Lest we forget.

It’s a good book, by the way.

Were you at Thermopylae when Persia crossed the sea?
Did you lay your bones between your homes and the spears of the enemy?
Or did you stand before Chalons, with old foes at your side
And with sword and shield refuse to yield, and stemmed the Hunnish tide?

Did you ply a boat to Dunkirk? Did you drive a taxicab
To the Marne’s grim banks and never charge a fare?
Did you roll down rocks at Mootgarten? Or die at Manzikert?
Did you shout back “Nuts!” in the frigid Christmas air?

If you were no strutting conqueror, but fought for hearth and home…
If you warded the defenseless and shielded them from harm…
If you swooped in for the rescue, if you ground a tyrant down,
Accept the thanks from the world’s poor ranks:
You’ve earned your plot of ground.

…to those that risk their lives to keep us safe.

Let us pray we find our Charles Martel in time to throw back the modern barbarians that we have opened our doors to.

Or perhaps it is a Charlene who will arise in this age to be our deliverance…

My grandfather (WW II),

My father (VietNam),

My father-in law (WW II),

My Brother-In-Law (Bosnia, Haiti, 2 tours – Iraq, still active)

My sister

And all the relatives I have that have served this

great country with honor.

About this time last year, I took the high speed train from Paris to Brussels. It’s route takes it through St Quentin, and on to Lille. While I was on the train, I was aware that the countryside around me was the scene of some of the worst trench battles of WW1. Today, of course, it is a peaceful landscape of small medieval towns and suburbs. Eighty years has softened the scars, but those of us who study history see it all around us, as I did that day.

…32d Field Artillery, primary theater of engagement the Meuse-Argonne, and then after the Armistice a few months’ Occupation Duty along the Rhine.

I have his tin-pot helmet, his pouch belt, a French hook-hilted bayonet brought back as a souvenir, and the menu his unit printed up for their Christmas Dinner 1918 “Die Wacht am Rhein”.

Came home to serve a career in Law Enforcement in Western PA. Lost a stepson in northern France in WWII. Taught his grandson the words to “We’re Payin’ Our Debt to La-fa-yette”, among other life lessons.

Papa Bill passed away in 1975, and we miss him still.

God Bless all our Veterans, and make this country worthy of their sacrifices.

I remember my grandfather who fought in the trenches of WWI. For the rest of his life he could not sleep without his hand on a loaded M1911 .45. Think how much my grandmother loved him.

I remember my father who jumped into Germany with the 17th Airborne in the last months of WWII. Even after 30 years service he always said he was “Good for one more time up the hill.”

My brother and I also served so we would not be ashamed to be welcomed into their august presence.