Memorial Day Quotes

“Growing up, I always had a soldier mentality. As a kid I wanted to be a soldier, a fighter pilot, a covert agent, professions that require a great deal of bravery and risk and putting oneself in grave danger in order to complete the mission. Even though I did not become all those things, and unless my predisposition, in its youngest years, already had me leaning towards them, the interest that was there still shaped my philosophies. To this day I honor risk and sacrifice for the good of others - my views on life and love are heavily influenced by this.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“I am thankful that there are those among us who have sacrificed dearly on behalf of us. And I ardently pray to God that I might be less like myself and more like them.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“The effects of loss are acute, and unique to each individual. Not everyone mourns in the same way, but everyone mourns.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year

“As individuals die every moment, how insensitive and fabricated a love it is to set aside a day from selfish routine in prideful, patriotic commemoration of tragedy. Just as God is provoked by those who tithe simply because they feel that they must tithe, I am provoked by those who commemorate simply because they feel that they must commemorate.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“This country has not seen and probably will never know the true level of sacrifice of our veterans. As a civilian I owe an unpayable debt to all our military. Going forward let’s not send our servicemen and women off to war or conflict zones unless it is overwhelmingly justifiable and on moral high ground. The men of WWII were the greatest generation, perhaps Korea the forgotten, Vietnam the trampled, Cold War unsung and Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan vets underestimated. Every generation has proved itself to be worthy to stand up to the precedent of the greatest generation. Going back to the Revolution American soldiers have been the best in the world. Let’s all take a remembrance for all veterans who served or are serving, peace time or wartime and gone or still with us. 11/11/16 May God Bless America and All Veterans.”
― Thomas M Smith

“Decoration Day--
created to honor
the enslaved African-Americans
in the Civil War
who fought for their own emancipation
and liberation
and for the health and integrity of
this country.
American History stole that one, too.
Made it Memorial Day.
All Soldiers Matter?”
― Shellen Lubin

“We are notorious for ‘running’ around self-righteously declaring our rights to this and to that. But if we were to reflect upon the millions who ‘ran’ across bloodied battlefields so that we would have rights to declare, I think we’d do a whole lot less declaring and a whole more appreciating.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Liberty isn’t free, despite the fact that we ‘freely’ disregard that fact.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“The fullest manifestation of myself is achieved when I ignore myself in the service of everyone but myself. And although humanity might scream the insanity of such a statement, the real insanity is to believe that humanity is sane.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Every star in the universe represents a soul of a soldier who gave his life for the life you live today.”
― Giovannie de Sadeleer

“If I don’t passionately desire freedom for all of my fellowmen, it’s likely that I haven’t been sufficiently freed from my selfishness so that I might see their captivity.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“The Unknown Soldier

A tale to tell in bloody rhyme,
A story to last ’til the dawn of end’s time.
Of a loving boy who left dear home,
To bear his countries burdens; her honor to sow.
–A common boy, I say, who left kith and kin,

To battle der Kaiser and all that was therein.
The Arsenal of Democracy was his kind,
–To make the world safe–was their call and chime.
Trained he thus in the far army camps,
Drilled he often in the march and stamp.
Laughed he did with new found friends,
Lived they together for the noble end.

Greyish mottled images clipp’ed and hack´ed–
Black and white broke drum Ʀ…ɧ..λ..t…ʮ..m..ȿ
—marching armies off to ’ttack.
Images scratched, chopped, theatrical exaggerate,
Confetti parades, shouts of high praise
To where hell would sup and partake
with all bon hope as the transport do them take

Faded icons board the ship–
To steel them away collaged together
–joined in spirit and hip.

Timeworn humanity of once what was
To broker peace in eagles and doves.
Mortal clay in the earth but to grapple and smite
As warbirds ironed soar in heaven’s light.
All called all forward to divinities’ kept date,
Heroes all–all aces and fates.

