The First Amendment, in its majesty, protects our fundamental rights to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and the right of the governed to assemble peaceably and petition for a redress of grievances.
On Memorial Day, we honor the millions of war dead and wounded who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.
My dad machine-gunned Nazis on two continents in three combat jumps with the 82nd ABN DIVN, F. Co., 505th PI.R., the last of which took place when he was nearly 32, parachuting into Sainte-Mère-Église in Normandy, France at 1 AM.
Our American and Allied paratroopers took the town, defeating the Nazi Reich before the sun had risen on June 6, 1944, liberating the first of some 10,000 towns from Hitlerism.
On Memorial Day 1963, 60 years ago, my dad bought flags for every home on our block in Pennsauken, N.J., and a photo of the two of us putting up a flag on a window mount appeared in the Catholic Star-Herald newspaper.
Never forget that freedom is not free.
My dad taught me, as JFK's dad taught him, that you have to stand up to people with power, or they walk all over you. Let us dedicate ourselves to that.
It's our time, our country and our place to speak out against injustice and bigotry.
We honor our dead and wounded as we vindicate the rights of the living.
Let justice be done.
Be not afraid.
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing a great memory of your Dad. My Dad was a Sea Bee in the Pacific in WW 2.
Judy Stephenson
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