As I sit here writing this, fresh from a trip to the US Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB, I feel the need to write some things about Memorial Day.
Today we celebrate those who gave the utmost for our freedom, paid the ultimate price. From those at Lexington and Concord and beyond, those who birthed our freedom and paid for it in blood and toil, who gave shape to our freedom and molded our country from a chaotic morass of confederation into a bold new experiment in freedom,
To those who helped secure once and for all the independence from Great Britain, and showed that this new nation would not sit idly by as the hemisphere was carved up;
To those who paid a terrible and horrid price, fighting and killer brother to cleanse this nation of its oversight of the freedom of some of its people, who fought each in their own ways to protect what they thought was freedom, those who fought for their families, and honor, who provided the sacrifice to usher in Civil Liberties for all--from 1st Manassas to Shiloh, to Gettysburg to Appamattox;
To those who fought to restore freedom to our ancestral beginnings, to keep a ruthless empire from expanding and destroying Europe--the doughboys, General Pershing and the cavalry, Rickenbacker and the flyers;
To those who fought to avenge the ignoble attack on our shores, to bring liberty to people oppressed in Europe and Asia, to restore freedom to conquered lands, asking only that we have enough land to bury our dead, who did not conquer and rule, but conquered and gave back, and gave blood, money, and toil to restore the hope of many peoples;
To those who fought at Seoul and Pyongyang, who fought to preserve the freedom of a peaceful people, who fought to keep a conquering power from destroying a fragile armistice;
To those who sought to prevent the spread of an insidious form of totalitarian dictatorship, those who were not appreciated for their noble sacrifices, those who were defeated not by the enemy but by their own press, those who were not baby killers but loyal and brave soldiers;
To those who braved the desert sand, not for materiel, but to bring a nation back to its rightful independence,
To those who fight to see we are not again attacked, who brave the mountains around Kabul and the heat of Baghdad, who brave not only the vicious attacks of the enemy, but the hateful and misguided attacks by their own press:
THANK YOU, ONE AND ALL, FOR GIVING EVERYTHING...YOUR FAMILIES, YOUR JOYS, DREAMS, CAREERS, EVEN YOUR LIVES, TO PROTECT OUR FREEDOM....Long may freedom reign, long may America be considered the land of the free and the home of the brave....
Do not report propaganda, do not inflate stories, but please be fair to the troops...that is all those who have gone before ask...don't repeat the hate of the past toward our brave citizen soldiers, just be fair...after all--they are fighting, bleeding, dying--so you don't have to....
To those who use the name of our valiant men and women who gave all for their own selfish ends--shame on you...honor them, revere them, don't exploit them....Honor men like Mike Carlson, Rafael Peralta, Nick Messmer, Gary Eckert, Jr., Dustin Derga, Taylor Prazynski, Nick Erdy, Chris Dixon, and many more....Honor them by telling the truth, not just saying the bad...honor them by not painting our troops as the bottom of the barrel (Bill Maher), or painting them all as torturers (Newsweek, et. al.)...Honor them by supporting them...honor them by finishing the mission...Honor them, by loving the country and doing what they can no longer do--live and love....and thank God for brave citizen soldiers like them who fight so we don't have to, who protect and defend our freedom....
God bless our troops, past present, living, passed, yet to fight...God bless you all, and God bless America...
Links
The President's Memorial Day Radio Address
President's Address at Naval Commencement 2005
Glenn Beck Essay
Michael Carlson's Credo--Powerline
