HONORING OUR HEROES

Today we spent the day remembering all of the brave men and women who have given their  lives to defend  our country, allowing us to live in freedom.  It was very important for the boys to behave in a respectful and controlled manner as we visited several memorials.

The first memorial we visited was the beautiful US Air Force Memorial.  The structure is three huge steel spires arching into the sky, arranged in the "missing man" formation.  We can see this memorial from the freeway and now we got a chance to visit and examine it up close.  At the base of the structure are plaques with the names of the Air Force Medal of Honor recipients.  Across the way are plaques inscribed with some meaningful quotations about honor and integrity--the two cornerstones of the Air Force philosophy.  It is an inspiring sight.

Next we went to the Pentagon to see the moving 9/11 Memorial.  This memorial includes a granite wall with the names and birth years of every person who died in the attack on the Pentagon, and there is a bench for each person with their name inscribed upon it.  The youngest person to die was a passenger on the airplane, Dana Falkenburg.  She was only 3 years old.  It was very moving to think about this little girl.  On the website about the memorial there is a photo of her with her mom and dad and sister.  Her daddy and sister also died in the crash.  The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Biographies

From the Pentagon we went to the very famous US Marine Corps statue which is inscribed "In honor and in memory of the men of the United States Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since November 10, 1775."  This is the famous statue of the 6 Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima.  Three of them later lost their lives on the island.  Around the base of the statue is inscribed all of the wars in which  Marines have lost their lives.  We didn't realize how many wars we have fought in since 1776.

Next we went to Arlington National Cemetery.  This is a huge cemetery in which thousands of headstones of fallen servicemen and servicewomen stretch for what seems like forever.  Also, John F. Kennedy is buried here.  We visited the Visitor Center and then walked up to observe President Kennedy's burial site and the eternal flame.  From there we walked across the acres of headstones, passing by Robert Kennedy's humble cross, reading a statistic or two about the people buried there, to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Many statesmen, servicemen and astronauts are buried here, including Audie Murphy, James Doolittle, and Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Time to go home and get out of the heat and feed the ever-hungry tummies.  The kids spent the afternoon watching cartoons on tv until Grandpa kicked them outside.  They claimed to be too tired to play, so they just sat on the deck and had a nice chat, and probably a history lesson or two, from Grandpa.  They very politely call him out when he starts telling the story of how he would take the train to Iowa every summer to spend time on the farm with his Grandpa Gary.  He just can't believe he has shared that story with them, but they can tell the whole thing from start to finish with all of the side stories about the boots dropping on the porch to wake him up in the morning and the submarine ride for the kitty, so he has to believe they may have heard it once or twice (or 30 times) before.

Tomorrow is our last day of activities--the International Spy Museum and the Holocaust Museum--and then on Tuesday we have to clean up the house and go to the airport for our flight home.