EDITOR: It was time to replace our worn flag. What better time
to do it than the Memorial Day weekend?
EDITOR:
It was time to replace our worn flag. What better time to do it than the Memorial Day weekend?
My husband, TR, asked me to iron the new flag before he put it up. Hanging a flag with fold lines in it wasn’t acceptable. I wasn’t prepared for what happened to me during this normal household chore. As I ironed the stars and stripes my eyes filled with tears as I thought about the sacrifice my husband made on two tours of duty to Vietnam on the USS Ranger.
We married just before his first tour. I was 17 and he was 20. We were young, in love and stupid. We knew he may never come home and we wanted to be married. It’s only by God’s grace those two young people are still married. But that’s another story.
My husband, like so many others fought a very unpopular war. These young men and women wanted to have others experience the same freedoms we in the United States. take for granted.
We are once again facing an unpopular war. When would war be popular? Who likes war? But wouldn’t we be selfish if we only wanted freedom for ourselves?
I am so grateful to the men and women who have loved their freedom enough to give their lives for it. I am grateful to people like my husband who love freedom enough to fight unpopular wars. People whose hearts fill with pride each time they hang a well-ironed flag.
Susie Smith,
Morgan Hill
