This day was created to remember the soldiers of the Civil War who died defending their beliefs. It continues today as a reminder that freedom isn't really free; it has a huge price and should be highly valued. Those men and women who died serving our country and protecting our freedom deserve our thanks. Today's military personnel deserve our prayers, no matter how we feel about the politics of war.
I am grateful for those who served and were lucky enough to come back home. My father-in-law trained to be an Army Air Corps pilot during World War II, then transferred to Army Intelligence and was stationed in Hawaii. Now 87, he still tells stories of those days.
My daddy enlisted at 17 into the Marine Corps to fight in Korea. He became a Staff Sergeant, and was in several campaigns including the cold and bloody Battle of Chosin. It was a profound experience for a simple boy from rural Tennessee. He rarely talked about the war, other than telling us about the jeeps and trucks he drove. He was a proud Marine, and I am proud of him. He died of cancer in 1986 and I remember him this Memorial Day.
We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them.
~Francis A. Walker
~Francis A. Walker
# # #