Paris–Used to sing and play at some cards,
A common Joe everybody knew from own heart.
He could have been called ‘the kid’ by the ‘old man,’
But a common private now taking orders to stand.
Receiving letters from his shy sweet one,
Read them over and over until they faded to none.
Trained like hell with his Commander-in-Arms,
–To avoid the dangers of a most bloody harm.

Aye, this boy was mortal, true enough said,
He could be one of thousands alive but now surely dead.
How he sang and cried and ate the gruel of rations,
And grumbled as soldiers do at war’s great contagions.

Out–out to the battle this young did go,
To become a man; the world to show.

(An ocean away his mother cried so–
To return her boy safe as far as the heavens go).

Lay he down in trenched hole,
With balls bursting overhead upon the knoll.
Listened hardnfast to the “Sarge” bearing the news,
—“We’re going over soon—” was all he knew.

The whistle blew; up and over they went,
Charging the Hun, his life to be spent
(“Avoid the gas boys that’ll blister yer arse!!”).

Running through wires razored and deadened trees,
Fell he into a gouge to find in shelter of need
(They say he bayoneted one just as he–,
face to face in War’s Dance of trialed humanity).
A nameless sonnuvabitch shell then did untimely RiiiiiiiP
the field asunder in burrrstzʑ–and he tripped.
And on the field of battle’s blood did he die,
Faceless in a puddle as blurrs of ghosting men
shrieked as they were fleeing by–.

Perished he alone in the no man’s land,
Surrounded by an army of his brother’s teeming bands . . .

And a world away a mother sighed,
Listened to the rain and lay down and cried.

. . . Today lays the grave somber and white,
Guarded decades long in both the dark and the light.
Silent sentinels watch o’er and with him do walk,
Speak they neither; their duty talks.

Lone, stark sentries perform the unsmiling task,
–Guarding this one dead–at the nation’s bequest.
Cared over day and night in both rain or sun,
Present changing of the guard and their duty is done
(The changing of the guard ’tis poetry motioned
A Nation defining itself–telling of
rifles twirl-clicking under the intensest of devotions).

This poem–of The Unknown, taken thus,
Is rend eternal by Divinity’s Iron Trust.
How he, a common soldier, gained the estate
Of bearing his countries glory unto his unknown fate.
Here rests in honored glory a warrior known but to God,
Now rests he in peace from the conflict path he trod.
He is our friend, our family, brother, our mother’s son
–belongs he to us all,
For he has stood in our place–heeding God’s final call.”
― douglas laurent a

“The images strewn across a European landscape provoked horrors of the greatest sort. Therefore, seldom did my Dad or his friends ever talk about the war. Yet, to this day I can still see them lined up on the parade route, rising to ramrod attention and stalwartly saluting the flag until it had passed by. And without any hesitation whatsoever, I can tell you that I observed infinitely more patriotism in the silence of those simple actions than all of those who stand shouting their self-indulgent pontifications in the name of patriotism. And maybe, just maybe we should remember that liberty is not license, principle is non-negotiable, and humility is the bedfellow of great things.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Thank you to those men and women who put self aside because they held the thought of us on the inside. So, whether that be the bloodied beaches on D-Day or any number of other battles remembered or forgotten, we now hold you on the inside and we say “thank you.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Freedom is a privilege, not a right. And as such, I have no right to ask anything of it, but I have the privilege of giving everything to it.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Somewhere along the way, someone sacrificed enough to crush the rot of tyranny in order to plant the seeds of freedom. And if we don’t carefully tend to the harvest we will eventually inherit the tyranny.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Al had sat in the muddied trenches of World War I and had watched the butchery of war massacre every living thing around it. Yet, all those years later he would rather talk about building bee hives, scattered his yard with every type of bird feeder imaginable, and planting flowerbeds deluged with irrepressible color. And it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized that he wasn’t somehow avoiding the images of horror that occur when men set out to slaughter one another in battle. Rather, he courageously embraced those images and he committed his life to doing something completely opposite of what those images had done to him. And because he did, Al won his war and he taught me how to win mine.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“I must confess that I have never found myself standing at some terribly critical juncture where I had to trade my life to insure your liberties. But there have been untold millions who found themselves standing on battlefields strewn with unimaginable horrors who had to face that very choice. And although words fall miserably short in framing a heart overflowing with appreciation, I want to thank those who at those moments and in those places decided to hand me my liberty through the sacrifice of their lives.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“All the forces of reason combined are unable to rescue the thoughtless person who is so enamored with their agenda that they themselves are perishing at the hands of that very agenda. And in order to insure that the principled nature of this nation is not doomed to perish alongside them, we must make certain that we are not that person.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Bless Your Memorial Day

