This weekend is what some call the “beginning of summer.” We hear about pools opening up, car and furniture sales, long weekend vacations, and BBQs. However, for those of us who have served in foreign lands on battlefields, this is Memorial Day, once known as Remembrance Day. I often correct people, immediately, when I hear them say “Happy Memorial Day.” That is hardly what this weekend, and the day, is all about. We should all “Honor Memorial Day” as we remember those who have made the last full measure of devotion to the last best hope for mankind, these United States of America.

We have a saying amongst us ol’ veterans, “all gave some, some gave all.”

Some of us have left our homes and families with the noble objective of securing and protecting individual liberty and freedom for others. And, as it says in John 15:13, no greater love has someone than to lay down their lives for another. This Memorial Day I will remember a young Texas Army National Guard Soldier named Bishop Evans. He recently gave his life, drowning in the Rio Grande River, saving two illegal immigrants who ended up being identified as drug smugglers. What a true testimony of service, sacrifice, and commitment, the real meaning of Memorial Day.

We veterans took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, against all enemies, foreign, and domestic. If we do bear true faith and allegiance to the same, then our oath has no statute of limitations. Therefore, we must continue to seek how we can serve our nation, especially in these troubled times. That is why the American Constitutional Rights Union has the Committee to Support and Defend. It is a platform enabling us, the Guardians of the Republic, to speak out. It is also a vehicle by which we can organize ourselves to serve our nation in other aspects, such as in the electoral process as poll watchers and workers, even election judges. After all, we served in distant lands hoping to extend a representative democratic process to them, something we must safeguard here at home.

So, let us “Honor Memorial Day,” instead of rushing out to the community pool, local sale, or to fire up the grill. Take a moment as an American family, and visit a national cemetery, show your children and grandchildren who the real American heroes are. They did not wear a jersey, throw or catch a ball,or  shoot hoops . . . no, they stood upon freedom’s rampart so that others could do so, and you had the freedom to enjoy that game.

Steadfast and Loyal.