Greetings, everyone, and a very blessed Honor Memorial Day. I just wanted to share some thoughts on this sacred day. This past weekend, I attended the Republican Party of Texas convention in San Antonio. Saturday morning, I rose at 0515 for a special run. I started off up Commerce to the Riverwalk and went down to run along the scenic San Antonio River as it runs through downtown. I made it to the locks and dam and then went up top to run to the Texas Thermopylae, The Alamo.
There is something special about seeing The Alamo in the early morning light when there isn't much traffic out and about. You are reminded about the early morning, Sunday, March 6, 1836, when the defenders of The Alamo, some 183, were overwhelmed in the early morning by Mexican dictator Santa Anna's superior force of over 3,000. They had held that sacred ground for 13 days but, on that morning, were vanquished to the man, as they were given no quarter.
The story goes that the last man killed there was a former Member of the US House of Representatives from the State of Tennessee named Davy Crockett; he was bayoneted to death. Being a graduate of the University of Tennessee, the Volunteers, a name earned from those brave men at The Alamo, and a former Member of Congress, there is a very special meaning for me looking up to the statue carving of Crockett in the Cenotaph, the Memorial to those 183 Men.
See, Memorial Day is not about hot dogs, swimming pool openings, commercial ads, and car sales. It is about the history and lineage of those who were willing to make the last full measure of devotion—the ultimate sacrifice. Even before there was a United States of America, men took the field of battle and sacrificed their lives for something greater than themselves, an ideal—Liberty. It happened at Lexington Green, Concord Bridge, and Breed's (Bunker) Hill. Our National Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, comes from the sacrifice and devotion of Soldiers inside Fort McHenry during the British bombardment. “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that our Flag was still there.” It was still there because men gave the ultimate sacrifice.
I cannot think of any better words to describe what Memorial Day should be and what our focus must be. They are the 272 words of President Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the Gettysburg Battlefield National Cemetery. Lincoln was not the featured speaker, and his Gettysburg Address was delivered in under three minutes.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
We must ask ourselves today, are we honoring our brave dead by giving our increased devotion?
When we desecrate the Memorial to the first Black US Army unit, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, are we evidencing increased devotion? When we deface a World War I Memorial to our honored dead with the banner of an Islamic terrorist organization, who killed Americans, is that how we show increased devotion? When we openly burn the flag that drapes the coffin of those who make the ultimate sacrifice, is that really freedom of expression and showing increased devotion? When we allow the chanting of “Death to America,” do we regard that as free speech and a means to give our increased devotion to those who give their lives for our true freedoms?
I thank God that here in America, we still are the Land of the Free because we are the Home of the Brave...the Brave who still raise their right hand, willing to give their all. Especially at a time when we have a Country that is not willing to give them their all. As the saying goes in the military, “All gave some, Some gave all.” Yes, there will be pause in this Nation, but are we showing a sincere devotion to those who have made the last full measure of devotion? Heck, there are many who do not understand the meaning, or the history, of Memorial Day...we even had a president who once misspoke about the nature of the day—one Barack Hussein Obama.
How many of you will take less than three minutes to read the Gettysburg Address to your family...to your Children and Grandchildren, and explain the words to them? How many of you will take your Children and Grandchildren to a National Cemetery and let them see real American heroes as they lie there, on their final duty station in the Gardens of Stone? We spend lots of money buying our kids sports jerseys but never tell them about those who donned the uniform, defining them as Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines. No, I am not being woke and politically correct.
A week from today, I will be landing in Paris, France, for the 80th Anniversary of the greatest invasion known to man. It was Operation Overlord, also known as D-Day. I will travel to Normandy and link up with my Brothers and Sisters of the Round Canopy Parachuting Team—USA. Then we will fly across the English Channel to Upottery Airfield in the UK and do as brave Americans, real heroes, did 80 years ago. We will don parachutes, board the same C-47 aircraft that they did, fly across the English Channel, and jump into Normandy on designated drop zones. The difference is that it will not be in the early morning darkness, and there will be no tracer rounds coming up from the ground at us.
However, this is the way we former Paratroopers show our increased devotion to those who gave the last full measure of devotion 80 years ago. Back here in America, there will be useful idiots who have no idea about what happened on June 6th, 1944. We know that because they espouse the same ideological rhetoric of the enemy we fought then.
So, ask yourself, how are you showing increased devotion on this Memorial Day 2024? But, even more, how are you showing that increased devotion every day as you breathe in the beautiful air of Liberty, which is being threatened with the toxicity of progressive socialism and Marxism, aligned with fascism and Islamic jihadism?
We are only given one day to Honor and remember those who gave the last full measure of devotion...but next month, we will be inundated with foolishness about sexual perversion. Well, I will be walking the hallowed grounds of Normandy with my wife and our best friends, Steve and Lauren. I think that is a much better way to start my June than the leftist nonsense that they will be promoting.
Honor Memorial Day!
Steadfast and Loyal.
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