Today, we salute and pledge our never ending appreciation to the men and women, who made the ultimate sacrifice protecting our freedoms, and defending our Nation. And, to the many front line workers who have lost their lives fighting COVID-19. Today, our hearts belong to all of you.”
― Ron Baratono

“Memorial Day Sonnet

We don't want your celebration,
We don't want you to honor us.
All we want is for you to grow up,
And end all tribalism that kills us.
A thousand holidays can't bring us back,
Nor can they wipe the tears of our spouses.
How will you console our children,
How will you comfort our broken parents!
Enough with your flowers and rituals,
Enough with your crocodile care!
If you have an iota of humanity,
Step up and make all divides disappear.
Yet if you still want to live life as tribal,
Rest assured we'll give ours with a smile.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mucize Insan: When The World is Family

“Civilized beings take responsibility for the conflicts of the world and actively work towards a future that needs no 24/7 military, rather than accepting the death of a soldier as the norm and celebrating it as a glorious occasion.”
― Abhijit Naskar

“A memorial is the touchstone that incessantly reminds us that in a world of decay, great things are not held only to history. For great things always arise in the midst of great decay, for that is what makes them great.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“A true patriot does not seek to live off of the sacrifices of others. Rather, a true patriot is the one who sacrifices so that others might live. And therefore, we might be quite wise to take a moment and ponder the reality that a nation heavy on recipients and light on patriots will soon have neither.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Memorial Day has the tendency to conjure up old arguments about the Civil War. That’s understandable; it was created to mourn the dead of a war in which the Union was nearly destroyed, when half the country rose up in rebellion in defense of slavery.”
― Adam Serwer, The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump's America

“We are not strangers
On Memorial Day
But rather
Keepers of memory
In a Peace Lily Garden”
― Nanette L. Avery

“I wish for an indomitable courage that is spawned by the conviction that without liberty we are without life. I want to possess a breathless passion persistently driven by the understanding that unless liberty is running untethered and free, all is slavery. And I want to be so desperately thirsty for these that I should I need to die for them in order to possess them, I would gladly do so. It is out these convictions that great people are raised up and great nations are born.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“On this Memorial Day, let's remember that true leadership is about sacrifice. It's about placing the good of others before our own, much like the brave men and women who laid down their lives for our freedom. Their selfless service is the epitome of leadership and a reminder to us all.”
― Farshad Asl

“Leadership, at its core, reflects the spirit of selfless service, epitomized by the heroes we honor on Memorial Day. Their sacrifices remind us that true freedom is a gift bought with the price of unwavering courage and determination.”
― Farshad Asl

“To be a light on a hill we must be a people on our knees. We become a light when we realize that we are not, and that any such light is imparted to us by the great God before whom we kneel. And as a gathered nation bowed on bended knee the darkness is exiled, the hill is ascended and its peak seized, the beacon is reignited in a burst of eternal light, and the people residing in the darkness of distant lands catch a glimpse of its ascending glory. And in the spectacle of hope ablaze, the people of distant lands now stand bathed in a light radiating out of a nation that bent its knee before a mighty God and climbed a hill with an inextinguishable torch.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough