Memorial Day 2007

1,194,251

A pretty big number isn’t it?  Read that again.  1,194,251.

Why is that significant?  It is significant because that number - 1,194,251 – is the entire reason we celebrate Memorial Day.  That number is something which I wish would never grow but always will.  That number stands for one thing more than any other – sacrifice.  1,194,251.  The number of men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice during war time in defense of this nation since this country was founded. 

The number is staggering but it is real and it represents those who saw something in this country worth dying for.  They didn’t sit at home and merely pay lip service to the words honor, courage, commitment, and country.  They lived for those words – and more importantly they died for them.  We talk of sacrifice, but they knew the true meaning of the word. 

Yes, we all use Memorial Day to catch up on chores around the house, enjoy a day at the lake or have a family BBQ.  1,194,251 of our countrymen now look down from heaven and smile at the gift they have given us – the freedom and ability to do these very things.  Sadly though, there are those who simply do not understand.  I recently read with disgust of one candidate running for commander in chief who dares to try to steal away the true meaning of this day and use it to for political gain.  Is it that hard to understand what this day means? 

Sacrifice… 

Sacrifice is meaningless without remembrance and that is why we celebrate Memorial Day.  On this most hallowed of days, we are asked to take the time to remember and honor our war dead.  It is NOT to make political statements.  1,194,251 men and women demand that we do this and to not do so not only dishonors them but it dishonors everything they fought and died for. 

War touches all of us but maybe none more so than children, especially the children of those that have paid this ultimate sacrifice.  Seeing it through a child’s eyes, and reading their words provides a great deal of perspective.  Two days after Command Sergeant Major James Blankenbecler was killed in Samara, Iraq, Jessica, his 14-year-old daughter wrote him a letter: 

“Hi Daddy, sorry I haven’t written to you in a while. I miss you so much. How have you been? Is heaven everything it says it is? I know it’s probably that and more. I can’t wait ‘till I can come join you again.

“I have your military ring on now. It’s kind of big for my little finger, but it makes me feel you’re holding my hand when I have it on…It’s been on since we found out the news.

“And when we drive by the billboards that say, ‘An Army of One’, it makes me remember you in your military uniform. How you always made a crunching sound when you walked, and how you shined your big boots every night before you went to bed. I miss seeing that all the time.

“I know you are gone now, but it only means that I have another angel watching over me for the rest of my life. That’s the only way I can think of this being good. There is no other way I can think of it.

“Little things that I took for granted when you were here seem priceless now. I will miss you, daddy, with all my heart. I will always be your little girl and I will never forget that ... I love you daddy, I will miss you!!”

P.S. I have never been so proud of my last name.”

Sergeant Major Blankenbecler was but one of the 1,194,251 but it is for him, and all the others, that we celebrate Memorial Day.  1,194,251 reasons for us to take this moment to stop and remember and honor their sacrifice.  This is nothing less than a national obligation and to not do so would be a dereliction of our duty as citizens of the United States of America.

How we choose to do this must be decided on an individual basis but I ask all who receive this to do something.  Whether it is going to a Memorial Day parade, attending one of the hundreds of remembrances held at National Cemetery’s across the country, or taking part in the National Moment of Remembrance, this is the least we can do.  This is our duty – just as 1,194,251 men and women performed their duty.  Take time to reflect upon the lives of those who died serving our country and remember the men and women who are serving at home and abroad today.

General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his proclamation that established Memorial Day in 1868 said:

“What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? ….  Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

Indeed!  The cost of a free and undivided republic has a number and it is 1,194,251.  NEVER FORGET! 

God bless you all and God bless America!

 Tony