Remember war dead today
Memorial Day is one of our nation’s most solemn holidays. We remember on this day the millions of Americans who have laid down their lives in service to our country over its 241 years history.
Each citizen should make some tangible gesture to pay respect to the memory of those who died to preserve our liberties.
Among the possible gestures are attending one of the many Memorial Day ceremonies throughout Southwest Louisiana.
You could also visit the Veteran’s War Memorial Park on the lakefront in Lake Charles, which features a number of impressive monuments, markers and memorial bricks. There are other inspiring veterans monuments and memorials throughout Southwest Louisiana, often at courthouses and cemeteries.
In Lake Charles, the Sons of the American Revolution Avenue of Flags in the Graceland-Orange Grove Cemetery on Broad Street features hundreds of beautiful veterans casket flags lining the avenues.
Taking a drive through the cemetery can be an inspirational experience and one which can make you swell with pride to be an American. There are veterans buried there from the War of 1812 on the modern times.
At the Veteran’s War Memorial Park, the most impressive monument is a statue of the only Lake Charles citizen to be awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously, 1st Lt. Douglas Fournet. He was serving as a rifle platoon leader with the Army in South Vietnam in the Ashu Valley.
His platoon encountered intense sniper fire and Fournet ordered his men to take cover on a hill. They then came across a mine and he drew his knife, shielded his men with his own body and tried to cut slash the control wires, but the mine detonated and killed him instantly. Five other men were slightly wounded.
Also remember all the brave young men and women today who are in harms way protecting our freedoms both here in our own homeland, and far flung battlefields across the world in the ongoing war on Islamic terrorism.
It takes a special kind of dedication to risk one’s life for his or her country. The pay is low, the work is hard and often dangerous.
But without them and their sacrifice, our freedoms would be just platitudes on old parchment paper. Freedom comes at a very high price.
Take time today to pause and remember the price that this nation’s war dead have paid.
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