[TVMF News] Memorial Day News & Message

[Thornton Veterans Memorial Foundation]

weblogo-xs.jpg

 

Thornton Veterans Memorial News - Memorial Day 2007

 

Greetings to our supporters!  

 

cid:image002.gif at 01C6CD77.8CB321F0  Join Us On Memorial Day.  We would like
to invite everyone to join us at Olinger Highland Mortuary at I-25 and 104th
Avenue as Olinger will be hosting their 47th Annual Memorial Day Service at
10 a.m. Monday, May 28, 2007.  The service will include choir music by New
Star Entertainment, bagpiper Scott Beach and an Honor Guard and Wreath
Ceremony conducted by VFW Post #7945, American Legion Post #22 and Ladies
Auxiliary. A dove release will conclude the ceremony.  Refreshments will be
served.  Fresh flowers will be available for purchase Saturday, Sunday and
Monday of Memorial Day weekend.  The Thornton Veterans Memorial Foundation
will be there and we ask all of our supporters to please take the time to
join us and honor those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for this nation
- it is the least we can do!  

 

cid:image003.gif at 01C78251.EA630BF0  TVMF Supports the VA's Veterans Pride
Initiative - Wear Your Medals Monday!  The Honorable R. James Nicholson,
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and leaders of major veterans organizations
have called on America's veterans to help kindle a new spark of patriotism
on Veterans Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July by wearing the medals
they earned during military service.  The Foundation whole-heartedly
endorses this initiative and encourages all veterans to show the pride they
have in their service to this nation!  For more information, please visit
the VA's website at:  http://www1.va.gov/veteranspride/.  

cid:image002.gif at 01C6CD77.8CB321F0  Memorial Day 2007 - Message From Our
Chairman

1,194,251

 

A pretty big number isn't it?  Read that again.  1,194,251.

 

Why is that significant?  It is significant because that number - 1,194,251
- is the entire reason we celebrate Memorial Day.  That number is something
which I wish would never grow but always will.  That number stands for one
thing more than any other - sacrifice.  1,194,251.  The number of men and
women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice during war time in defense of
this nation since this country was founded.  

 

The number is staggering but it is real and it represents those who saw
something in this country worth dying for.  They didn't sit at home and
merely pay lip service to the words honor, courage, commitment, and country.
They lived for those words - and more importantly they died for them.  We
talk of sacrifice, but they knew the true meaning of the word.  

 

Yes, we all use Memorial Day to catch up on chores around the house, enjoy a
day at the lake or have a family BBQ.  1,194,251 of our countrymen now look
down from heaven and smile at the gift they have given us - the freedom and
ability to do these very things.  Sadly though, there are those who simply
do not understand.  I recently read with disgust of one
<http://www.legion.org/vision/currentevents/2007/05/message_to_america_respe
ct_mem.html>  candidate running for commander in chief who dares to try to
steal away the true meaning of this day and use it to for political gain.
Is it that hard to understand what this day means?  

 

Sacrifice.  

 

Sacrifice is meaningless without remembrance and that is why we celebrate
Memorial Day.  On this most hallowed of days, we are asked to take the time
to remember and honor our war dead.  It is NOT to make political statements.
1,194,251 men and women demand that we do this and to not do so not only
dishonors them but it dishonors everything they fought and died for.  

 

War touches all of us but maybe none more so than children, especially the
children of those that have paid this ultimate sacrifice.  Seeing it through
a child's eyes, and reading their words provides a great deal of
perspective.  Two days after Command Sergeant Major James Blankenbecler was
killed in Samara, Iraq, Jessica, his 14-year-old daughter wrote him a
letter:  

 

"Hi Daddy, sorry I haven't written to you in a while. I miss you so much.
How have you been? Is heaven everything it says it is? I know it's probably
that and more. I can't wait 'till I can come join you again. 

 

"I have your military ring on now. It's kind of big for my little finger,
but it makes me feel you're holding my hand when I have it on.It's been on
since we found out the news. 

 

"And when we drive by the billboards that say, 'An Army of One', it makes me
remember you in your military uniform. How you always made a crunching sound
when you walked, and how you shined your big boots every night before you
went to bed. I miss seeing that all the time. 

 

"I know you are gone now, but it only means that I have another angel
watching over me for the rest of my life. That's the only way I can think of
this being good. There is no other way I can think of it. 

 

"Little things that I took for granted when you were here seem priceless
now. I will miss you, daddy, with all my heart. I will always be your little
girl and I will never forget that ... I love you daddy, I will miss you!!" 

 

P.S. I have never been so proud of my last name."

 

Sergeant Major Blankenbecler was but one of the 1,194,251 but it is for him,
and all the others, that we celebrate Memorial Day.  1,194,251 reasons for
us to take this moment to stop and remember and honor their sacrifice.  This
is nothing less than a national obligation and to not do so would be a
dereliction of our duty as citizens of the United States of America.

 

How we choose to do this must be decided on an individual basis but I ask
all who receive this to do something.  Whether it is going to a Memorial Day
parade, attending one of the hundreds of remembrances held at National
Cemetery's across the country, or taking part in the National Moment of
Remembrance, this is the least we can do.  This is our duty - just as
1,194,251 men and women performed their duty.  Take time to reflect upon the
lives of those who died serving our country and remember the men and women
who are serving at home and abroad today.

 

General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in
his proclamation that established Memorial Day in 1868 said:

 

"What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory
of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country
and its foes? ..  Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds.
Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond
mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify
to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a
people the cost of a free and undivided republic."

 

Indeed!  The cost of a free and undivided republic has a number and it is
1,194,251.  NEVER FORGET!  

 

God bless you all and God bless America!

            Tony

As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please don't
hesitate to contact us!  Thank you for your continued support!

 

Thornton Veterans Memorial Foundation

To Honor Those Who Have Sacrificed For Us All

http://www.thorntonveteransmemorial.org
<http://www.thorntonveteransmemorial.org/> 

info at thorntonveteransmemorial.org

 

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