11/11: Remember on this Day of Remembrance- and All Days

Veteran's Day has always been a favorite of mine, for we get to honor those who have fought--not just those who have died fighting. My grandfathers and great-grandfather all fought for their country. I am so proud of that heritage. And I am proud of and very grateful to all those who have fought to defend the freedoms we have been blessed with. 

Here are just a few things in tribute:

But the freedom that they fought for, and the country grand they wrought for,

Is their monument to-day, and for aye.

~Thomas Dunn English

And each man stands with his face in the light of his own drawn sword. Ready to do what a hero can. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~José Narosky

(I have learned that my recently deceased great-grandfather was a part of Iwo Jima)

How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a weary world.

~William Shakespeare

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

We must be prepared to make heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. There is no task that is more important or closer to my heart. ~Albert Einstein

Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. ~Michel de Montaigne

Heroism is latent in every human soul - However humble or unknown, they (the veterans) have renounced what are accounted pleasures and cheerfully undertaken all the self-denials - privations, toils, dangers, sufferings, sicknesses, mutilations, life. ~Lawrence Chamberlain

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms.  It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die. ~G.K. Chesterton

When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them. ~Chinese Proverb

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. ~Cynthia Ozick

This is a different kind of army. If you look at history you'll see men fight for pay, or women, or some other kind of loot. They fight for land, or because a king makes them, or just because they like killing. But we're here for something new. This hasn't happened much in the history of the world. We are an army out to set other men free. America should be free ground, from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow, no man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here you can build a home. But it's not the land. There's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me. What we're fighting for, in the end, is each other. Sorry. Didn't mean to preach. ~Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Gettysburg

Freedom is never free. ~Author Unknown

When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? ~George Canning

I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot. ~Gary Hart

The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten. ~Calvin Coolidge

May we never forget--those who have died and those who are still living. And those who are still fighting. Never forget. But even more, never forget that 

"This is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all our other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ." -Ether 2:12