Please don’t wish me a “Happy Memorial Day!” It’s not a time for gaiety, for parties (although I know America has been conditioned to do just that). It’s a day for remembering those who have given their lives, paid the ultimate price, in order that those of us who are still around might enjoy the freedom of living in this great country.

Save your “Thank you for your service” for Veteran’s day, or any other day, really.

Today, give thanks to those who are no longer around to hear the words. Give thanks for those who gave up the rest of their lives so you could enjoy the rest of yours.

It’s a day of remembrance, so please treat it with the respect it deserves.

On this glorious Red Friday, we salute all the Veterans who have served throughout the years. I would like to extend a wish for an honorable Veteran’s Day to my friends and family who have served – if I tried to list every one of them, I would invariably miss one or two and I don’t want to let any of them think I don’t think about them.

I will be off-line until late Sunday afternoon – we are headed to Prescott’s Pine Summit Bible Camp for our annual church retreat. Try to be good while I’m gone, and don’t let the dog volunteer to go for pizza. Again.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

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Happy Birthday, Marines. You don’t look a day over 225.

Still lean, still mean – still the fightin’ machine.

I am proud of the time I spent in the Corps, even more proud that there is still a Corps to serve in. I count several family members as Brothers, including my father (David K, miss you dad), a brother (Robear), a Brother who is like a brother (Eric A.), another Brother like a brother (Richard), a brother in law (Mel), and a nephew (Stev). I count many Brothers as family, including Bob, Kenny, Eric H., Fred, John P., Don, Del, Johnny, Jesse, John B., Monty, Ken, Roy, Henry, Mike (Big Meeg!), … heck, I’m probably forgetting a bunch of them here … GySgt Ron Garcia (Beirut, RIP Brother); every single battery operated grunt that ever humped a PRC; of course all the Marines – past and present – who ever served in Third Battalion Fifth Marine Regiment …

There’s a long line of Brothers waiting to be remembered here, so pardon me while I drift off and start thinking of each and every one of them.

“Many people go through their lives wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.” – Ronald Reagan, 1985

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

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1918 – Gunnery Sgt. Dan Daly (USMC) led the 5th Marines in the charge on Belleau Wood. For this action, the French awarded the 5th Marines the Fourragere:

1928 – the day before my mother was born in West Allis, Wisconsin. She would go on to marry a Marine, give birth to seven children, bury her husband and her third daughter, and then slip from us at the tender age of 81 1/2.

1944 – D-Day – Allied troops storm ashore at Normandy, on the French Coast, to begin the sweep to remove Hitler and his allies from the continent. The beginning of the end, as it were, of World War II.

What has happened in your history?

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

On this day, set aside for the remembrance of those who have lost their lives in service to our country, I ask that you join me in a moment of reflection at 3 pm local time wherever you are.

Please, teach your children and any around you why we have this day off from work, why we have this day to share with our family – because so many of the young men and women of this country have sacrificed their family time forever.

To all those families who have contributed their loved one to the cause that is the United States of America, thank you.