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Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people. Action, self-reliance, the vision of self and the future have been the only means by which the oppressed have seen and realized the light of their own freedom. -Marcus Garvey


To all the Men and Women proudly serving, to all who have gone before them, to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in the services, and to the families of these proud Americans for supporting them - Happy Memorial Day

God bless all who have served and those still in uniform.

In Canada we honour our veterans on November 11 which you all are aware is the day the guns fell silent during World War 1. I found it very interesting to learn from reading Wikipedia that the last Monday of May date originated in Charleston South Carolina by freed slaves to remember the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. Are you familiar with the poem Ode of Remembrance? We repeat it at every meeting of my local Legion branch and also at every Remembrance Day service. It seems appropriate to repeat it here.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them." Robert Laurence Binyon

May God Bless them all and especially to those serving in far off lands to protect our freedoms.

I worked at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, in the superintendent's office, from November 1965 to November 1972. This was during the most active years of the Vietnam War. Memorial Day was the main day of the year. The boy scouts would help by decorating each grave with a flag. The grounds were made as nice as we could make them look. The various veterans organizations had a program with a guest speaker. There was a fly-over by a group from Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque. The cemetery was full of people visiting relatives and friends and decorating the graves with floral tributes. This day brings back many memories of being there on those days.

(o{I}o)