With all credit and respect to the inspirational author of A Veteran's Thoughts on Memorial Day...
My Friends...
I hope this weekend finds you well. As Memorial Day draws near, I wanted to share some honest thoughts straight from a veteran’s heart...for whatever they are worth.
For those of us who served, Memorial Day has never felt like a “happy” holiday. It’s a solemn, heavy day — a day set aside to remember the men and women who didn’t make it home. Our brothers and sisters who gave their last full measure of devotion so the rest of us could keep on with the mission, and a nation living in freedom.
I’ve stood at too many graves—my heart has shattered hearing the wail of families...in Arlington, in small cemeteries across our land, in the perfect rows of the headstones in Normandy France.
Every time “Taps” or the Star Spangled Banner play, that same sharp ache returns, and I struggle to maintain my bearing. Yesterday, I walked into a Chik-Fil-A and they had a POW/MiA/Missing Man table set. Flag, turned over chair, and the salt (IYKYK). I walked in wanting a chicken sandwich and a shake, I ended up thanking the manager on duty for the amazing surprise, and promptly walked walked to my truck in the parking lot and cried like a baby for 10 mins. Even Empy has bad days, ha!
We shouldn't say “Happy Memorial Day” to a veteran any more than we'd say “Happy funeral” at a burial. Veterans Day in November is for those of us who came home...Memorial Day belongs to our fallen comrades.
Many of us carry intense and complex feelings from our Service: deep pride in what we gave, a lingering guilt that it wasn’t us instead, and quiet disappointment and irritation when tomorrow gets turned into mattress sales and backyard barbecues. Don't get me wrong, everyone needs a 4-day weekend from work to have fun. Just we as veterans don’t need parades or fireworks to memorialize our passed on this day.
What we truly want is simple — truly remember. Say their names out loud. Visit a grave if you’re near one. Teach your children why that flag flies at half-staff. Help them understand that freedom isn’t free; it was purchased with the blood of Americans who were often barely old enough to vote. And VOTE ****'t! VOTE!
To every Gold Star family reading this: we see you. We carry your loved one with us every single day. Your sacrifice is never forgotten.
This Memorial Day, I’ll raise a glass, speak their names, and remind myself once again — they were worth it. Our Service, amongst ourselves and to one another...was worth it. Every single one.
We who came home promise you this: we’ve got it from here. We have your watch my beloved fellow war fighters...rest easy and know we will see you again one day.
Thank you for allowing me a career of Service to this Nation,
A Grateful American Veteran
