The cemetery is awash in flags. The American Legion places them on the graves of veterans every year.
There's been activity there since early this morning, too. Entry flags hung and raised to half staff. Preparations for memorial service.
I took a slow drive through.
My husband and I especially honor his uncles today whose flags fly here.
Uncle Bob Ladd (Lt Col) served with the Air Force in World War II and Korea as a bombardier/navigator. He also served in Vietnam and the Pentagon.
Uncle Kenneth King served as a pharmacist's mate aboard a Navy battleship in World War II. Because "loose lips sink ships," he wrote that his ship had "as many guns as the Shumaker's have kids." That meant a dozen.
Great Uncle Irvin Greenawalt served in the Army in World War I. He was killed in France.
Our local American Legion Post 42 (Greenawalt-Flaherty) carries his name along with that of of Francis C. Flaherty, recipient of the Medal of Honor. He served aboard the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor and died while helping crewmates escape.
Thank you to those who served and sacrificed the ultimate!
Amazing Grace by LeAnn Rimes
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 (NIV)
Copyright © 2010 by Sandra Heska King
3 comments:
Beautiful post.
Thank you.
In going through our albums, I rediscovered that Irvin was the first young man in our county to die in the war--the battle of Meuse in September of 1918. He was a liaison, or runner, and had "just delivered an important message to the officers in command at the extreme front and while there saw one of his intimate buddies killed and he at once picked up his rifle and began to fire into the Huns and while he was thus engaged, outside his line of duty, he was shot and instantly killed."
His body did not arrive home until 3 years later. His funeral took place in 1921. The wheel horses in the picture above were King horses.
I also forgot to mention that my own uncle, my mother's brother, served in the Navy during WWII, and her great-uncle was also killed in France during WWI.
My father tried everything to get into any branch of service during WWII, but his eyes were too bad. He was accepted as a Civil Air Patrol Cadet at home.
My brother was a member of the Air Force in the 1970's and served in the States.
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