With Thankful Remembrances

On this national day of recollection we must all remember the reasons why we observe this solemn Memorial Day. It can only become a festival for us if it is to celebrate the freedoms earned for all of by their military sacrifice of blood. Of our fallen soldiers - let us recall their selfless idealism, their hopes, their dreams, their valor. Let them never be forgotten -- nor taken for granted.

And in that spirit let us be thankful that, "....Two terrorist regimes are gone forever, freedom is on the march and America is more secure..." President Bush said that today at Arlington National Cemetery (of the end of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq.) More than 1,650 soldiers have given their lives for that cause.

I was named for a US Army fighter pilot who was killed in action during WWII. My fallen uncle whom I never met was the heroic Capt. Steve Brych who was shot down over Europe. So the tributes of this and every Memorial Day have a special poignancy for me.