Memorial Day

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."-- Thomas Paine (The American Crisis, No. 1, 19 December 1776).
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"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." —John Stuart Mill
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I remember it as "Decoration Day", a brief church service and then a potluck picnic, best fried chicken anywhere, and walks through the cemetary as we celebrated all that had passed before. We searched for our ancestors graves and decorated them and learned the history of that small farming community in the deep south.
My uncle followed Gen. Patton's 3rd Army from Italy to Berlin and all I really know is that he thought "Ole Blood and Guts" was a fitting nick-name for Gen. Patton. My mom tells me there is a box with Silver and Bronze stars in it as well as a full rack, with the blood of Purple Hearts.
I never knew to say thanks before he was gone. I would like to say" Thank You!" now, Uncle Foster, and the millions more that have so served our country.
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Thank You
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PS: We have been kickin' taliban/aq tail and in a big way, more later.