THOUGHTS ON MEMORIAL DAY — WHY CARE?
In our country, this week-end has been set aside as Memorial Day, which is designed to remember — and pay homage to — the men and women who fought in various wars in order to make it possible for you and I and our children to enjoy the freedoms we have in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA..
However, to far too many, it means nothing more than a three day week-end.
From the personal pages of my family saga, may I show you what two soldiers experienced for our country?
The first was my grandfather’s great grandfather who fought in the Civil War. He was a “Yankee” and found himself fighting the “Rebels” in Georgia. While he was fighting to free the ancestors of today’s African Americans, he left behind a wife and four little children to tend a South Dakota farm. He wrote many letters describing the hell of war …”so many shot today. I feel most sorry for the ones who are alive. They take them to the hospital tents and they scream in pain.. He wrote how much he looked forward to coming home. HE DIDN’T MAKE IT. He was captured, taken to the infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia where he and hundreds of prisoners-of-war died from disease and starvation. His wife and children were never compensated by the government for his death. No widow’s benefits then.
My second example is even dearer to me. My beloved husband, Harvey Witcher, was in the second world war. This was before my time. He was in the Army and when he was sent to the Pacific to fight the Japanese, his young wife was pregnant with their first child. He did not see that child, Jan, until she was three years old. No zoom in those days!
His parents had three sons in the war. Only my Harvey and Bob came home. The youngest son, Mel, was killed when the plane that he was in was shot down. All the family got back of Mel was a shoe.
Just two examples of the sacrifices made by millions so that THIS COUNTRY can continue to be the country thousands struggle to come into — even if they have to do it illegally!
Some, however, do not value what this country stands for. They have a long list of all that is wrong with it. Yes! I admit we are not perfect. But we live in a country where we can express our opinions about America — good and bad. Think China, North Korea, Iran, etc. etc. etc. You who are so critical — go there and speak out about what’s wrong with that country. See what happens!
I must get off my soap box. But please, think even for a few moments, about the sons and daughters, husbands and wives, who never came home so that you are free to go where you want to go or do what you want to do on this week-end.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!