Memorial Day 2026

 

 

 

  

  Image courtesy/US Embassy In Georgia

 

 

 The finest tribute we can pay

Unto our hero dead today,

Is not a rose wreath, white and red,

In memory of the blood they shed;

It is to stand beside each mound,

Each couch of consecrated ground,

And pledge ourselves as warriors true

Unto the work they died to do.

 

In God's valleys where they lie

At rest, beneath the open sky,

Triumphant now o'er every foe,

As living tributes let us go.

No wreath of rose or immortelles

or spoken word or toiling bells

Will do today, unless we give

Our pledge that liberty shall live.
 

Our hearts must be the roses red 

We place above our hero dead;

Today beside their graves we must

Renew allegiance to their trust;

Must bare our heads and humbly say

We hold the Flag as dear as they,

And stand, as once they stood, to die

To keep the Stars and Stripes on high. 

The finest tribute we can pay

Unto our hero dead today

Is not of speech or roses red,

But living, throbbing hearts instead.

That shall renew the pledge they sealed

With death upon the battlefield.

That freedom's flag shall bear no stain

And free men wear no tyrant's chain. 

 

"Memorial Day"
Edgar Albert Guest
(1881-1859)
English-born American poet 

 

To all the men and women, past and present, who have honorably
served in America's Armed Forces, thank you for your service
 to this nation and especially for my freedom.

To those who are no longer on this earth, may you find
 eternal rest in God's peaceful valleys.