Memorial Day Remembrance

by Ted Nugent

Memorial Day is the most important American holiday in the Nugent household.

We know that without Memorial Day there would be no Independence Day, no freedoms, and no America. In fact, but for the sacrifices we remember on in our Memorial Day celebration, the entire world would be a much darker place of tyranny, slavery and oppression.

Memorial Day is our day to give thanks and to remember those courageous U.S. military heroes who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that freedom's flame continues to burn bright instead of fading into a faint flicker in the hearts of civilized men. These warriors are the very tip of freedom's lance and all good people owe them dearly.

From Bunker Hill to the walls of the Alamo, from the farm fields at Gettysburg to the beaches at Normandy and Iwo Jima, from the Afghanistan mountains to every other piece of hallowed ground where Americans have fought and died in freedom's name, Old Glory still proudly dances in the wind of freedom.

In paying the ultimate sacrifice, American warriors ensured that not only would America continue to be free but that America would continue to be a beacon of freedom so intense that it no threat of oppression can extinguish it. So long as Old Glory flutters in the wind, there is hope. So long as American warriors are willing to carry Old Glory into battle, freedom's flame will never be extinguished.

Our enemies can knock sometimes down our buildings, but mortar, brick and steel does not America make. It is the irrepressible spirit and undying love of freedom that is uniquely America and it is the American warrior who is willing to fight and die to protect the God-given freedoms and rights of all people.

On this Memorial Day, I encourage each of you to spend a few moments and quietly offer a prayer of thanks to those who paid for your freedom with their lives. If you have the chance, take your children and walk quietly and reverently through a military cemetery. Stop at each white cross. Read the names carefully on the tombstones. These are the names of freedom.

Look up at Old Glory as she dances in the breeze. Surely you will agree there is no more solemn and beautiful sight than to see our sacred stars and stripes fluttering quietly in the breeze above a military cemetery.

It is our duty as parents and citizens to ensure that our children and grandchildren know that freedom is not free, that it is paid for with the blood and lives of warriors. Do not shirk this responsibility. It is one of the most important lessons you can ever impart to your children.

To quote President Reagan: "We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so that we may always be free."Memorial Day is the most important American holiday.

May God eternally bless the American warrior -- the protector of freedom and liberty.