The Tomb; a tribute to the fallen …

On Memorial Day, we remember, we mourn and we celebrate.

We pay tribute to those who never saw another sunset after paying the ultimate sacrifice to give us the freedoms we should forever cherish and preserve.

The celebration is that they lived to serve and protect us, no matter how long or short their time on this earth, and we must be thankful every single day that these patriots from every walk of life possessed the kind of courage few can imagine.

Flags stir in breezes over graves scattered around the globe. Some are unmarked, others bear the names of the men and women who believed that preserving liberty and justice for all was a duty they embraced fully.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country, John F. Kennedy exhorted on his inauguration day all those many years ago.

So very, very many have done for us.

And continue to do to this day, because their faith in this land of ours is unwavering.

Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime, Adlai Stevenson said.

Indeed.

Every single day, not just on this holiday, we each need to dedicate ourselves to the principles of what have made this country great for more than two centuries.

We can and will agree to disagree on many things, but on the simple belief that all are created equal and that we all must ultimately unite to make this country and our world a better place for those around us and for generations to come, we simply cannot waver.

There is no better monument to the bravery of those we salute on this day than the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or, as some know it, the Tomb of the Unknowns.

It took more than two years to assemble what became the monument to those who died for our freedoms, the Colorado marble slabs fitted, carved and placed in the amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery and ultimately dedicated on April 9, 1932.

The tomb was built above the remains of an unknown World War I soldier and ‘unknowns’ have been added from all wars since that time.

Its carvings represent Peace, Victory and Valor and a single line of recognition that simply states ‘HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER KNOWN BUT TO GOD’.

Each and every day, around the clock, its guards, all members of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, also known as “The Old Guard,” march 21 steps down a 63-foot-long black mat, turn and face east for 21 seconds, turn and face north, move their rifle to the outside shoulder, wait 21 seconds and march 21 steps back, turn and face east, wait 21 seconds, turn and face south, reshoulder the rifle, wait 21 seconds and repeat the march.

This is done in silence and the significance of the number 21 comes from the 21-gun salute given in honor of a veteran who has passed. The guard is changed every half-hour in spring and summer months, every hour in the fall and winter.

Dedication. That is what Memorial Day is all about.

And shall always be.