Freedom is never "free"

Some men put their life on the line … for others to be FREE

Their sacrifice merits HONOR … and a place in history

The BRAVE of heart can be found ... on the front-lines

Facing the enemy head on … their COURAGE shines

Lines formed in battles … how BRUTAL is war

Cease all the fighting … and WAR is no more

“Who wishes to fight must first count the COST” ~ The Art of War

For once you’re at war … all “gain” comes with LOSS

~ Fay Vietmeier (an excerpt from "Lines of Life")

https://www.bebee.com/producer/@fay-vietmeier-pennsylvania/lines-of-life

"In Flanders Fields"

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

~John McCrae

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

~Moina Michael

Memorial Day ... we are remembering:

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; love leaves a memory no one can steal.” ~ From a headstone

Gratitude knows that “freedom is not free”

The life of every warrior-soldier who gave the last & greatest “ultimate sacrifice” has been poured out as a patriotic love offering. May the American flag ever bring this remembrance.

Every warrior-soldier is due honor & respect.

Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.” ~ Unknown

... a timeless prayer for warriors ...

“Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings and Thy Protection… Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.”~ excerpt from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “D-Day” Prayer June 6th 1944

It is noteworthy that this is not a speech, it is a prayer. Roosevelt didn’t ask the country to honor a moment of silence. He, the President of the United States of America, asked the American people to “join” him in prayer. As he led the nation in a solemn petition for the lives of thousands of American and Allied men ... boys, really ... who were crossing the English Channel and landing on the bloody beaches of Normandy, France. He asked for God’s will to be done in the great endeavor that was “D-Day”

"I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts." ~ * Psalm 119:45 

Leonard Cohen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKoJvHcMLfc

“In Flanders Fields”
One of the most poignant reminders of World War I is the moving poem, ‘In Flanders Fields’, written by John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, following the death of his close friend and compatriot Lieutenant Alexis Helmer. Helmer was killed on 2 May 1915 when a shell exploded during the second German gas attack. In the absence of a chaplain, McCrae conducted the funeral service for his friend himself. Grief and the trauma of war inspired his poem.

https://www.flandersfields.be/en/inspiration/poem-flanders-fields

“We shall keep the faith”

Moina Belle Michael was born near Good Hope, Walton County, Georgia, USA on August 15, 1869. At the age of 15 Moina began her career as a teacher, spending time in every section of the educational system in Georgia, teaching in county, town, state and church schools.

The idea for the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy came to Moina Michael while she was working at the YMCA Overseas War Secretaries headquarters on a Saturday morning in November 1918, two days before the Armistice was declared at 11 o’clock on 11 November. At about 10.30am, when everyone was on duty elsewhere, Moina found a few moments to read the magazine. In it she came across a page that carried a vivid color illustration for the poem “We Shall Not Sleep” (later named “In Flanders Fields”) written by the Canadian Army doctor John McCrae.

Reading the poem on this occasion - she had read it many times before - Moina was transfixed by the last verse - “To you from failing hands we throw the Torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders Fields.” At that moment Moina Michael made a personal pledge to ‘keep the faith’ and vowed always to wear a red poppy of Flanders Fields as a sign of remembrance and as an emblem for “keeping the faith with all who died.”

Compelled to make a note of this pledge she hastily scribbled down a response on the back of a used envelope, entitled “We Shall Keep the Faith”

Moina Michael died on 10 May 1944

Personal note:

Special thanks to those in my family who serve/have served in the military with honor. To name a few: Tom Marmalich, Brian & Charles Hilt, Uncle Dale Mountain & Chris Mountain, Aunt Darlene West, Andy Vietmeier and “Pappy”

Special thanks to @John Rylance for * Psalm 119:45 contribution

"Lines of Life"

https://www.bebee.com/producer/@fay-vietmeier-pennsylvania/lines-of-life

** “Who wishes to fight must first count the cost” ~ Sun Tzu, Art of War 

http://iwvpa.net/michaelm/

https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/memorial-day-history

https://www.ncpedia.org/wwi-life-western-front (excellent)