Today is the day we recognize the ultimate sacrifice that our Sons of Liberty have paid. From the greens of Lexington to the streets of Falujah, our citizen soldiers continue to lay down their lives for our liberty.

Freedom is never free, it can only be paid by willing blood. It must be purchased daily, and we miss a payment at the peril of our destruction.

The Navy has a habit of naming ships after battles so we never forget. Here is but a sample:

Lexington, Antiham, Belleau Wood. Iwo Jima, Chosin, Hue City. Coral Sea, Lake Erie, Vella Gulf. Vincennes, Bunker Hill, Normandy. Chancellorsville, Anzio, Yorktown.

If your American History did not cover these battles, please Google them to find out about these battles so that these men and women can continue to live on in our memories.

As I write this, tears stream down my cheeks for those who didn’t come home. An unabashed love for my brother and sister soldiers, sailors and Marines, I am not ashamed to admit to these tears. I shed these tokens of love for those who went before and after me because nothing else I could give would have as much meaning.

As you place flags on the graves of these fallen heroes, remember that there is no gravestone for those who died at sea, for that is where they are buried.

Let us never forget their sacrifice, their blood spilt so that, “…the government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”