Thor’s Hall

I received this email this morning:

A Small Town’s Remembrance Echoes the Nation

Each year a sign appears on the Village Green in Lake Bluff — a small but charming Midwest community with a New England-look, bordering on the shores of Lake Michigan, and a short distance down the road from the Great Lakes Navel Training Center — announcing the community’s celebration of Memorial Day. It is an announcement that conveys freedom, appreciation, dedication, and service to country.

With these thoughts in mind, I arose early on May 26th in eager anticipation of participating in yet another meaningful Lake Bluff Memorial Day celebration. Even as I walked the few blocks from my Lake Bluff home to the Village Green, I could hear the strains of patriotic music being played by members of the local Lake Forest High School band. This only encouraged me to walk faster in anticipation of joining others already gathered to pay homage to our fallen soldiers.

I stood in reverence as Rudy Iberle, Commander of American Legion Post 510 in Lake Bluff and himself a Korean War veteran, spoke of the true meaning of Memorial Day and how it is a national holiday for reasons far beyond the opening of community swimming pools and the start of summer. With these words Mr. Iberle captured the spirit of the day: “Some were decorated with this country’s highest military awards and some were not; but all deserve the tribune that we render to them today!”

I was moved when a roll call of Lake Bluff’s own fallen heroes was read. All total there were thirteen battle deaths, with four dating back to the Civil War era. There was pride in watching local Boy Scouts raise the flag, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance as the flag fluttered proudly in the breeze. Even greater pride was felt as I listened to the poignant remarks of one of Lake Bluff’s own, Captain Andrew Rosa, now a commissioned member of the Navy Reserves with a long family tradition of military service going back to the Revolutionary War. Finally the time came for the much awaited and impressive 21-gun salute by a rifle squad dispatched from Marine Air Control Group 438 stationed at Great Lakes. And lastly I watched as a somber procession advanced to Lake Bluff’s Veterans’ Memorial to place a floral wreath of gratitude and remembrance.

As I retraced my steps back home, I thought of the millions of Americans who had gathered as I did on this Monday morning to pause, reflect and celebrate a day first observed as Decoration day on May 30, 1868, to honor patriots who had died during the Civil War (In 1971 Memorial Day was declared a national holiday to be held on the last Monday in May.). Since the Civil War there have been other wars with bloody battles that have taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of men who died to defend our flag and all that it represents to a country of freedom-loving people. Abraham Lincoln described this sacrifice of life 150 years ago as “the full measure of devotion” to protect America’s freedoms, opportunities and prosperity.

To the questions of “where do we find such men? President Reagan gave this answer: “where we’ve always found them in this country. On the farms, in the shops, in the stores and the offices, they are just the product of the freest society man has every known.”
Americans must never forget that we have a duty to honor our nation’s war dead to insure that they did not die in vain, for they died to protect this great land, our democracy and us!

Aw, hell.  I just keep running across this stuff.  Now, I get to steer you over to one of Raven’s posts.  Simple, eloquent and concise.  Enjoy it here.

As is typical, I find others have more to say on this subject and are more eloquent in doing so than I can hope to be. Over at Blackfive they have several great posts on this topic. I would like to steer you to one in particular. The Gates of Heaven

Really powerful stuff throughout the piece. I learned the words to Taps in sixth grade, at outdoor school of all places. A week long event that had everyone headed out into the Cascade foothills to a summer camp setting, and learning about the lifecycle of the forest. It was good stuff. One of the things that has always stuck with me was the closing of the day, around the campfire singing Taps. Hearing at sunset, or in the dark is entirely different than hearing it in the day, as is pointed out in the post.

Go read the entire piece, then go enjoy this weekend the way that you should (read it, you’ll know what I mean).

Sorry everyone – Life has gotten in the way of posting recently. Work, kids, all that stuff. I hope to fix that soon, in the interim I’ll throw some lighter stuff up here over the next couple of days. Enjoy!