Our True National Debt

A Tribute to SSGT Grimes, Battery C, 451 AAA

When we were twenty-three…

I was thinking about where to spend my summer vacation after my senior year in college;
You were crossing the Atlantic with your men on the USS Cristobol.

I was applying to graduate school at Miami University;
You were helping establish a beachhead in Nazi occupied North Africa.

I was deciding what classes to take now that my first semester was coming to a close;
You were defending the airstrip at Mostaganem from nighttime attacks by the Luftwaffe.

When we were twenty-four..

I was saying goodbye to old friends as graduation came and went;
You were huddled in a foxhole while bombs fell on Monte Cassino.

I was driving to Massachusetts for my summer job at camp;
You were landing at Marseilles – ready to push towards the Siegfried line and into Nazi Germany.

I was finding it a challenge to keep up with all of the readings in my economics classes;
You were liberating the camp at Stuttgart -witnessing atrocities that few in the world had ever seen.

And then came the day…

I stood by with pride as the guns rang out in the crisp November air;
And you were laid to rest under the flag you had so honorably served.

What a story. What a soldier. What an American. What a life.

In memory of Staff Sergeant Stan Grimes.

February 21, 1919 – November 6, 2009.

… and all of his brothers in arms who have fought to keep our country free.

Consider making this Memorial Day more than a fishing trip, a picnic, or an extra day off work. Tell a veteran how much you appreciate their service, pay respects to a soldier’s grave, say a prayer for our men and women overseas – we owe them much more than this – but what they have given, we can not give back.