To those who served … we thank you.
To those who paid the ultimate price … we remember.
Jim Wright
And we will do our best to make sure your honor and courage are never squandered.
They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them . .
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them!
– Lawrence Binyon
For all service personal in the United States and their brothers in arms from the free world.
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
MarkB
I’m sad that so many women, men, and children are dead, murdered, slaughtered, gone, and that people find reason to fight and kill over anything. Every century it is the same thing: war, war, and more war.
I hope there comes a day when we don’t even need to have a “memorial” day, a day when there is no war. That is what I wish.
Memorial day was first started in the South as a way to honor the Confederate dead who died from war for southern independence. Sometime after the war, the whole country adopted it as a way to honor all of those who gave their life for this country.
As a veteran of over 10 years and a Combat Action Award winner…I appreciate the thansk for the service.
My God all mighty be with those currently serving especially those in Iraq and Afganistan. Semper Fi and Fair Winds and Following Seas.
BTW, I don’t think this post belongs here. It needs to go over to the pub. 
Cranberry said
BTW, I don’t think this post belongs here. It needs to go over to the pub.
You probably are right …perhaps “thanks” should be limited to a specific venue … and your “right” to say that was paid for by those who served and those who still serve 
Jim
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
British Army
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
A week or so ago I visited, for the first time, a battle site here in Oklahoma, where my great-great-great grandfather fought for the CSA. It was so serene there. So beautiful, with the briskly flowing creek and the thick green trees. So quiet. I was so captivated by the thought that such great conflict; such loss of men and of horses; such pain and misery had taken place there. It was much the same in Corregidor and Bataan, when I visited there, as a young teenager, though at Corregidor the destruction was much more apparent… much more recent.
Though I may be saddened at the strife, I am grateful for the peace that ultimately came, and thank God for all those who have done what they believed was right, rather than what they believed was wrong.