Dear Friends & Neighbors,

An aerial view of the National Mall in Washington D.C., showing the Lincoln Memorial at the bottom, the Washington Monument at center, and the U.S. Capitol at the top (Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Picture of graves decorated with flags at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day .(Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

(Please click on red links & note magenta)

Message from VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, in the video “A Memorial Day message from VA Secretary Robert Wilkie“, in italics, below:

Each year, on Memorial Day, we take time to remember those who gave their lives in service to our country. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, we take great pride that our cemeteries are fitting shrines to the sacrifices of all of those who fell in battle. On Monday, May 27th, I urge everyone to observe this National Day of Remembrance and honor the sacrifices of those who served principles greater than themselves. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.” That cause is the enduring principle that freedom is the birthright of all men and women. From the American Revolution, through the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, through Vietnam and Desert Storm, to Afghanistan and Iraq, more than a million Americans have paid the ultimate price to secure the blessings of liberty for our Nation. As we go about our duties providing America’s living Veterans the care, benefits, and services they have earned, let us also remember the men and women who gave their lives for our freedom. It is my privilege this year to join all Veterans, and all my friends at VA, in honoring the service and sacrifice of our fallen—those who remain forever young in our memories. God bless their memory, your service, and our great Nation.

In 2019, the National Memorial Day Concert commemorates its 30th anniversary, bringing us together as one family of Americans to honor the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, military families and all those who have given their lives for our country. The concert is co-hosted by acclaimed actors Joe Mantegna and Mary McCormack and features an all-star lineup of actors and musicians along with top pops conductor Jack Everly and the National Symphony Orchestra. The tribute to our military airs live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol before an audience of hundreds of thousands, a broadcast audience of millions and to our troops around the world via American Forces Network, in the video “2019 National Memorial Day Concert, Full Broadcast, PBS“, below:

Vice President Mike Pence delivers address during Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, in the video “Pence delivers Memorial Address at Arlington National Cemetery“, below:

Acting secretary of defense speaks at Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, in the video “Patrick Shanahan honors heroes during Memorial Day address“, below:

Memorial Day ceremony at the WWII Memorial to remember and pay tribute to the more than 400,000 Americans who lost their lives during WWII. WWII veterans will place wreaths at the Memorial’s Freedom Wall in remembrance of those killed during the deadliest military conflict in human history, in the video “Memorial Day ceremony honors fallen WWII soldiers“, below:

Thousands of spectators came to the National Mall in Washington to pay tribute this Memorial Day to the military men and women who gave their life in service to their country. (May 27), in the video “National Memorial Day parade held in Washington“, below:

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country’s armed forces. The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May (in year 2019, it is Monday, May 27, 2019)originated as Decoration Day after the American Civil War in 1868, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois, established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the Union war dead with flowers. By the 20th century, competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service. It marks the start of the unofficial summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

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Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day; Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving, while Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.

Memorial Day-Gettysburg_national_cemetery

Let’s pause for a moment on this day to think of those people who sacrificed their lives without noise or complaints, below:

• Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. ~George Washington
• What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us. ~Helen Keller
• To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die. ~Thomas Campbell
• The flames cannot burn away the past. Thy only make the shadows leap higher.~Max Payne
• The best road to progress is freedom’s road. ~John F. Kennedy
• There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires. ~Nelson Mandela
• Expose yourself to your deepest fear;after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free. ~Jim Morrison
• Caged birds accept each other but flight is what they long for. ~Tennessee Williams
• Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. ~Ronald Reagan
• True freedom is tolerance. It gives people the right to live and think in new ways. ~John Twelve Hawks
• Freedom lies in being bold. ~Robert Frost
• The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage. ~Carrie Jones
• A hero is some one who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself ~Joseph Campbell
• The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree. ~Thomas Campbell
• Each man is a hero and an oracle to somebody. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
• The greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their children. ~William Havard
• The dead solder’s silence sings our national anthem. ~Aaron Kilbourn
• We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them. ~Francis A. Walker
• Ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country. ~John F. Kennedy
• Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. ~Mark Twain
• There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. ~Bill Clinton
• Four things support the world: the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayer of the good, and the valor of the brave. ~Muhammad
• Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened. ~Billy Graham
• The nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis
• In valor there is hope. ~Publius Cornelius Tacitus
• Where liberty dwells, there is my country. ~Benjamin Franklin

Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker

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