Memorial Day Observing

[RV Roadie]

Memorial Day
Begun in 1866 to honor Civil War Combatants, it was later expanded to honor all brave men and women who served this country in all wars.

Between cookouts, picnics, vacations and sales, Memorial Day may be losing its
meaning! Please take one minute, at 3 PM local time on Memorial Day to Remember and honor those brave men and women, who paid the piper that we may dance.

A Day to Remember
By Derek Gore

They gave their all, their lives, and the futures they held dear,
They left behind a legacy of sadness and of tears.
A folded flag, the sound of Taps, the pride mixed in their leaving,
With heads held high, and tears in eye, the loved ones still are grieving.
Remember them.

Went in harm's way, so young, and they never will grow older,
Leaving memories, and pictures, citations in a folder.
They left their sons, their little girls, to grow up wondering why,
Their daddy that they loved so well, went off to war to die.
Remember them.

For some it changed, and mother, was the casualty of war,
The arms that hugged them never would again, forevermore.
Yet all were sons and daughters, and left behind an ache,
In the hearts of those, whose turn should come, before their children's wake.
Remember them.

They rest in peace, some say, and who am I to doubt it?
The higher purpose it was served, the enemy was routed.
Some came home, some never went, some only watched the news,
But they will never hold their child, or argue current views.
Remember them

It wasn't meant, in leaving, when they all marched off to war,
That we'd be left without them, from the cannon's deadly roar.
I'm sure that they, would rather, have been here for all of us,
But someone had to fight those wars, someone pay the cost.
Remember them

At 3 PM, this Monday, my flag will fly half mast,
As all across the nation, floats the somber sound of Taps.
It's only for one minute, or maybe three or four,
In tears, I will remember, those who died in every war.

© RV Roadie / Derek Gore 2002


Taps and Amazing Grace can be downloaded here to play at 3PM on Memorial Day local time for a national moment of remembrance:
http://www.mymorninglight.org/taps/

How to observe Memorial Day
http://www.usmemorialday.org/observe.htm