Remembered In Silence

Nine years ago I was asked to the be the keynote speaker at a Memorial Day Ceremony. It was not the first time, nor was it at the largest gathering I have addressed, but each time I have been given the privilege of speaking on this somber day I deem it an honor.

The words I spoke then are just as relevant today. Let us all remember, honor and silently give thanks for those who, over the past 235 years, have died and continue to die for our great country and our freedom.

Remembered In Silence

This is a day you will hear many speakers. Each impassioned with a common cause ... to remember those who are silent. And those whose voices cannot be heard, for their fate is unknown ... they are listed as POW/MIA. Prisoners of War or Missing in Action. The Department of Defense has added yet three more initials ... BNR. Body Not Recovered. 

More than half a century ago we struggled remembering those who died in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Over five decades past we found ourselves again remembering those who breathe their final breaths in lands halfway around the world ... Korea. And, Vietnam 20 years later. Then came the Middle East, parts of Europe, Iraq and Afghanistan. 

This is not a history of the dead ... or a litany of the missing. I refuse to speak with an emotional voice. To recall the times of holding a dying man in my arms. To have tears course down my face with memories of friends I don't know where they may be. 

I simply refuse to speak.

Listen.

The silence is deafening ... the silence is powerful. 

In silence I look to the sky and salute you my brothers and sisters. Let the silence remind us all of the absence of their voices ... and let the power of their silence energize us. 

Let us not simply come together once a year to remember and honor those who gave their lives. Each time we hear the sound of silence ... let each of us, in our own way, remember and pray.