Circle of Honor

[Chunk]

When I saw the Legionnaire standing outside the bank selling paper poppies, I immediately thought of my Uncle Ormal who passed away on Tuesday. As a young man he spent some years in the South Pacific in the Army Air Corp during WWII. Since that time he has spent a lot of time and effort honoring the other young men who didn't return from that conflict and other conflicts since. As a long time leader in the local Legion Post he was instrumental in arranging and conducting the annual Memorial Day services for his fallen comrades and veterans who passed on. I also started thinking about my son who is fighting in Iraq now and Mike's own fallen comrades, a Sargent in his platoon who fell about 6 weeks ago and a fellow infantryman in a sister platoon who was killed last Friday, and how he will have these life long remembrances.

While I was thinking of these three men in particular, there are many more poppies in this ring. Honor those you know. Offer not sympathy, but honor for that which those who are and have been in uniform have given.