Hello Monday!

You’re not just any other, you’re the Monday of precious memories. The Day of Memorial.

Today, we celebrate the dead among the living, the legends of the free; we shout in sweet exultation for the blood they would not spare, the most precious of all…their own.  The Bible says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” John 15:13

Today, we remember the countless men and women who gave us their ultimate gift as a sacrifice in brotherly love…they gave us their lives. Today, we pause to ponder the bonds that forge our mighty union, for they are made from the artillery-torn, shrapnel-riddled, bullet-laced tissue of dying men. This day, we remember the ones who unite us with the best of themselves, for their blood still stains Earth with crimson shores.

To our fallen –

• from Latvia to Luxembourg,
• from the Battle of Anzio to the Battle of Normandy,
• from the Battle of Luzon to the Battle of the Bulge,
• from the Coral Sea to the Philippine Sea,
• from Berlin to Paris to Kursk,
• from Midway to Stalingrad,
• from Mt. Suribachi to the tunnels of Okinawa…

WE REMEMBER.

Six U. S. Marines raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima

This is MEMORIAL DAY!

In the late 1940’s, the most decorated combat soldier of World War 2 penned these chilling words in a poem as he recounted the horrors of the dead among the living in battle.

ALONE AND FAR REMOVED

Alone and far removed from earthly care
The noble ruins of men lie buried here.
You were strong men, good men
Endowed with youth and much the will to live.
I hear no protest from the mute lips of the dead.
They rest: there is no more to give.

So long my comrades,
Sleep ye where you fell upon the field.
But tread softly please
March O’er my heart with ease.
March on and on,
But to God alone we kneel.

. . . Audie Murphy, late 1940’s

Finally, the Bible says, “Give to everyone what you owe them…If you owe respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”  Romans 13:7

We honor all those who died in battle, especially those forgotten in Belgium, Cuba, France, Gibralter, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Northern Mariana Islands, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States, Pacific Islands, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and more.

Wendell Hutchins II