pardon the format...I copied this from an email in honor of Memorial Day weekend.

We must never forget who

gets the credit

for the freedoms we have, and we must always remember the sacrifices made

that allow us to REMAIN free.

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 isn't 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

The coffin of a

Brother or a Friend.

I thought of all the children,

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 isn't free.

Enjoy

Your Freedom

& God Bless Our Troops!!!