(Belated) Memorial Day 2011

I remember, Major David G. Taylor

“Only the brave, who have stood the line, can comment on what has been done out here. And the glimmer of democracy and liberty in this once biblical land is a wonderful thing to behold. There are many who would say we are failing – but they are the doubters and the weak. Your son had courage and was one who believed in the true value of freedom.” – LTC John Holden, a British officer in the Queen’s Royal Artillery in a letter upon the death of my friend, Major David G. Taylor who was killed in action in Baghdad Iraq on October 22, 2006

“David once mentioned to me that there are those people who merely talk about America and our wonderful freedom, rights and privileges and then there are those who step up and put their money where their mouth is. David came from a long line of military men. Our proud and decorated father, David Sr., was an armored cav. officer who did two tours in Viet Nam, his father-in-law, Joe Thresher, served in Vietnam, our grandfather, Kenneth Taylor, was a WWII naval officer, and our other grandfather, JC Overman, was a staff sergeant who was critically wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. Our great-grandfather, John Overman Sr. served in WWI and our great-uncles served in WWII.” – A eulogy by John Taylor, brother of Major David G. Taylor

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag. – Charles M. Province

(photo borrowed from Arlington Cemetery’s website)

You have no enemies, you say?
Alas, my friend, the boast is poor;
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure,
Must have made foes!
If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done.
You’ve hit no traitor on the hip,
You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip,
You’ve never turned the wrong to right,
You’ve been a coward in the fight. — Charles MacKay (1814-1889)

If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. – Winston Churchill

Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, ‘What should be the reward of such sacrifices?’…If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. – Samuel Adams

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty. – John F. Kennedy, Democrat

The world has no room for cowards. We must all be ready somehow to toil, to suffer, to die. And yours is not the less noble because no drum beats before you when you go out into your daily battlefields, and no crowds shout about your coming when you return from your daily victory or defeat. – Robert Louis Stevenson

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. – Dwight David Eisenhower

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. – Albert Einstein

There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it. – Anonymous

For more see the quotes page.

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