Here are some of the quotes, poems, sites, videos and Bible verses that spoke to me. I hope they will help you to be thankful and remember that freedom isn't free. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!
“The patriot’s blood is the seed of freedom’s tree.”
- Thomas Campbell
“Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.”
- unknown
Memorial Day
In distant field of sunny France
Where strangers come and go,
Amid the farms of Flanders, where
The fragrant breezes blow,
Our solder-dead in quiet sleep
'Neath crosses row on row.
Here shrapnel shells once shrieked and burst
And took their toll of death;
The very wind, itself a foe,
Bore poison on its breath.
Above their graves the birds now sing
As round that home of yore,
When, carefree boys, they romped and played;
Those childhood days soon o'er,
The boys to brave and strong men grown,
They romped and played no more.
They put aside their childish toys,
A man's work each must do,
And when their country called for them,
To her they answered true.
"We must protect our native land:
She shall not suffer wrong
For she has reared and nurtured us,
We're men and we are strong.
We'll bid good-bye to those we love;
It will not be for long."
With aching hearts and tear-dimmed eyes
We watched them go away.
Some have returned but many sleep
In foreign lands today.
Where English roses bloom and fade,
In France where lilies grow,
Among the fields of Flanders, where
The scarlet poppies blow,
Our soldier-dead are not forgot
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men lived.”
- George S. Patton
“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”
- Gen. Douglas Macarthur
“Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Freedom Is Not Free
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,
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.
- Kelly Strong
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
Proverbs 10:7
The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.
1 Corinthians 16:13
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows
Lastly, I want to share this site, that lists many of our fallen heroes and tells a little of their stories. It was very sobering and humbling, looking at so many young lives lost. They gave up their lives, so we could be free. Don't throw away your freedoms. Take the preservation of our Constitution seriously. Every freedom you take for granted, is a step closer to fear and bondage.
In Christ,
Sandy Kay Slawson
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