Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day
Dear Blogger Buddies!
    When I was a little girl, Memorial Day was one of my favorite holidays. The anticipation and excitement of the end of school, the start of Summer and the opening of pools and parks was almost more than a young child could stand! No matter how excited we were to start the festivities, we always knew that more important matters would take priority. 

   My Daddy was one of the most patriotic people I have ever known and instilled in us the importance of honoring those who served our country. Every year we participated in the memorial day parade. As very young children we marched, carrying a bouquet of flowers from my mom's garden in one hand and a United States flag in the other. As we got older, we decorated our bikes in red, white and blue crepe paper streamers, still carrying the flowers and flag as we rode.  

   The parade would wind it's way through downtown, past the Five and Dime stores, past the diners, past the banks and offices, all decorated with flags and buntings. The streets would be lined with people waving flags to the patriotic tunes played by the marching bands. Our final destination, the cemetery where the graves of every veteran were decorated with a star. Upon entering the cemetery, the children would all make a mad dash to find a grave marked with a star and once finding such a grave, would insert the little flag they had so carefully carried throughout the parade, into to the star and then lay the flowers on the grave. This ritual would then be followed by speeches by dignitaries and veterans. As children we found this part extremely boring and couldn't wait to get home and change into our swimming suits but my Daddy, being the true Patriot, would make us wait till the very end. In hindsight; I'm glad he did even though I don't remember a single word from one of those speeches but I'm glad he did because I will never forget how important it is to take the time to remember and thank those who sacrificed so much for our freedom. How sad that most of the children today will never get to experience a Memorial Day parade or even know how very important this day is. If there is a Veteran in your family, please thank them for me!

   I thought a would share a few pictures of some of the men in my family who have so bravely served this great country through the years.

This is a picture of my Great Grandfather Frank during the Spanish American War, taken in 1898!




 
And this is a picture of my Great Uncle Tommy home from furlough in 1943.





And this is my Great Uncle Tony. This is an amazing picture because he served directly under General Bradley (the other man in the picture) during World War II. I believe this was taken in 1947.


 
And this, well... this is my own dear Daddy! How sad, I don't have a picture of him in Uniform! He was in the Navy during World War II. He never talked about the war so I know very little about his service. This picture was taken in 1953.



So, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU, to all the Veterans both living and passed on to greater glory!