FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

By LCDR Kelly Strong, USCG
I watched the flag pass by one day, It fluttered in the breeze. A young Service man saluted it, And then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform So young, so tall, so proud, With hair cut square and eyes alert He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him Had fallen through the years. How many died on foreign soil How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down? How many died at sea? How many foxholes were soldiers' graves? No, freedom isn't free.
I heard the sound of Taps one night, When everything was still, I listened to the bugler play And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times That Taps had meant "Amen, "When a flag had draped a coffin Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children, Of the mothers and the wives, Of fathers, sons and husbands With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard At the bottom of the sea. Of unmarked graves in Arlington.

No, freedom isn't free.

Thank you to all those who have died for our great country. Thank you to those families who have given the greatest sacrifice, Father's, Mother's, Son's and Daughters, Brothers and Sisters

Thank you to all past and present that have proudly served our great nation.

THANK YOU!