Arlington National Cemetery is over 500 miles away from Habersham County, Georgia, but today it remains close at heart. Thousands of our nation’s war dead are buried amid the rolling green hills of the 639-acre cemetery outside Washington D.C. Hundreds of thousands more are buried in cemeteries in towns across America, and in the jungles, beaches, deserts, and oceans where they served and died.
As the sun rose today over our nation’s capital, Arlington National Cemetery captured it live on Facebook with a simple caption: “Memorial Day. Who are you remembering today?” Please pause for a moment to answer that question: Who are you remembering today? Is it your husband, wife, father, or mother? Is it your son or daughter who served? Did you or someone you know lose a brother or sister in war? Are you recounting the stories you heard of your grandfather’s heroics or the brave actions of an aunt or uncle who died serving our country? How deep does your family’s military legacy run?
If you haven’t lost a loved one in war, who are you remembering today? Is it the soldier whose casket you saw on the news being carried off the plane at Dover Air Base in Delaware? Or the one you saluted as his casket rolled by in your town? Is it the 58,000 whose names are etched into the Vietnam Memorial and the million others whose names you’ll never know?
They sacrificed their futures for ours.
Today, if there’s an empty chair at your family dinner table or a gaping hole in your heart, we remember you. If there’s a blank page in your family photo album where a homecoming photo should be, we remember you. If there’s a dream left unrealized or a life cut short too soon, please know we are remembering you today. And we are remembering them. Their sacrifice and yours paid the price for our freedom.
We are eternally grateful. We will never forget.
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