Good morning. We gather here under this beautiful Colorado sky this morning to remember the men and women who gave their life so that we may live free. Any event involving the military always has special meaning for me. Military service is sort of the family business. I spent most of my adult life in the Navy; my brother was a submariner; my Daddy was a sailor; my daughter married a career sailor; my son and daughter-in-law are career Air force. I have a nephew who is a Marine Corps 1Sgt and my oldest Grandson just graduated from Marine Corps boot camp, love that young man. Fortunately, I am a blue star father and grandfather, thank god for that.  Today is about remembering those brothers and sisters in arms who did not come home or survive their ordeal.

 

Memorial Day, now celebrated on the last Monday in May was originally called Decoration Day, a national holiday, to remember those killed in war. It has come to mean the beginning of summer. It began as a day to place flowers on the graves of soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. This year because of this lock down, although the National VA isn’t allowing groups to place flags on graves, our local folks found a way to get that done and honor the fallen within constraints, thank you. Memorial Day to Labor Day is kind of how we think about summer. On Memorial Day, we begin to think of backyard BBQs, volleyball, family trips to the lake and all the other summer activities we enjoy in this great land and that’s okay. Those we commemorate today would want it that way. It’s exactly what they were fighting to preserve.

 

They took an oath to support and defend the Constitution and faithfully kept that oath though it cost their life to do so. General George Patton said, “Do not morn these men, but thank God that they lived.” They gave their life so that we may live free. They gave up a lifetime of springtime flowers; blue Colorado skies; last kisses with wives & husbands; dancing with a daughter at her wedding and taking a son fishing, of PTA meetings; quiet nights and busy days. They did so, so that we may sleep soundly in our beds. So that we may enjoy back yard BBQs with the family; baseball games; walks in the park, climbing a 14er, dancing with a daughter and fishing trips. They did so, so that we may worship as we see fit, so that we are free to choose our form of government and to criticize our government should we choose to.

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Those freedoms are sacred and must never be taken for granted. They are the ideas on which the country was founded and what made America different and Great. The oath they swore is not to any individual, not to a President or congress but to defend and support the Constitution, “in order to form a more perfect union.” As it says in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

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I’d like to share a poem by Annette Wynne:

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    Is it enough to think to-day

    Of all our brave, then put away

    The thought until a year has sped?

    Is this full honor for our dead?

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    Is it enough to sing a song

    And deck a grave; and all year long

    Forget the brave who died that we

    Might keep our great land proud and free?

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    Full service needs a greater toll—

    That we who live give heart and soul

    To keep the land they died to save,

    And be ourselves, in turn, the brave!

                                                        Annette Wynne

 

Although less than ½ of 1% are currently serving on active duty, well over 1 million have died for our freedom and only 7% of our population are veterans but we have today a whole generation who’ve spent their entire service life in a time of combat. We have far too many veterans coming home and taking their own life. These too are casualties of war. For anyone in that frame of mind within the sound of my voice please, I have a message from your brothers and your sisters. When the demons come in the dark of night, call me and we will fight them together. I guarantee your comrades would much rather field a phone call in the wee hours of the morning than attend your funeral.

 

We can never give them sufficient thanks for the price they paid. What we can do is live the life we were granted by their sacrifice to the fullest. We can remember that freedom isn’t free. And, we ought to learn about and remember that magnificent document they died defending and its timeless ideas that they pledged to support. We should remember as we enjoy the pleasures and the challenges they were denied. Our dead brothers and sisters, wives, husbands and fathers must live on in our memory, for a nation who forgets its hero’s will soon be forgotten.

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                                                              Ken Brownlee

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Community Involvement