God & Country

Remember those who gave their all…

Attached in a PDF file are some military-patriotic themed postage stamps that I created for an illustrator class, so I thought it would be a nice tribute on Memorial Day. To accompany this is a wonderful Memorial Day poem.

The photo of the Marine is one that my sister took at an airshow.

Postage Stamps

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

by Kelly Strong

 

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze;
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform,
So young, so tall, so proud;
With hair cut square and eyes alert,
He’d stand out in any crowd.

I thought… how many men like him
Had fallen through the years?
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers’ tears?

How many pilots’ planes shot down
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves
No, Freedom is not Free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still;
I listened to the bugler play,
And felt a sudden chill;

I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant “Amen”
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend;

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands.
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea,
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No. Freedom is not Free!

3 thoughts on “Remember those who gave their all…

  1. Wonderful post Becky! My pastor spoke at the memorial day parade ending this morning, in the graveyard amongst tombstones of burried soldiers, in front of a memorial. He read a poem and so did a boy/eagle scout. I can’t remember which one did it, but one of them read this exact poem! Love you! Have a great weekend!

    1. It’s so nice that you got to attend a Memorial Day parade! I don’t think we have one in our little city….just a Strawberry Festival every Memorial Day where people run a 5k. We participated in it this year. Thanks for the comment!

      Becky

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