Happy 4th to you LL53 ....you have earned it....
Geesh, still doesn't work...My friend's mother was a WAC. She served in WWII. For her funeral, I sent a patriot's display, just as I would have for a man who had served. No one else did. Her service deserved to be honored.
Over 180 women served as soldier in the Civil War. Some did it because they were widowed and needed to feed their children and it paid better than any other work they could acquire. Some did it after brothers and fathers and sons had all fallen. A few did it for the adventure.
The only civilian casualty at Gettysburg was a woman preparing dinner in her own kitchen.
Besides all the men and women who serve, their families serve. The parents who pray, the spouses who keep the wolf from the door so the soldier has a home to return to, the child who has memory kisses at bedtime. The folks who pack boxes with baby wipes and lip gloss and beef jerky. The ladies who quilt and crochet so each soldier at the hospital has a thank you of his/ her own. The guys who ride to raise funds for wounded veterans. The people who gather to light candles and pray for peace.
Freedom isn't free. We pay for it daily, war or no, by holding to our principles, by resisting the hatemongers and the saber rattling of old men.
Every year, as I sit on the river steps among people of every shade of flesh in creation, and listen to the sounds of modern patriotism (Springsteen and Keith and so many others) as the sparkles flare and the rockets boom, I cry. I am very proud of this place.
It's almost time for the fireworks to begin here on the Ohio, but while there is still some light, I want to send loving thanks to not only the women who served in the military, but also to those brave women who waited for us to come back, and whose love and kindness made it all worthwhile.
AMEN and thank you to all of the above!
