Cord Byrd: “May 31 is Memorial Day, the day we set aside each year to remember and to honor those men and women who gave their lives…”

“May 31 is Memorial Day, the day we set aside each year to remember and to honor those men and women who gave their lives in service to our Nation. Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day in the old South--the day that we reminisce in our memories of our past, our locking with hands or words our lives with others, our children, grandchildren, and people whose voice is forever stilled. This year, this day has even more meaning as we once again find our men and women in uniform engaged in hostilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. Freedom does not come cheap. It is too often paid for not only in dollars but in the lives of America's best sons and daughters. All across the Nation out there, all across the prairies, the plains, the green valleys, the mountains, the rivers, the rust belt, the East, the North, the South, and the West--all across the Nation, families will be visiting the gravesites of their loved ones. Long, long be our hearts of such memories filled like the vase in which roses have once been distilled. You may break, you may shatter, the vase if you will, but the scent of the roses will hang round it still. Among rows of tombstones adorned with small American flags, they will lay wreathes and pay their respects to those who have served our country with honor and distinction in our Nation's wars.”