5,000 Flags of Remembrance

The Alexandria National Cemetery is just a couple of blocks west of my home in Virginia. This morning it was, as it usually is, peaceful and serene. There are about 5,000 gravesites there; it has long been filled to capacity. But while the rituals of commemoration have shifted to Arlington, remembrance continues. This morning's sun rose on 5,000 flags, one placed at each marker to say to those that rest here (and to those that love them), "We WILL NOT forget!'

As always on Memorial Day, my thoughts turn to my uncle, Tec 4 Edmund J. Peters, Jr., 188th Glider Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division, who fell on 17 February 1945 in the assault on Fort McKinley and rests at the American Military Cemetery in Manila. May he rest in peace.