Memorial Day

In honor of Memorial Day, I would like to share.  I'm afraid I really have no eloquent words.  What do you say to thank people who have given it all for you and your freedom?  Instead, I'll share some photos.  I would like to say that I am incredibly thankful for my family members, my friends, and people I've never met who have served our great nation in the armed forces and risked everything to protect our freedoms.  And most of all, I am so grateful for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and laid down their lives for us. 

American Cemetery in Normandy, France in June 2004 for the 60th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion

"We haven't forgot the price you have paid.  You've given us the freedom that we enjoy today.  And everyday I thank my God for sending those like you.  You cared for the future and the dreams of me and you.  The red is for the blood.  The blue is for the bruise.  The white is for the eyes that fought for me and you.  So we lift our hearts today filled with gratitude and praise for the veterans of the USA." --  Tim Goad

Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery - 2011

Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.

Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to asure the survival and the success of liberty.

Now the trumpet summons us again, not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are, but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle.  A struggle against the common enemies of man:  Tyranny, Poverty, Disease, and War itself. 

The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it, and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

 Ron (USAF) & Toby Hale
January 1958

Ron Hale at Burtonwood Air Force Base near Warrington,UK 1958 

Toby Hale at a War Memorial in Warrington, UK while they were serving at Burtonwood Air Force Base

"From the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee, across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea, from Detroit down to Houston, and New York to L.A., well there's pride in every American heart, and it's time we stand and say that I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me, and I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today 'cause there ain't no doubt I love this land.  God bless the USA!" - Lee Greenwood

A special thanks to my brother-in-law James Leverton who served in the US Air Force, my father-in-law Charles Leverton who served in the US Marine Corps, my grandfather Ronald Hale who served in the US Air Force, my grandfathers-in-law Grandpa Smith & James Leverton, my great-great-great-grandfathers Jethro Culpepper and Wilburn Hale who served in the infantry during the Civil War, my 6th & 7th-great grandfathers John Hale and James Culpepper who may have served in the Revolutionary War, and all the others I am unaware of who have served our armed forces!!!