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On Memorial Day, Americans pause to remember and honor.
And it takes many forms.
In small towns, there will be parades
of very solemn veterans.
Across the country, every place the US flag
will fly at half mast.
At Arlington National Cemetery, the President of the
United States will personally lay a wreath at the tomb of
the unknowns.
And before the president arrives, hundreds of soldiers
from the Third US Infantry, the Old Guard, will solemnly
walk through the cemetery and place over 280,000 flags at
the grave sites of those who are interred there.
Through the weekend, those same soldiers will patrol that
same place, the hallowed ground of Arlington National
Cemetery, to ensure that every one of those flags is
appropriately upright, and honoring those who rest there.
In Portland, Oregon, people will bring notes and pictures
to what's called the tribute wall.
In Los Angeles, at the National Cemetery there, the
24 notes of "Taps" will fill the air, as they will at so
many other cemeteries on Memorial Day.
At posts, camps, and stations, and even the most remote
combat outpost, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines
will pause from what they're doing.
They'll gather in small groups to honor
their fallen comrades.
And frequently, the only flag that will be present is the
flag on their right shoulder.
On Memorial Day, I think about the journey home for those
that we honor today.
I think about Mosul, Iraq, where soldiers line the
airfield tarmac to honor their fallen soldiers killed in
action as they bid them a final farewell at the
beginning of their journey home.
I think about Dover Air Force Base, where our nation
receives our fallen warriors with such quiet dignity and
solemn respect.
And I think about the most solemn airplane rides and the
airman who reverently bring our fallen
troops back to Dover.
At each stage of that journey, small groups of soldiers,
sailors, airmen, and Marines will stop what they're doing.
And they'll pause.
And they'll gather quietly to render their respect and their
honor to our fallen troopers.
They pause to reflect and commemorate lives of great
consequence by doing that.
Well, Memorial Day is a day that, as a nation, we likewise
pause to reflect on lives of great consequence.
And no matter where or how Memorial Day is observed, it's
always punctuated by moments of silence, quiet reverence.
When you think about it, that silence or quiet reverence is
absolutely the most fitting and the most appropriate
response when you reflect on the fact that over a million
service members have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense
of our country since the birth of our country.
Each of those service members was a son or a daughter, a
husband or wife, a father or a mother, a brother or sister.
And each of them serve something larger than
themselves.
So on Memorial Day, our moments of silence quietly
define who we are as Americans.
And from those moments of silence, we draw a quiet
strength, the strength of this nation.
We're all here today, and so many others that will watch
this, to share a solemn responsibility to those fallen
warriors and their families to ensure that Americans remember
what Memorial Day is all about.
So here at USAA, and in thousands of other places
around our nation and the world, we pause to
reflect and to honor.
And where words are simply not enough, our moments of silence
quietly proclaim our deep gratitude.