(Today is Memorial Day in the United States, a day set side to remember those who made the supreme sacrifice in service of the nation.)
Today we remember. We remember the Patriots who died in Lexington and Concord, at Cowpens and Trenton. We remember you.
We remember those brave Americans, who, in the early years, defended Washington DC from the British. We remember you.
We remember those brothers, Billy Yank and Johnny Reb, who fought each other at Gettysburg, Antietam, Atlanta, and The Wilderness in that most bloody Civil War. We remember you.
We remember the sailors who perished when the battleship Maine eploded in Havana Harbor. We remember the Rough Riders and American soldiers who died at Kettle Hill, San Juan Hill, and the Philippines. We remember you.
We remember the Doughboys and airmen who fought–and died–in and over the trenches of the Western Front to make the world safe for Democracy in the War to End All Wars. We remember you.
We remember the Americans who laid down their lives at places with names like Kasserine, Salerno, Sicily, Normandy, Bastogne, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Lae, Tinian, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa to rid the world of tyranny. We remember you.
Ane we also remember the Americans who fought at Chosin, and Seoul, Da Nang, Khe Sanh, Hue, and Saigon to check the spread of futher oppression under Communism. We remember you.
And let us not forget those Americans who liberated Grenada and Panama; expelled Saddam Hussein's troops from Kuwait, and later Iraq; and who have shown Afghans what freedom from oppression and terror can be. We remember you.
We remember all of you, since, if we forget, your sacrifice will have been in vain. And we will never forget.
Be good to one another. I bid you Peace.