Insight - Respect

I never knew what a sacrifice men in the military make until my husband was deployed overseas while we were dating. It was Thanksgiving weekend and I was home from college. We met at my parent’s house to hang out for a few days. (We didn’t live in the same town.) While he was there he got “the call” - The one no parent or girlfriend wants to hear. 
 

“We’re being activated. You need to report in three days.”

Being there, watching his reaction was surreal. I had to remind myself that this was what he trained for, what he wanted to do. There was no way he was staying home while his buddies went to war without him.

With deployment comes great uncertainty. 

While he was overseas, we only had contact by letters and the occasional $400 phone call. During previous wars, mail was hit or miss and many times you didn’t know what was happening with a loved one until the officers arrived at the front door. 

Thankfully, I have never had a visit like that. But, so many families have opened their doors to the horror of losing a spouse, a son or in the case of one Libby family in the Arlington Cemetery, two sons in the same war.

Celebrating Memorial Day is more than tossing some ribs on the barbeque or sprucing up the yard. Service men and women from all over the country gather, have parades, picnics and ceremonies to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to give us the right to live in a land that is free. Those men and women in the parades and at the ceremonies served for you and for all of us. They deserve a “thank you” and respect, for what they have seen and been through is more than we can imagine or will ever know.

So from us at The Windham Eagle…Thank you for serving. 

-Michelle Libby