Memorial Day is a time to honor those that have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country while serving in the military. In 2000, Congress passed the “National Moment of Remembrance Act,” that asks Americans, wherever they are at 3:00 PM local time on Memorial Day, to pause for a duration of one minute to remember those who have died in military service to the United States. Please join us in this moment of silence to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including Mom’s great uncle, who went by the nickname, Buddy.
Great Uncle Buddy was a young man when he answered the call to serve during World War II, and rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant of the US Army Air Forces with the 577th Bomb Squadron of the 392nd Bomber Group. In 1943, his plane, the “Miss America,” was shot down over the North Sea, just 6 days shy of his 22nd birthday. Today his grave in a quiet cemetery remains empty, because his body was never recovered. His name is also memorialized at the Cambridge American Cemetery in the United Kingdom, on the Wall of the Missing.
Buddy was an all American boy, who played baseball, was fascinated by planes, and intended to marry his high school sweetheart when he returned home. Mom’s great uncle is not the only brave soldier to give the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Please on this Memorial Day, at 3:00 PM local time, join us in the National Moment of Remembrance, to honor ALL the brave men and women who who have given the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the military.
The citation of honor for Great Uncle Buddy reads: “He lived to bear his country’s arms. He died to save its honor. He was a soldier…and he knew a soldier’s duty. His sacrifice will help to keep aglow the flaming torch that lights our lives…that millions yet unborn may know the priceless joy of liberty. And we who pay him homage, and revere his memory, in solemn pride rededicate ourselves to a complete fulfillment of the task for which he so gallantly has placed his life upon the altar of man’s freedom.” ~ H. H. Arnold, General US Army, Commanding General Army Air Force (1944)
