Veterans Day 2008 – Thank You!

I had the opportunity of attending a Veterans Day church service at a small Native American chapel my in-laws attend. I was playing taps at the close of the service in remembrance of those who have fallen for this great country.

The greatest moment of the entire service came when several surviving WWII veterans spoke about their service to their country as Native Americans. It was a very real reminder of how much some people give for their country and how much we sometimes take for granted.

If you see someone in your daily routines today that you know has served or is serving this great country in our armed forces, please stop and thank them.

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,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
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.