Deuteronomy 8:1-8 God reminds Israel to "Remember your Egyptian Experience". If you do, you will never forget that I am God. He reminded them
to remember.... I led you for 40 years - I fed you - Gave you water to drink from the rock.Remember, your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't swell. Remember to keep the commandments, and don't let your
heart be lifted up in pride. In other words. "Don't forget God."
I believe that God has His way in the affairs of men, and God is always on the side of right. On This Memorial Day, let us not forget God. His
name is found written in the documents of our nation, and on the money we carry in our pocket. "In God we trust."
Let us not forget that God has done great things for our nation.
In all the wars America
has fought, her gallant men have fought on foreign soil in almost every part of the world, including the steaming jungles of the Pacific, the hedge rows of Europe, jagged hills of China, dry hot desert of Libya, the
snow covered side of Belgium, and the frozen north of Korea. In such places of the world, America's finest have paid the supreme sacrifice for our nations freedom. I am American enough, Soldier enough and Patriotic
enough that we should never forget, and that every Memorial Day should be a special day in America. If the "Old Soldiers" don't remember, the younger generation will soon forget because their freedom has not
cost them anything.
What kind of men are these we honor, what kind of men are these we remember on Memorial Day? For their heroism, their sacrifices, their successes. Most but citizen soldiers, Airman, Sailors and
Marines. Men from the farm, the city, from the class room of our schools and college campuses. Men not dedicated to the profession of arms, men not skilled in the art of war, just ordinary people like our sons and
daughters. The soldier inspired by the sublime cause to defend their country, their native land, the home of their birth and childhood.
What kind of men are these who willingly lay down their lives on the altar of our
country need? These citizen soldiers, these comrades in arms. Men who know the call of the bugle at reveille and taps at sunset. Men whose marching feet take them into battle to hear the whine of the bullet, the
ceaseless rattle of the machine gun, and the distant cry of a fallen comrade.
What kind of men are these who suffer from loneliness, though surrounded by hundreds, that suffer from hunger, and thirst, the relentless
heat of the sun, torrential rains, tropical storms and the frozen bitter cold. On and on they go, till the day they stop and die. They grow old in their youth, they burn out in minutes all that life owed them in
tranquil years.
What kind of men are these, many march to unknown fame where today a white cross marks the place of his memory. From their tortured dying lips they would say, "Don't stop for me, go on to
victory."
We will never know the dignity of their birth, the joys or sorrow of their life, but we shall always remember the glory of their death.
Therefore my fellow soldiers, no matter where you are as we
celebrate this Memorial Day. It may be in a parade, a private place in a cemetery, or standing among row after row of white crosses. Remember this. "We are not here to celebrate, we are not here to glory, WE ARE
HERE TO REMEMBER. To remember those who survived standing around us, and those who died and lie buried about us, let us not forget."
On this Memorial Day let us give thinks for men and women who have given their
lives for our freedom, and to give thanks to God for those who stand guard over America today to protect and preserve our freedom.
Rev. Louis E. Holmes
Bethel Baptist Church
Grapevine, Texas, 76051
Sfc. Louis E. Holmes
Co. E 31st. Inf. Reg. 7th. Div.
1948 - 1952
