Flags
at Calhoun courthouse
Memorial Day was first established to honor America's
soldiers, but then included remembering family and friends
THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER
I am a whisper on the wind, of times past, of places long
forgotten, Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Bataan, Pearl Harbor,
Normandy, Seoul, Laos, Saigon, Cambodia, Kuwait. I am the heart
of countless numbers of scarred and maimed American veterans,
and the soul of the buried unknowns,
I am an integral part of each white cross in Flanders Field, and I
am sealed within each name on 'The Wall'. I am part of each and
every headstone of every American soldier in every cemetery
around the world.
I am deeply enmeshed in each tiny undiscovered bone fragment
of American soldiers, left behind on foreign soil. I am the unseen
shadows, the unheard voices in those many empty cells that once
held my brothers in unspeakable torture.
I am the unbearable pain in the hearts of every mother, father,
wife, husband, brother sister, and child, of missing American
soldiers from all wars. I am within each and every teardrop shed by
these family members for their unaccounted for loved ones.
I am the essence of each and every drop of blood shed in the
past or in the future, by an American soldier in the name of
freedom. I am the lifeblood of the colors of the American flag, blue
for my loyalty and unwavering dedication, white for my
steadfastness, and red for my pride and love of country.
I am the spirit of those names on the black Granite Wall, of all
those
unaccounted for in every war, of those who went away to war as
gallant young men and came back, older than time...OR NOT AT
ALL.
I AM...THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER!
Beverly Haire, 1998
Grantsville marker honors war dead
