1. For The Fallen
They number in the thousands. Remembered in someone’s
heart, they are the sons of Gold Star Mothers. They are
fathers, brothers, uncles, and cousins. They remain indelibly
present in the lives of the living that were forever changed by
their absence.
They represent an entire generation and grief for them spans
the decades. They are quietly remembered by family,
neighbors and friends who sit and solemnly mourn through
holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries. To the families they
left behind they are a familiar face on a street corner, a
wishful glance, a fading memory, an old photograph, a hope,
and a prayer. They are an empty space in a child’s heart.
They are a lineage abruptly severed, love that never
blossomed, questions that went unanswered, and inventions
that never were. They were world and civic leaders who
never led, research never conducted, a breakthrough in
ending poverty, hunger and disease…again passed on to the
next generation. They carried the hopes and dreams of their
generation; they were the flower of their Nation’s youth. To
the Nations and to the world they undertook to save, they are
largely forgotten. But we won’t forget them here.
On this day may we imagine them still among us; no longer
dirty, bloody, lonely, or in pain; no longer frightened, tired or
far from home. Today we pause to pay tribute to their
courage and their spirit. We are their grateful legacy; may we
never fail to take a moment to be thankful…to remember…
and to honor them for their sacrifice.
- CSM Rick Lamb