Purple Hearts and the Ultimate Sacrifice

Thank you, Big Brother, for your service on our behalf. Thank you, Daddy for your term in the Army/Air Force. Both of you look quite dashing in your uniforms; the photos left me breathless with pride and love. And special thanks to my uncles, both living and dead, for your service, so greatly appreciated, to our nation.

And God keep you, Grampa, among the heroes who faced danger and death to keep our liberties intact. Your wounds were a source of worshipful awe for this granddaughter; your stories never, ever lost their luster. You were always the champion, the exemplar of GI Joe, the bringer of our good life and freedom. A god to me.

This is only the second Memorial Day that I include my Great-Uncle Henry Leander Baker, my Grampa's close friend. It amazes me to learn this after a half-century on earth: we had a dearly loved, great-uncle who was lost on Armistice's Day at the end of World War I . To my great-uncle and his ever-grieving sister, my Grammy: thank you for your sacrifices.

God bless all our war casualties, our martyred heroes. And Heaven console their bereaved families with the knowledge that we do, indeed, humbly and gratefully remember their sacrifices.

Purple Hearts and the Ultimate Sacrifice. A lifetime of gratitude? We hope to live the lives he wanted for us. Otherwise "Thank You" could never be enough.

pb
Little Pond