Posted on 06/01/2004 12:09:25 AM PDT by america-rules
This is a total vanity but I have to post it.
I though I'd drive through and maybe pay my respects.
I drove in the Cemetery thinking I would see the usual flags and such and more flowers than usual.
I was totally unprepared what happened.
I drove into the Cemetery and there were THOUSANDS of American flags. I drove about 200 yards and looked at all the flags on the grave stones. Our Gov't or Veterans put up a huge US Flag every 10 feet. This is a big Cemetery and the site was awesome. Imagene seeing more US Flags in one place then you can ever imaging.
After driving for about a minute I was overcome with emotion. I started crying like a baby thinking of our grandfathers who died for us in that grave yard and our sons and daughters dying for us today.
There was a ceremony going on and there were Vets of all ages as well as 18 year olds there.
Just typing this has gotten me upset and my eyes are swellingup again.
God bless the USA !
I just read this post and the english looks like a thrird grader. I'm sorry about that but I was writing with tears streamming down my face like I haven't had happen in many years since my Fathers funeral who was also a Veteran.
I had a love for this nation instilled in me in grade school, starting around 45 years ago. There was a flag in my school room and we did say the pledge, 'under God' and all. Somehow I survived.
Your description raises feelings within me. I do not understand how people can side with our enemies at every turn, then run for public office. I do know one thing, I will NOT vote for one of them EVER.
Thanks for the post.
I'm 42 and retired military so I'm not a puss but today I was really taken for a loop with emotions. I just watched IKE (about D day with Tom Selleck as IKE) on A&E two times and the emotions came back so I posted !
The music was a little scary?
Your experience was not isolated; today, my family went to the DFW National Cemetery. There were literally thousands of people driving through, visiting, remembering. Many, like me, didn't even have anyone located at that particular cemetery; still, we felt compelled to come to honor our sacred dead. I wanted my little five-year-old son to see the graves of those who are fighting for him, even now. I wanted him to know that Freedom isn't free.
He asked me why Freedom isn't free; I could only say that it is not given, it is earned. Someone else earned it for us, yesterday, in past battles; today, in Iraq; and tomorrow, in some unknown future. We are forever in their debt.
The most moving experience came at the end of the day, when the flags were lowered. After taps were played, hundreds of ordinary people came out of the crowd, spontaneously, to help retire and fold the flags flying so proudly in the cemetery today. It was a holy moment, one filled with the grace of ordinary people doing extraordinary deeds...
That must have been very moving?
Yes; taps was played on the bugle, and volunteers began to lower the flags. It was then that many of us realized that there weren't enough volunteers to lower all the flags, and we just wanted to help.
To see so many people folding the flags with love, it was a moving experience for me.
It sounds very moving :)
your response is totally understandable.! Thanks for the post.
Thanks for the story. You are not alone with your emotions. I too feel overcome with emotion when thinking about the sacrifices made for my family. God bless America.
I've stopped and remarked many times at how nice all of the American flags look across our local cemetery. I wonder if those in America who seem to hate all that IS America, will ever "get it" as they grow older. Much will depend on what happens in Iraq. I also understand that once things calm down there, many lib-dems will just say we did it all wrong anyway. I can hope a few may get it though, I guess.
Another nice report. Thank you.
Wow !
Thank you for paying your respects !
Your sentiments are something that we need to be reminded of, often.
Our Armed Forces have turned the tide of World Wars.
Young men and women from our great country’s four corners have humbled History’s worst times.
We carve our thanks in stone. We stamp it into medals.
We carefully tend to vast fields where the men and women who gave their lives for our freedom now lay.
More than ever in our history, we cannot fail to pass these stories of courage to the next generation.
We must capture their imaginations while paying tribute to all those willing to die for the preservation of our way of life.
I was so glad we decided to go. Reading those words on the graves filled me with emotions that I can't explain.
But you know what I'm talking about since you went also.
We owe them so much.
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