Posted by
Cyber Pastor on Monday, May 28, 2007 12:40:38 PM
I have to admit that Memorial day didn't really mean that much to me until I attended a little tiny small town Memorial day service where the local VFW laid a wreath at a monument in the center of town. A pretty good crowd showed up; but you could see the looks on the faces of those old guys in the ceremony and they were remembering things that happened 50 years before.
Then last year we attended a special event in central Jersey where the National Guard was unveiling a monument to their fallen heroes from NJ who died in Fallujah. The wives and parents of these brave men were greatly honored, including a missing man formation of fighter jets flying overhead. It brings tears to me even though I had never met a single one of them. One of the attendees was a woman with a baby and a 5 year old. She explained that the boys' dad was currently in Iraq and she brings her children to military events as often as possible to reinforce patriotism in them and to help them understand that their dad was doing a very special job.
I am humbled by these people. A very small section of that National Guard Event is shown in the movie trailer for Thank a Soldier; a video project that, unfortunately, is on hold due to a number of factors (lack of financial backing for one); but eventually it will be released and no matter how long that takes it does not diminish the honor it gives to our military -- the project is timeless in its message.