Well, I'm a day late in this post. For a Veteran and Gold Star Family, every day is Memorial Day.
Yesterday was the day we observe as Memorial Day. A somber day. A day when we mourn over and honor those men and women that gave their lives while serving. Even today our active duty men & women are still serving & dying in foreign theaters of operation.
Memorial Day is not really a day of gleeful celebration, For some reason, this year was very trying, personally.
Yesterday, a small band of Veterans and community members met at Harmony Cemetery, Union Cemetery, South Byfield Cemetery & VFW Park to honor those men and women that gave their lives while serving.
Many veterans make it back home physically. Some with wounds that are seen, while others quietly bear wounds that are not seen. The wounds of mental anguish, toxic chemical exposure, dreams that do not stop, and many more suffer survival guilt. "Why did they die and not me?" "Why, did they die and not me?" It can be a never-ending loop. A couple of years ago a 94-year-old WWII veteran and friend sobbed while confiding with me "I still have dreams every night. They don't stop. How do I get them to stop?"
This poem is attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt. Ponder the question.
Dear Lord,
Lest I continue
My complacent way,
Help me to remember that somewhere,
Somehow out there
A man died for me today.
As long as there be war,
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?
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