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May 24, 2015
Lieutenant Colonel Allen West There’s something every American must do at 3:00 pm on Monday
Lieutenant Colonel Allen West There’s something every American must do at 3:00 pm on Monday
I will be spending this Memorial Day weekend in Rosenberg, Texas with my daughter Aubrey at the 6th Annual US Navy SEAL Danny Dietz Memorial Team Roping and BBQ Cook Off. This is the 10 year anniversary of Operation Red Wings made famous by the book and film, “Lone Survivor.”
So this will be my only post for this weekend.
The solemn act of honoring those who have fallen in battle is a custom that seems to have faded in importance to our nation over time.
Nowadays, many Americans have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At cemeteries across the country, the graves of the fallen are sadly ignored, and worse, neglected.
While there are towns and cities still planning Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some think the day is for honoring anyone who has died, not just those fallen in service to our country.
Perhaps they do not know how deeply our nation once appreciated those who sacrificed their lives in defense of the principles we hold most dear. Perhaps those very principles of individual sovereignty, freedom and liberty are no longer so important.
It was not always so.
In 1868, on May 5th, Memorial Day, originally called “Decoration Day,” was officially proclaimed by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11.
General Logan asked that we cherish “tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes. Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders.”
But times change. In the 1960’s our warriors were not welcomed back from battle with parades and cheers, and the fallen were not honored as they had been in the past.
Perhaps reflecting those times, the Uniform Holidays Bill was passed in 1968 as part of a move to use federal holidays to create three-day weekends – time for fun and recreation, rather than remembrance and reflection.
Thus, from 1971 onwards, the Memorial Day holiday was officially observed on the last Monday in May and became the unofficial start of the summer, with barbecues, blockbuster movie openings and mattress sales.
No less than the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) was later moved to say “Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.”
It was around that time as well that defense spending began a steep decline, and in 1976, for the first time, entitlement spending exceeded defense spending. It is a trend that has rapidly accelerated, with spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid more than double that of national defense, a core constitutional function of government.
Nonetheless, the United States of America still possesses the greatest military force the world has ever known. Our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsman volunteer to protect and defend this country and all its citizens, and do so with honor, integrity and excellence. Our nation continually asks them to do more and more, with less and less.
We must never forget why we have, and why we need our military. Our armed forces exist solely to ensure our nation is safe, so that each and every one of us can sleep soundly at night, knowing we have “guardians at the gate.”
Those who serve today deserve our gratitude, those who are returning from the battlefield deserve our open arms, and those who will never return deserve our thoughts, tributes and remembrance.
In 2000, President Clinton passed a resolution asking all Americans to observe a “National Moment of Remembrance” at 3:00 p.m. on each Memorial Day “to remember and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many to provide freedom for all.” I know what I will be doing at 3:00 p.m. this Memorial Day. I hope I will not be alone.
For as General Logan proclaimed, “Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”
We can have debates about going to war. But we should never look in hindsight and denigrate the heroic exertions of those who represent that which is the best amongst us all. So take the time this Memorial Day to explain to your children and grandchildren that this day is not about BBQ, swimming pools opening, the start of summer, or sales.
This day is about those who have always known that there is no sale price for freedom. It is about those who were more than willing to discount their own lives for the ultimate benefit to others.
They were and shall always be Steadfast and Loyal.
Wild Thing's comment...........
Thank you Allen West.
Posted by Wild Thing at May 24, 2015 12:45 AM
Comments
I love Allen West. I hope there is a high position in govt. for him in the near future. Maybe SecDef. He would be great for rebuilding our military.
Posted by: TomR,armed in Texas at May 24, 2015 12:55 PM
