Today we honor those who served our nation in war and peacetime in the armed services, and especially those whose sacrifice included injury and death for the cause of our liberty. We also remember their families, who through their loved ones’ deployments and absences had to continue their family lives missing, and no doubt concerned about the welfare of their servicemembers.
I wrote a book called Seaside Serendipity which features the life of Darren who was deployed soon after this marriage to the main character, Sarah. He left her with two children, one of whom he never saw born, and the book conveys young love and hurtful loss. However, I tried to honor the many whom this book recognizes that paid the price honorably in serving our nation. The little boy, Scottie, forever honored his dad because Sarah implanted in him that Dad’s memory be preserved.
Today our nation celebrates and commemorates the outstanding response to the call to duty so many of our young men and women have answered. Both for the parents, spouses, friends, and individuals who associate with these brave and honorable individuals, but we pay tribute as citizens to these individuals who serve us. They learn self-discipline, rigorously train their bodies, equip their minds with knowledge, and infuse comradery in service to their goals–to be the best fighting force possible to guard our freedom and advance our nation’s goal of keeping peace in a dangerous world. Most of all, they sacrifice their time with family, friends, their leisure, their lifestyles in other trades, businesses, classrooms, and leisure, to rigorously participate in a disciplined milieu that emphasizes all for the rigors of their commissions and duties.
I had a brother and uncle who served in the Navy. I wish, now that I’m immersed in the writing of memoir, that I had their stories. I do, now, live in a senior living facility where we will honor those who have served us well. We have a Wall of Honor featuring the many veterans who live in this facility. I have honored one who told his story in one of our anthologies we’ve written. Today the American Legion will be here to honor those who served. They take the time to travel to facilities on their motorcycles and cars to remind us of the sacrifices of comrades in arms who served and especially those who gave their lives and limbs in that service. We thank them for coming each year on this date.
We pray for families who have lost loved ones or who have sacrificed limbs, health, and suffered psychological damage as a result of their service. And we honor groups and businesses who need special attention. And we honor those who have recently graduated and choose to attend service academies and pledge their lives in enlistment. We thank Secretary Hegseth for his dedication to our men and women and those whose careers highlight the expertise and the sacrifices made to keep our nation strong. We thank President Trump who promises to establish defenses and the best possible equipment to guard our nation and protect our citizens and our troops should the evils of war again tarnish our way of life. Our nation’s pledge of safety through strength must be preserved.
Thank you for your service, those who have served. Thank you for your sacrifice, those who lives, limbs, and health were lost. Thank you to those in command who make the hard decisions. Thank you for those who study hard in our academies to take on leadership roles. Thank you to the children who wait for large portions of their growing-up lives for the moments when moms, dads, and siblings return on furlough, and thank you to the spouses, male or female, who keep the home fires burning in the absence of their marriage partners. Thanks to the parents who advised our young people to join the army,navy, merchant marines, and other disciplines. Thank you for the corporations who provide the equipment on which we depend as a nation. And thank you to those families, hospitals, counselors, and nonprofits who care for our veterans when they return..
One long-ago Memorial Day, I, as an eighth grader, read an essay I wrote called “Why I’m Proud to Honor America.” It won an essay contest sponsored by the American Legion. I stood on a platform festooned with flags and funeral baskets (remember those?) filled with peonies, lilacs, dogwood branches, and snowdrop bush limbs. As bees buzzed around the stage, flags fluttered in the May breeze in Hudson, New York, my knees shook as I spoke in front of the crowd. The setting was a cemetery, graves marked by fluttering flags and flowers. It was called Decoration Day, in the past. People put flags and flowers on each grave, stood in a moment of silence, and if they were members of the military, saluted the fallen veterans. The scene reminds me, even at the age of almost eighty-five, that we need more than one Memorial Day.
Each time I see a veteran in his hat or jacket, I say, “Thank you for your service.” Each time I read an obituary of a servicer member, I pray a prayer of appreciation that he or she cared enough about freedom to serve us. Each time I see a demonstration against America and our values, I pray to God that those individuals’ hearts might be changed. And each time I watch a speech at one of the academies at students’ graduations and swearing in commisisions pledgings, I pray for those young people’s safety. It’s the very least we can do.
Today when our veterans here are honored, and we wave our flags, singe the National Anthem in our aged voices, I’ll remember that day I gave my speach, “What Democracy Means to Me,” and thank my teacher, Mrs. Meyers, who assigned that essay and congratulated me on my win. I long ago spent the ten dollars and lost the little medal I earned at eighth grade graduation. But the memory and its input allows me to remember others’ sacrifices that allowed America to win the wars that allowed my freedom.
Many flags, their designs of which have changed even in my lifetime with added stars, will fly today, and I will wave my little one on a short stick, and I will cringe each time i see one desecrated or burned. It’s the least we can do. Let us pray for our freedom, our leadership in a fallen world, and that our children are till taught America’s story in our schools. I’m thankful that sign-ups for recruitment are up since January. I pray for safety and good judgment for our leaders, and pray that God bless America is meaningful and untarnished by anti-American protests and misunderstanding. It is not Happy Memorial Day, but Thankful for Your Service Day.
A career teacher, with forty years of teaching language arts/English, Betty Jackson enjoys wordsmithing, writing, and reading as a vocation and avocation.Retirement is her "age of frosting," a chance to pursue postponed hobbies with gusto. She especially sends kudos to the Space Coast Writers Guild members for their encouragement and advice. Her five books, It's a God Thing!, Job Loss: What's Next? A Step by Step Action Plan, and Bless You Bouquets: A Memoir, And God Chose Joseph: A Christmas Story, and Rocking Chair Porch: Summers at Grandma's are available at Amazon.com. Ms. Jackson is available to speak to local groups and to offer her books at discount for fundraising purposes at her discretion. She and her husband soon celebrate their 47th anniversary, and have lived in New York, New Jersey, Iowa, and now the paradise of Palm Bay, Florida. Their two grown children and daughter-in-love, all orchestra musicians, and our beautiful granddaughters Kaley and Emily live nearby. Hobbies, and probably future topics on her blog: gardening, symphonic music (especially supporting the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra as a volunteer and proud parent of a violinist, a cellist, and an oboist), singing, book clubs, and co-teaching a weekly small-group Bible study for seniors. She volunteers and substitute teaches at Covenant Christian School, and serves as a board member of the Best Yet Set senior group at church. Foundationally, she daily enjoys God's divine appointments called Godincidences, which show God's providence and loving kindness.