For Those Who Gave It All, It Is For Us The Living, To Rember

  A break from art to pause .consider and ponder all the brave souls who serve , have served and some who gave it all for this land we are blessed to live in and still has personal freedoms beyond anyplace else on Earth.

   The unofficial first day of Summer is here at last and promises to be a warm one. Memorial Day, a quiet holiday as it should be. Time to remember thoae who served, and are serving. A time to reflect on all we have because of those brave citizens who [to hear all of them tell it] simply "... did what had to be done. "
70+ years ago my parents where recent High School grads fortunate enough to find jobs and smart enough to keep them. My Dad worked in a small Chicagoland tool and die shop wherer they manufactured ball - bearings an esential war commodity and an atomatic defirment through the war. Dad and his next oldest brother decided to enlist anyway, no concern Uncle Sam would take care of them so why not the best ...the Marines. Mom did what all the girls did, she wrote Dad, worked defense projects, recycled everything and waited in prayer. Dad ended up in the Pacific no daught because of our German heretage and thats where the boaats where headed. He and many others met on Iwo, Sipan and eventually ended up on the million + man invasion force for Japan herself. Fortunately the bomb ended that insanity and the World War. Dad, his brothers and most never spoke much about those events. Scared for life by sights and sounds that no human should ever be subjected to. God bless you Dad an all who gave so much just to get back home. Happy Memorial Day my friends. May we never forget that the cost of our FREEDOM has NEVER been cheap nor free.