“… It is the soldier who has given us all our freedoms. It’s the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It’s the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It’s the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to object. It’s the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
“It’s the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves under that flag and whose coffin is draped under that beautiful flag, who has given us the freedom to comfortably sit in our living rooms each evening with our loved ones. … ”
… excerpt from today’s Cumberland County “The Sentinel” Newspaper, guest editorial “Guards of Ageless Honor” by Tom Purcell.
amen to that and it is the soldiers and their families who need our prayers
ReplyDeletebetty
Amen again! No greater gift than to lay one's life down for a friend. My father and brother were soldiers, my husband, too. All returned from their tour of duties. My dad did a year in Viet Nam... he had very little about the war to tell us. A supply sergeant, I don't think he was involved in any fighting, however, he was always within earshot of bullets and bombs. They came very close to his bunker many times. He died in his sixties, shaping wood in his woodshed, a heart attack, without telling us anything significant about his time in service there. I never pressed him to say more than he did. His eyes said enough. They were sad eyes. My husband never served in a war, but he served a year in Turkey in the early seventies. I am proud of my men who served their country, and all those others I'll never know, never meet. God bless them all, and may they return to their loved ones soon, unharmed. Bea
ReplyDeletewonderful:)
ReplyDeleteDeb