Petrified Truth

Memorial Day 2009

On Memorial Day, we honor the fallen heroes from our armed forces and acknowledge the great sacrifices they and their families have made to preserve our freedoms.

At Arlington National Cemetery, more than 250,000 flags have been placed on grave sites to mark the day.

The tradition, known as “Flags In,” dates back to 1948, when soldiers of 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “The Old Guard,” began the annual Memorial Day tribute.

This year marked the sixth year company-size elements of sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen joined about 3,000 soldiers in placing a U.S. flag at the base of the gravestone and columbarium niche of every servicemember buried or inurned at Arlington.

Yesterday afternoon, the troops fanned out across the cemetery’s hills and valleys, carrying rucksacks bulging with bundles of flags. They approached each headstone, centering a miniature flag exactly one boot length from the base before sinking it into the ground.

“I can’t say how lucky I feel to have the opportunity to do this,” said Army Sgt. Daniel Sonntag, a member of the Old Guard’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Battalion.

“Not many people get to do something like this,” said Sonntag, who deployed to Iraq with the 1st Infantry Division in September 2006 and has friends buried at Arlington. “This is something small we can do to honor those who have fallen before us. … It’s a way to recognize how important each one of these men and women here really was.”

Via Fox News Sunday yesterday, we learned about veteran extraordinaire Tom Day, who has organized Bugles Across America, a nationwide effort to ensure that a live bugler is available to play the 24 notes of Taps at every military funeral. Not only does he recruit volunteers across the country, he has provided horns, drums, uniforms and flags as needed, often at great personal cost. This family has made a donation to support this beautiful cause.

Jack Kemp, RIP

Jack Kemp, former NFL quarterback and long-time political visionary, has died of cancer. He was a thoroughly unconventional, sometimes wacky, politician, and an indomitable public figure. He'll be missed.

UPDATE: Bill Bennett remembers his friend and colleague:

Republican Analyst Bill Bennett told CNN Sunday that with the death of former GOP vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, "we lost part of our heart today."

In 1993, the two men co-founded conservative think tank Empower America.

"Well, we lost part of our heart today, John, one of our great voices, one of our lions," he told CNN's John King on State of the Union. "You know, there's a lot of talk, these days, about who will be the next Ronald Reagan. A few of us were thinking, this morning, who will be the next Jack Kemp?"

Bennett praised Kemp's efforts to increase the diversity of the GOP and reach out to urban areas and minority voters.

"He led this party into the inner city and said freedom is for everybody; opportunity is for everybody; enterprise is for everybody," he said.