Some Gave All - All Gave Some - Memorial Day 2010 Special Tribute

On this Memorial Day we take time to Honor our Fallen Soldiers. Our Heros.
We also take this time to Honor all those who have served and are serving in our Military.
The sacrifices our Troops as well as their families make on a daily basis are much appreciated.

It is the veteran, not the preacher, who has given you freedom of religion.

It is the veteran, not the poet, who has given you freedom of speech.

It is the veteran, not the protester, who has given you freedom to assemble.

It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who has given you the right to a fair trial.

It is the veteran, not the politician, who has given you the right to vote.

It is the veteran, who salutes the Flag, who serves under the Flag,

whose coffin is draped by the Flag who allows the protester to burn the flag.

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you....

Jesus Christ and the American Soldier.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Freedom Is Not Free

I watched the flag pass by one day. It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it, and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform so young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil? How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down? How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night, when everything was still
I listened to the bugler play and felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times that TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children, of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands with interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard at the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.
- Thomas Campbell

For love of country they accepted death.
- James A. Garfield

A TRIBUTE TO WWI

Who kept the faith and fought the fight; The glory theirs, the duty ours.

- Wallace Bruce

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them.

- Francis A. Walker

A TRIBUTE TO WWII

For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.
- William Penn

The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.
- Thomas Campbell

A TRIBUTE TO THE KOREAN WAR

These heroes are dead. They died for liberty - they died for us. They are at rest.

They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless,

under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines.

They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm,

each in the windowless Place of Rest.

Earth may run red with other wars - they are at peace. In the midst of battle,

in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death.

I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead:

cheers for the living; tears for the dead.

~Robert G. Ingersoll

A TRIBUTE TO THE VIETNAM WAR

On the Thursday before Memorial Day,

in a tradition known as "Flags-in"

the soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infanttry place

small flags before more than a quarter million gravestones

at Arlington National Cemetery.

They then patrol twenty-four hours a day

to make sure each flag remains standing

throughout the weekend.

On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed

at half-staff until noon,

and then raised to the top of the staff.

At 3:00 p.m. all Americans are asked to pause

for a moment of remembrance.

For each soldier that has fallen so that many may stand
We honor their spirit as they pass to God's hand
For without their sacrifice we would live forever in fear
We pray for their loved ones and provide a salute and a tear
God help us heal the wounds of hate and the misery of war
That is our gift to our fallen heroes that are amongst us no more.

- Charlie Gragg
Penryn, California

May we all rejoice in the knowledge that, we stand here today, by the grace of God

and the selfless sacrifice of so many who went before, to fight for our freedom

and landed on their final shore. May we the beneficiaries of their last and greatest gift,

remain ever grateful and honor their deeds and memory by continuing their fight everyday

by accepting responsibility, in any part, large or small to defend the freedom. liberty

and justice for all that they and our forefathers envisioned and bequeathed to all of us.

Have a wonderful Memorial day and always remember, to remember!