The Meaning of This Day

​As TAPS sounds out across America on Memorial Day I would like to share the following with our readers, as it eloquently sums up the meaning of this most venerable of national days:

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives 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.
–Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, Sergeant, US Marine Corps

My thanks to the late Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton Jr., POW and war hero, who brought this truth to my attention.​