From the proud daughter of a WW2 Vet, some Ponderings on Memorial Day

It has been many years since I have read the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln, and I have never read it in the context that someone recently brought to my attention. This is the true meaning and reason for Memorial Day.
So the Gettysburg Address follows. Please read it. It will only take a minute of your time, but it will be a valuable minute. Read it to honor the brave men and women, like my dad, who gave up so much to defend all of the things we are so blessed to enjoy each and every day.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
My dad spent 4 years of his life over seas during WW2 along with 2 of his brothers. I often think of what that was like for my grandma. His dad died while he was in Europe. I have the telegram. He could not go home for his funeral. It is hard for me to imagine.
I am so proud of my dad and his service. I am also thankful that he so willingly and purposefully shared his stories from the war with my boys, his grandsons of whom he was so proud. I do not want the stories, the lives of "The Greatest Generation" to die. I pray that my boys will pass the stories on to their children and hopefully they will understand the importance of the true meaning of Memorial Day.
Thank you, Howard F. Allen, for your service to your country. And thank you from the many generations of your family to follow, who will benefit from the sacrifice you so willingly offered.
So tomorrow, when I go to the Memorial Day parade in downtown Holland, I will carry the Army hat of the "honorably discharged' staff Sargent, of the 263rd ordinance battalion ammunition, Howard F Allen with great pride!!!!
The war is only the beginning of all the moments of pride and love I have for my dad. He boldy and bravely fought cancer three times. The third time he boldly walked us through his battle and went gracefully to be with his Lord and Savior
I love you and miss you daddy!
~bekuyps