Memorial Day 2012

At 7 AM on my way to Dunkin Donuts and then to Shop Rite, I was listening to NPR interview a mother from Cherry Hill, NJ about the loss of her eldest son, a 19 year-old Marine, in combat in Afganistan.

Crier that I am, by the end of the interview, I am sitting in my car sobbing for her and the rest of us as she recounts her story, his story.  I think about my Uncle John, an ex-Marine, and Andrea and their son Jeffrey, another Marine.

The next story was about President Obama laying a wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to mark the 50th Anniversary of the United States entry in what we call the Vietnam War.  I was 11.  That war shaped who I am today as much as anything else. 

It has formed my aversion to combat as a solution, of political expediency, right or wrong, expediency that shifts over time.

That memory takes me to the Rev. James Lewis, another ex-Marine, who is never on the side of war.  A man who puts what he believes in out there for all to see, cheer or jeer.  And the wonderful woman, Judy, that is by his side always.

The year 2025 will mark the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

I think today, and am thankful for, all the men and women who have answered the call of their governments.  Thankful for those that have returned, and those that have not.

I am saddened to think and visualize all the Flander's Fields there are around the globe.

May we all be spurred to action to support those that return.

And, by the Mercy of God may those that have not rest in Peace.