Silence and an Oath - Memorial Day 2017

It seems each year we continue to add names to the memorial list. Names of those we honor by their sacrifice and names of places that once were memories of some distant geography lesson that have now become all to familiar.

I have but a simple statement. That no matter the location, no matter the perceived cause, our American military … our sons and daughters … our fathers and brothers … our husbands and wives … our loved ones … our comrades … America’s finest are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for a country they love and an oath they believe in.

“ …. “I will protect” …. “from enemies both foreign and domestic” …  part of it reads. It is an oath vowing to protect the Constitution of the United States of America. It is an oath so many have given their lives for … who have made the ultimate sacrifice. To continue our way of life … our freedoms.

The news media has helped our citizens follow the action of war now but they cannot portray the horrors or the bravery and courage of those who believe in the phrase: “Duty, Honor and Country.”

            Today in the silence of their resting places we remember those whose blood provides the reinforcing mortar that binds the words written so long ago by our founding fathers. Each generation, it seems, adds its contribution to keep our way of life, our beliefs and our hopes real. Now, in an ever shrinking and electronically tied together world people across the planet have seen what we have …. And they thirst for it …. Freedom.

            This year, more names are being added to the list who rest in hallowed places. They have died not only in the belief of that oath but in the hope that what they were doing will help someone realize the dream we are so fortunate enough to live each day.

            If we could listen to the words that might float on the air from the graves we might hear their legacy …. “Support and defend the Constitution” … its every meaning gives us what we have. Our great country is not due to any one man or not to any single group of men who govern. It is due to these men honoring an oath they took. An Oath I am proud I took and one so many have died for.”

            Whether it was in a German woods, on a French beach, sweltering on a Pacific island, freezing in Korean winter, crawling through a Southeast Asian jungle or wiping the sandy grit from mid-East deserts our troops have responded to the call. They have left behind a legacy for us to build on. And those of us who have survived all over the world owe them a debt that must never be forgotten and always be honored.

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 or relive the agony of their families

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

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.