Last weekend, I had the pleasure and honor of being in Golden Valley, Arizona, for their 2026 Armed Forces Day celebration at Veterans Park. It was awesome meeting so many Veterans and sharing thoughts and perspectives about continuing to serve our Republic, America. On Armed Forces Day, we celebrate our respective services that safeguard our freedoms and liberties. This weekend, we will remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for those freedoms and liberties. I implore you all not to think of Memorial Day as “happy.” We should honor Memorial Day.
Somehow, we have devolved into thinking of Memorial Day as the start of summer. We are bombarded by commercial advertisements for special Memorial Day sales. We have forgotten what makes Memorial Day special, not bargains, but lives. We have a saying in the military, “All gave some, Some gave all.” The essence of Memorial Day is found in the Holy Bible, first in Isaiah 6:8 (NIV), “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, Here am I. Send me!” For over 250 years, there have been men, and later women, who stood before the American people and heard them cry out, “Whom shall We the People send? Who will go and defend us?” And through the history of this nation, there have been that few, that proud, that honorable group who still to this day replies, “Here am I. Send me.”
This Memorial Day, as we celebrate this year of America 250, let’s remember the very first who fell, at a place called Lexington, on April 19, 1775 — Robert Munroe (63), Jonas Parker (53), Samuel Hadley (32), Jonathan Harrington Jr. (30), Isaac Muzzy (31), John Brown (24), Caleb Harrington (23), and Asahel Porter (23). From that day forth, including later at Concord Bridge, a select few Americans have followed the Holy Scripture’s words of Jesus Christ in John 15:13 (NIV), “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” In America, there can be no greater love than those who have taken an oath to support and defend our Constitution, knowing the consequences of that pledge, that they would give of themselves in the manner Abraham Lincoln would categorize as “the last full measure of devotion.”
I see so many in America who wear sports uniforms with the names of players upon them. A truly grateful America would wear the colors of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps. The Space Force colors are similar to the Air Force. A truly grateful America would not be focused on BBQs and swimming pools, but would flock to our “Gardens of Stone,” our National Cemeteries, where the grounds are sacred, hallowed, green because of the blood of Patriots. A truly grateful America would take its children and grandchildren to these Gardens, places of reverence, and tell them stories of those who were laid to rest at their final duty station. Sure, you can still have the pools and grilling, but first, realize that there is a reason why you can, and more importantly, there is an American family with an empty chair. A little boy or girl who will not have their Dad, Mom, or beloved family member there to do cannonballs with them into the pool.
Salute to Service just cannot be a theme that coincides with a certain sports season. It should be a way of life for Americans.
In closing, I cannot think of any better words that embody Memorial Day than the following:
“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” — The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln
President Lincoln was not the featured speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery; it was famed orator Edward Everett. Everett spoke for over two hours; Lincoln, only two minutes, ten sentences, 272 words.
This Memorial Day weekend, let us show increased devotion to those who made the last full measure of devotion. The real heroes in America don’t hit, dribble, kick, or run with a ball. The real heroes are laid to rest with just a simple white headstone. My Dad is laid to rest in Marietta National Cemetery, and my Father-in-Law at Arlington National Cemetery, two heroes, who were laid to rest with fellow heroes, and one day, I shall be as well.
My prayer, my hope, not just this Memorial Day, but every day, we highly resolve that our honored dead shall not have died in vain.
Steadfast and Loyal.
