...we all know who we are and thankfully still enjoying life. My thanks to those that served with me, before me, and after me. My prayers to those that gave their all. Please be reflective of those who served this weekend.

If you want to feel the love for the military, just go sit in a theatre and see this. The crowds were clapping and high fiving each other. It was a remarkable film.

We appreciate everyone's service and if no one has said it, thank you.

- is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to and including THEIR LIFE.

good to recognize those who serve or have served and are still with us, but the day is to memorialize and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.  As a retired Army guy (active & reserve) who was lucky enough to avoid that fate, I am almost speechless in awe at those who sucked it up, faced the enemy and gave their lives.  We cannot salute them enough!!

who have served and who continue to serve our country. God Bless you all!

My late father was retired Army.
I'm a Viet Nam era vet. Was stationed at Ft.Ord and Korea, during last stages, of Viet Nam.
A large thank you to all that serve and that have served.

I've met at least two who fall under that catagory, and I think it fantastic that they had the freedom to choose by virtue of the service they rendered.

Also for those gals whose sons, daughters, and SOs face the peril of war right now:  I salute them as well.

I was wondering if i was wierd or something.. been thinking along those lines too...

Memorial Day is the day to remember and honor those that gave their all... heros all.. and I hate the fact that the term hero has been so devalued in today's lexicology that to call them heros seems to be horribly understated...

Veterans day is the day to thank  those of us that served in uniform and were not called on to make the ultimate sacrifice..

Thank you Mr. Fisher. I'm one of those providers who used to serve....back in the day. Now, I enjoy serving my fellow Americans in a more (ahem) intimate manner

I have since turned that army business over to my young, able-bodied son. He's currently enjoying the beaches of Savannah GA while stationed at Hunter Army Airbase.

Thanks to all the others who have served. Freedom isn't free.

Marie in Asheville NC

Thank you so much for the reminder! My thanks are always there, every year, Memorial Day and Veterans Day.  My father was an Omaha Beach survivor.  My brother and I both served in Vietnam.  I was sent home when he was killed on patrol.  God bless them all.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did. It is for us the living, to be dedicated  to the unfinished work which they who fought  have thus far so nobly advanced. It is for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from our honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that our honored dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

but if anyone had ever been more wrong with the first eight words of that eloquent statemtment, I'd like to see it.

Have a great Memorial Day, everyone.

Great post and you said it very  well.  Thanks for bringing what this day means to so many of us and should mean to all.

Regards,
Bordello
U.S. Army 66 to 68

I was active duty AF from 1972-1998.  My war (and our war), if it ever got started, would have lasted 25 minutes (...maybe an hour if each side had enough missiles left for a second salvo).  I was pretty lucky.  I had a draft number in 1972, but was never called up.  I did ROTC as a precaution.  I did some pretty cool stuff and was never shot at (as far as I can tell).  My 88 year-old dad was a WWII fighter pilot and still has a piece of a German bullet in his lung.  We have a huge responsibility ahead of us to make sure we take care of the tens of thousands of disabled (physically and emotionally) vets.  In addition to honoring those who paid with that blank check, we owe it to these young people.  That's the best way I know to "never forget."

I wore my country's uniform to preserve the right of my fellow citizens to completely blow off Memorial Day.  But, if you catch a glimpse of the flag-decorated graves at Arlington or somewhere else and start weeping, that's OK.  I won't tell anybody.

That speech, at Gettysburg, inspired my Great-Great Grandfather, EOC Ord, to fund and plan a large section of Arlington National Cemetary.  His memorial, the general buried closest to Lee's house reminds us that soldiers of both the Union and the Confederacy gave their lives in an honorable pursuit to protect democracy as they saw best.  Far too many members of my family perished on the battle fronts of both of our World Wars and even Pershing's Punitive campaign against the Villistas.  Fortunately, though many of us served during Viet Nam, I can not locate a single relative or close friend on the black marble of that memorial.  

For the sericemen and women of all of our conflicts who gave the utmost, a salute and prayers from my neck of the woods, living in the peace that your service has produced and protected.

...at the local Wal-Mart, I was visibly surprised that the cashier was wearing a Silver Star Metal.

I didn't know what to do or say.

As a veteran myself, I usually wear my ribbon set on Veteran's Day and Armed Forces Day, but on This day, I try NOT to call attention to myself.  This day is NOT mine.  This day (to me) is for the veterans who have shed blood in their service.

Now I understand that for the past 10 years, we have been putting our female service members more in the line of fire than in the past so that women in the service have the opportunity to recondized as heros as much as the men in the service.

I guess my point here is I am recognizing that I am reacting as a biggot here but I am not sure what kind.  Am I reacting here because it is a woman has a Silver Star, or because she is wearing it on a day that should be for the dead?

Your serious oppinions please.

'rock'