The finest tribute we can pay
Unto our hero dead today,
Is not a rose wreath white and red
In memory of the blood they shed;
It is to stand beside each mound,
Each couch of consecrated ground,
And pledge ourselves as warriors true
Unto the work they died to do.
Into God’s valley’s where they lie
At rest, beneath the open sky.
Today beside their graves we must
Renew allegiance to their trust,
Must bare our heads and humbly say
We hold the Flag as dear as they,
And stand, as once they stood, to die
To keep the Stars and Stripes on high.
The finest tribute we can pay
Unto our hero dead today
Is not of speech or roses red,
But living, throbbing hearts instead
That shall renew the pledge they sealed
With death upon the battlefield:
That freedom’s flag shall bear no stain
And free men wear no tyrant’s chain.
THOSE WORDS WERE WRITTEN FOR MEMORIAL DAY BY EDNA FREER AFTER WORLD WAR 2 AND THEY ARE AS POWERFUL AND MEANINGFUL NOW AS THEY WERE IN 1946. AS YOU CELEBRATE MEMORIAL DAY, PLEASE KEEP IN YOUR HEART THE PRAYERS OF THOSE BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN WHO TODAY, FIGHT FOR THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE. WEATHER IN A FOREIGN LAND OR AT THE BORDERS OF AMERICA, WHERE EVER THEY PROTECT YOUR FREEDOM, REMEMBER THEM THIS WEEKEND….
AND GOD BLESS AMERICA.
