Any Memorial for You??

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, not to be confused with Veteran's Day. Memorial Day is to commemorate those who have died in service to our country, Veteran's Day honors all Veterans alive or passed. What will you be doing? Cooking on the grill, playing with the kids, maybe sleeping in for a while since it's a day off from work? Will you stop at least for a while to think about your freedoms, courtesy of the thousands of war dead?

I had an uncle I never knew. He was the middle of my grandparents sons on my father's side. They all grew up in poverty, Uncle Merrill joined the service as soon as he was mature enough, at 17, I was told. He soon found himself in the Army Air Corps, later on to become the U.S. Air Force. Flying mostly in East Asia, they saw light combat, usually did supply runs. On his last mission, they were headed home to the U.S., flying over the Indian Ocean. The plane's engines quit, crashing into the ocean. As my grandmother told the story when I was young, my uncle managed to save all the crew by swimming them to pieces of the aircraft that would float, only to drown after he had saved the last of the crew.

This was a man who learned early in his life to serve others, as his older brother was stricken with polio when only 10. Uncle Chester had to fight for every breath at times until adequate medical care was finally given. I knew him as a man in braces and crutches all his life, but with a very powerful grip with his huge hands. Uncle Merrill cared for him....well...like a brother.

Thousands upon thousands of men and women have died in service to our great land, from the Revolutionary War in the late 1700's right on up to Iraq and Afghanistan today. Do we care? Do we take time to honor them? Do we even realize the freedoms that we enjoy are courtesy of those great heroes? I think most people in Iraq are grateful for the freedom of bondage under the cruel dictator they once suffered under, courtesy of our American military. I don't quite think we Americans feel the same. We take freedom for granted, having always had it.

However, if you've grown up as a baby boomer as I have, you've seen some freedoms slipping away, courtesy of our liberal leaders. I don't think we're quite at the point of staging another armed revolution, but I do think we should all be standing watch, always vigilant, at the ready should an attack upon our homeland come.

Take time Monday to be thankful in some way.