Memorial Day 2013

Small-town celebrations are what America is all about.  We went to two parades to see my nephew Richie marching.  Such fun!  The minister giving the benediction quoted two parts of Psalm 144:

Praise be to the Lord my Rock,

who trains my hands for war,

my fingers for battle.

He is my loving God and my fortress,

my stronghold and my deliverer,

my shield, in whom I take refuge,

who subdues peoples under me.

O Lord, what is man that you care for him,

the son of man that you think of him?

Man is like a breath;

his days are like a fleeting shadow.

Part your heavens, O Lord, and come down;

touch the mountains, so that they smoke.

Send forth lightning and scatter the enemies;

shoot your arrows and rout them.

Reach down your hand from on high;

deliver me and rescue me

from the mighty waters,

from the hands of foreigners

whose mouths are full of lies,

whose right hands are deceitful.

I will sing a new song to you, O God;

on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,

to the One who gives victory to kings,

who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword.

Deliver me and rescue me from the hands of foreigners

whose mouths are full of lies,

whose right hands are deceitful.

Then our sons in their youth

will be like well-nurtured plants,

and our daughters will be like pillars

carved to adorn a palace.

Our barns will be filled

with every kind of provision.

Our sheep will increase by thousands,

by tens of thousands in our fields;

our oxen will draw heavy loads.

There will be no breaching of walls,

no going into captivity,

no cry of distress in our streets.

Blessed are the people of whom this is true;

blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

My favorite Boy Scout, carrying the American flag.



Firefighters.

I tried to capture the skydiver.  There's a program
nearby at a little airport.  Look dead center.

The marching band was excellent, even though my nephew Joe
is no longer conductor.

My father was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves.  My brother was a Green Beret medic.  My oldest brother was an officer in the Army for many years and now teaches R.O.T.C.  One of my regrets was not having joined the Army Reserves in college.  I was  blessed to have a very patriotic father who could recite just about every battle in every war.  He read the history of the world, but especially U.S. history, all the time.  I am so very grateful for the sacrifices of our veterans, who pledge their lives to us, strangers to them, for freedom.  It is a big sacrifice.  My brother and his family had to move every two years and were restricted in many ways.  It was especially difficult because my oldest nephew is severely handicapped.  We are grateful for the good care he received at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. when he was a very ill infant.

Love the bagpipes!  I hear them practicing at the Elks Club near me.

I always enjoyed visiting him when he was stationed at the White House.  It's an exciting city but not good for a family.  The army base was right in the middle of a very sketchy area.  But he got good gigs working at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the White House and for the Department of Defense.