05/25/2020
Happy Memorial day! The following was written by my sister in law who is a Army lieutenant colonel.
God Bless and that's never forget 🇺🇸💕......
As a young girl, I remember going to our local Memorial Day ceremony where my father would play Taps. While I understood the meaning of Taps, I didn’t fully comprehend why we celebrated Memorial Day. At that time, it was swimming with my family at my grandparents’ house or going to the beach. Even as a cadet at West Point, the importance of the day didn’t really strike me, but after 9/11, everything changed. I watched the Twin Towers fall over and over again as a young lieutenant, and I contemplated how the world would change for my brothers, my friends, my Soldiers, and me. I remember exactly where I was when we had the first casualty in my unit on my first deployment. I remember hearing about my first classmate who had been shot down and killed while flying along the Tigris River. I remember every memorial ceremony I attended in Iraq and Afghanistan and the unfathomable feeling of loss during the final roll call, the playing of Taps and giving my last salute to each as I said goodbye. These are the people I think about now on Memorial Day, and each and every service member who has died for our country. I think about their families and how their lives were forever changed, and I hope they feel the gratitude of every American on this very special day. Although my thoughts often turn to those we have lost, I am grateful to have one day a year that is all about them, where we as a Nation remember their sacrifice and thank them for preserving our freedom and our way of life. Gone, but never forgotten.
