Thoughts On Memorial Day... Addendum

This morning I posted my Memorial Day blog then went to church.  As is his custom, our pastor praised our military and our great country and paid honor to all fallen service members just before his opening prayer.  (He also honors service members past and present on Veterans’ Day and asks all veterans to stand and be recognized.)

One thing he mentioned, which I seem to have somehow forgotten in my earlier post (for which I am deeply sorry) is that not only should we be thinking of our fallen service members during our celebrations tomorrow but we should also be honoring and thanking their families.  The soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who have fallen gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country but their families also have sacrificed.  They allowed their loved one to go off to war, knowing full well they may not come back.  And they must live with the loss every day.

I should have remembered it when I wrote about my friend who lost her son.   She suffers every day with grief for her son and only child.  Yet when he first volunteered for the Marines she was proud of him and when he decided to go to Afghanistan for what would be his last measure of devotion to his country – even though she did not want him to go she was proud of him for what he was doing.  Who wouldn’t be?  And she is proud of him today, even through her tears.

At the end of the service today they had the orchestra play an all brass version of “America, The Beautiful”, with the orchestra leader playing lead on the saxophone.  They showed a slide show of military scenes, past and present, and had a verbal narrative on each slide of Memorial Day history and facts.  The performance was exceptional and the entire congregation stood up about halfway through.  It brought tears to the eyes of most of the veterans in the congregation – mine included. 

So in addition to thanking all fallen veterans, I want to publicly thank their families and loved ones as well.  Thank you for your sacrifice to our country and her people.  To the parents – thank you for raising your children to be honorable people who had the courage to put their lives on the line for us.  May God bless you all.