President Abraham Lincoln was not the featured speaker for the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, but his 263-word speech will never be forgotten. When I think about Memorial Day it is truly about those of us who still walk about taking increased devotion to those who have given the last full measure of devotion. Memorial Day is special to me because my Dad and Mom are buried together in Marietta National Cemetery in Georgia. My Dad, Herman West Sr., was a World War II US Army Corporal who answered the call of duty to serve his Nation, even when his Nation did not serve him. My Dad wanted to be a part of a new birth of freedom for people far and away from him in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). And having been born in 1920 in the South, Dad was yet to experience many of those freedoms, but that did not deter him.

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