MEMORIAL DAY 2005
There are few of us left who consider "duty, honor, country" as the credo to live by. And to those of you who still honor the cause, I send this electronic greeting... so ephemeral and fleeting, compared to the historic paper envelope on which Lincoln penned his brief, but moving Gettysburg Address.......
I thank all of you for your service to the nation, thank you for continuing to believe, and honor you for what you are currently enduring, as the ravages of getting older tear away at our fabric.
How beautiful that Ed, our trusted teen-aged ward-master, going through chemo and radiation therapy at the same time, following brain tumor surgery, can rise up and mow the lawn, and keep the flame burning on the 24th Evac website, and LTC Ken Butke... recovering from total shoulder surgery can once again fire out those great blurbs, and Detective Jerry Pearce, you never surrender and fly the flag from your very being.
Dennis Haines; paralyzed on your left side... (shot twice in the head by a North Vietnamese regular with an AK-47)... I apologize, but that result was about all I could get for you that day long ago in the OR, when your brain was goop and we had to decide what was viable and what was bad... you, who have risen, despite your infirmity, to Director of Construction and Development at Penn State University...
To all of you I tip my hat, salute the flag and say, in Ronald Reagan's words, "Where do we get men like this?"
Memorial Day 2005: A day to remember the sacrifice of others who no longer are here, and to honor those, particularly those like Dennis, who gave up their bodies and their future but remain as living legacies of our nation's dedication to freedom, not just ours, but for others.
"In as much as you did it to the least of these, My brethren, you did it also unto Me." The words of Jesus: Matthew 25:40
With great respect to you, my brothers...