Mornings on Memorial Day were always about honoring those who paid the ultimate sacrifice serving their country in uniform.
It happens every Memorial Day. I am drawn back to a day long before I was born: when my mother found out her brother was killed in World War II. It was before there were support groups for such things, before we knew what PTSD was, and before anyone dared to talk about war and the carnage it leaves behind.
My mother's dad barely cried. Afterwards, she would never again see him truly enjoy his life. He'd lost not just his only son—he'd lost his bloodline and future.John, the uncle I never knew, is buried at the U.S Military Cemetery in St. Laurent, France. A framed picture of that cemetery hangs on my office wall, next to a framed Purple Heart citation.
Memorial Day is more than a weekend of fun and sun to so many millions of us. It's personal. That's why it's about visiting military cemeteries and adorning gravesites with small American flags. "We're licking the tar out of the Germans and I'm a live part of it," Lt. Robert E. Mitchell wrote to his family on October 6, 1918."The spirit of the boys is great and they are brimming over with confidence. These are stirring times and regardless of my personal outcome, I'm glad to be a part of it."Kate Gordon sent three of her boys off to Europe in World War I.
In a letter to his fiancée Audrey Taylor on July 6, 1944, Lt. Jack Emery wrote these words:"I like to sit up these warm bright nights and watch the white clouds and dark shadows move in the night. That's when I miss you the most. On the nights that I sit up alone, I can feel you close to me. Sometimes we sit and talk and sometimes I pretend we are just sitting there with our arms about each other."One of the most harrowing letters came from Lt.
"I want you to know how much I love each of you. You mean everything to me, and it is the realization of your love that gives me the courage to continue," Lt. Lundberg wrote.
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