Memorial Day 2023 Message
As we look forward to the long weekend, we must never forget those who laid down their lives so we may enjoy the coming summer outings with our family, vacation time with family and friends and our backyard barbeques and smokers. Those of us who have served and are serving understand that the price of freedom is not free. So, before you fire up those grills or jump in your favorite watering hole, we have the responsibility to visit those who made the ultimate sacrifice. There is not one of us who does not live within a mile or two of a cemetery where a hero rests in sacred ground. Many are older, rural, church and family cemeteries who do not receive perpetuity care like that of City and Veterans run cemeteries. Many heroes lay in overgrown, depilated, and uncared for plots, long forgotten due to the passage of time. Years have passed without someone remembering them, placing a flag on their grave, and saying “Thank you.” The passage of time does not lessen their sacrifice and is no less important than that of a service member who dies defending freedom, today. Ever one of us should be ashamed if we cannot set aside a few minutes this weekend to visit a shipmate and say thank you for your sacrifice. More importantly, our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc., should accompany us in honoring those heroes. As Legionnaires, we have the obligation of educating our youth on the meaning of freedom and what is required to sustain that freedom. In our communities, we represent what a veteran is and what the population knows of service and sacrifice comes only from us and we must lead by example and be diligent in our resolve. We cannot expect our citizens to honor and respect the sacrifices of those who died defending freedom if we are not out front leading and setting the example. “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We did not pass it to our children in the bloodstream, It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” – Ronald Reagan
I wish each and every one of you a healthy and safe weekend!
God Bless America!
Steve Storey Commander 7th District, Texas