Great email from a friend...

It's funny how our perspective can radically change as we get older. Thirty five years ago (If we had e-mail) I would not have forwarded this. This breaks my ten year vow to never forward chain mail or messages. Perhaps it was my 84-year old father-in-law, homebound, putting his medals on the kitchen table Saturday and telling me, again, about the hedgerows in France. He did not tell me, this time, about picking up coal near near the RR tracks at Detroit's stockyard as a child to be used for heating his family home during the depression, Surely the Greatest Generation...Mike

It is the VETERAN, not th! e preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD,
AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

I don't know if yo! u saw this in the news but it really impressed me. Funny, our US Senate/House took 2 days off as they couldn't work because of the expected storm.

On the ABC evening news, it was reported tonight that, because of the dangers from Hurricane Isabelle approaching Washington DC, the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment.

They respectfully declined the offer, "No way, Sir!"

Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be afforded to a serviceperson.

The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7, since 1930.

I don't usually suggest that many emails be forwarded, but I'd be MIGHTY proud if this one reached as many as possible.

We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.

God! Bless them.