It’s Monday, May 31, 2010. Memorial Day.
It is a day we set aside once a year to be mindful of and to give honor to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of this great land.
Their bodies lay in graves across this Fruited Plain. Their bodies lay in graves far from this land they died to defend. Their bodies lay in the depths of the oceans. Their bodies lay in places known only to God.
We owe to them our enduring gratitude and not just on this one day.
We owe to God thanks for providing such men and women to us in our times of need and not just on this one day.
We owe to each other to abide no erosion of the other’s liberty and not just on this one day.
We are thus encumbered to jealously defend the liberty we go about in and not just on this one day.
We are thus encumbered to teach the meaning and costs of liberty to our posterity and not just on this one day.
We are thus encumbered to live so as to be worthy of this gift, provided at a most terrible cost and not just on this one day.
They paid with their life.
We pay with our vigilance.
God bless you and God bless the United States of America.