Memorial Day remarks by Terrence Alexis of National Cement Company

  • Terrence Alexis of National Cement speaking at the May 29, 2017 Memorial Day ceremony. [photo by Gary Meyer, The Mountain Enterprise]

    Terrence Alexis of National Cement speaking at the May 29, 2017 Memorial Day ceremony. [photo by Gary Meyer, The Mountain Enterprise]

May 29, 2017
Cody Prosser Memorial
Frazier Park, California

My thanks to our local VFW for this opportunity to once again join with you on this Memorial Day and my appreciation to all of you for being here today.

President John F. Kennedy said, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.”

Today, we remember and honor the American Soldiers, ordinary men and women, who died while in military service. As you know, in the United States we celebrate 10 Federal holidays each year. The fourth of these, is the one we are gathered to remember today.

Although this is the 149th year we pause to celebrate Memorial Day, surprisingly enough there are still those who are not quite clear as to why we observe this national holiday. Some people confuse Memorial Day with Veterans Day. Unlike Veterans Day, however, which is an opportunity to publicly commemorate the contributions of ALL veterans, TODAY – Memorial Day is sacred as we pause to remember all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while in service to our country. It is truly a special day — one forged in the blood of over 1 Million American military lives given up for YOU and ME and for our freedom in the various conflicts that gave birth to, and have sustained, our great nation.

This day also marks the beginning of summer, and what could be a more fitting tribute to those who have died in service to their country than the day that gives birth to a season filled with warmth and life?

It is recorded that since 1860, “when the people of Waterloo, New York dipped their flags to half-mast and decorated their village to remember the Soldiers who died during the Civil War, our nation has paid tribute to those lives of all service men and women who have fallen in the line of duty. And since 1948, Arlington National Cemetery has decorated each of its graves with our nation’s flag. Every Memorial Day thousands of service men and women plant the flag at the base of the gravestone in order to LIFT UP the lives of these heroes.”

The sacred graves at Arlington and at countless cemeteries across this nation should remind us that freedom is not free. It has a cost… The Soldiers resting there share a special heritage, a common bond with today’s Soldiers serving in our armed forces. If you look closely into their lives, you would see practiced the same values of loyalty, duty to country, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.

When I think about the sacrifices that have been made and those that continue to be made by our brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, I cannot help but to be eternally grateful… And while we pause today to reflect on what has been so freely given, we should also ponder and hold in high esteem that which have resulted from their sacrifices.

What have we gained from so many lives lost? Well, it was not hard for me to come up with a long list and I would like to share just a few with you.

In thinking about this, it came to me:

• the many terrorist plots that have been and continue to be foiled and the killers that have been brought to justice because Americans were willing to pay the ultimate price

• the regimes that have been toppled and the genocides that have been stopped because Americans sacrificed both life and limb

• The blood that has been shed so that our children and grandchildren can know what it is like to live in a free country where their destiny is only limited by their imagination

• It also came to mind that without a U.S. military presence, the world would be a far more oppressive and darker place

This could not be more the case TODAY as we face a nuclear threat from North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and as our armed forces continue to face conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan. It is clear that in this world today, terror will not rest; violence will not sleep; and evil will not die.

In 1884, two decades before his appointment to the US Supreme Court, Oliver Wendell Holmes (himself a Veteran of the Civil War) said it best when he said, “So to the indifferent inquirer who asks why Memorial Day is still kept up we may answer, it celebrates and solemnly reaffirms from year to year a national act of enthusiasm and faith. It embodies in the most impressive form our belief that to act with enthusiasm and faith is the condition of acting greatly.”

“But grief is not the end of all. I see beyond the forest the moving banners of a hidden column. Our dead brothers still live for us, and bid us think of life, not death – of life to which in their youth they lent the passion and joy of the spring. As I listen, the great chorus of life and joy begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and unseen powers and destinies of good and evil our trumpets sound once more a note of daring, a note of hope, and will is proclaimed.”

Let this Memorial Day be a beginning, a rebirth of sorts, of our commitment to never forget our fallen and those who are now in harms way.

Let us start this summer with a jubilant heart and joyous song, as we celebrate our heroes this Memorial Day who paved the way for our liberty, life and freedom.

God bless America!
Thank you!

This is part of the June 2, 2017 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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