Memorial Day...

SCI-FI thought y'all should read this. I concur.

Special lady for each Arlington soldier

ARLINGTON, Va. - Joyce Johnson remembers the drums beating slowly as she walked with her girls from the Old Post Chapel, behind the horse-drawn caisson carrying the flag-draped casket of her husband.

...

And then a lady stepped forward, a stranger, dressed not in uniform but in a simple dark suit. She whispered a few words and pressed two cards into Johnson's hands.

"If there is anything you need ..."

Then she melted back into the crowd.

The story centers on the "Arlington Ladies", women who make it a point to attend every funeral (some 30 a day) held at Arlington National Cemetery. They're doing amazing work, comforting those left behind from the heroes who has passed on, either from wounds dealt in battle or from the ravages of time. They offer assistance if asked; a simple presence that brings comfort beyond measure.

Photo borrowed from here

I visited Arlington National Cemetery as a child during one of our trips to Washington DC. A distant cousin, someone I'd never met, who had served in the Armed Forces during the Korean War is buried there. I remember driving solemnly through the cemetery - you go directly to the gravesite you request, no diversions. Seeing the rows upon rows of white tombstones, most with crosses, some with the Star of David, all representing a person who served in a branch of the Armed Forces, tasked with putting their very lives on the line to keep us free.

If you seek heroes, here you will find them. Remember them today and every day.

That is all.