God & Country

Having a bit of extra time on my way back to the airport today and passing the Nations second largest National Cemetery on I 55 near Joliet Illinois I went to see the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. I have been to Arlington which being the oldest and most well known National cemetery is a life changing event for any American with a sense of patriotic pride or just a touch of humanity in that you absorb just how many men and women made the ultimate sacrifice for the USA and what we believe in and ultimately stands for. 

The Abraham Lincoln cemetery is massive in land size with only a small section of land actually being used for graves. I spent a few minutes in the welcome/visitors center and talked to a attendant about ceremonies, protocols and the sheer numbers of WW2 vets and their spouses being laid to rest here. In the 30 minutes I was there, I saw ten separate funerals being done. Honors being rendered, friends and family paying respects, flags folded in sub zero weather. As I stood talking to this former Viet Nam era Marine who works here a lone hearse came into view and prior to the attendant leaving me, he quickly explain to me that some men who die and are to buried here have outlived their own children, wives and other friends and family, or worse they were homeless and destitute left to die alone in a hospital or nursing home. The VA provides their plot and burial but no one is there other than the hearse driver, and honor guard... This one pictured here rolled in by itself and then I saw humanity at its best. The men in the office, the grave diggers and service workers all stopped everything going on and went to pay respects to this man. They won't commit or intern ANYONE alone. He told me as he was leaving to pay respects that no vet will ever be alone in his last moments- ever! I won't lie, I shed more than a few tears at both the thought of being alone at the end of ones life and then the absolute kindness and respect of perfect strangers with one common bond- that of men who have served our country.  

Say what you will, but God and Country has never been truer than what I saw today.