horrors of war. Without this core, our society can not remain genuine. It becomes contemptible. It rots from within. These floating souls of our lost American Warriors are a powerful force, for they live within our hearts. They constantly seek justification for their contributions, and they are real within us. Such is what our American substance stands for, where character is developed, individually is guaranteed, and a community, a nation, survives.America enters the 21st Century as the most powerful entity humankind has ever experienced.

America permeates this next century with vast responsibilities. Our children must bear this promise. We can not turn our backs on these bygone descendants, nor can we do so upon ourselves. Memorial Day offers us the opportunity to express a moment of solitude where each of us can personify in our own way what we feel. I only speak for my myself, as one who has bared his soul to the dread of war. So my father did, and his father's father before him, and their souls float amongst the multitudes. My mother and her mother held their Veterans after they returned from war, tears streaming down their cheeks in gratitude for their safe return. And there were those in my ancestry who did not return from war. And their mothers' tears soaked the pillows on beds for generations to sleep upon.

Their souls are the dreams that drift amongst the floating, gathering at the end of May in the breeze of summer's coming, in the cool glass of lemonade at the child's street side stand, in the cheers at the ball game from the crowd rooting their team to victory and enjoying the best hot dogs in the world. Let us all stop for a moment, whether it is on the traditional day, or the observed Memorial Day, or even at the end of May, and reach for those floating souls. Let us reveal to them how much we cherish their sacrifice for our free people. Let these memories harvest our recognition of the meaning of Memorial Day in a very simple word. And let that word, simply stated be: Thanks.

LT Bobby Ross