This is from my friend Sherry in Michigan who always has the right thing to send at the right time. Thanks Sherry!

And this is to all of the men and women in every department of the military, at home and abroad, past and present. Thank God for you and what you have done to give us the freedoms that make this the Land of the Free and the home of the brave! And a special thank you to my son-in-law who is carrying the flag over seas. Thank you Joesy Tesner!

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS. ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

KEEP IT LIT! KEEP IT LIT!! For all of our other military personnel where ever they may be. Please support ALL of the troops defending our country!

And GOD bless our military who are protecting our country for our FREEDOM!Thanks to them and thier sacrifices, we can celebrate the 4th of July.

We must never forget who gets the credit for the freedoms we have, of which we should be eternally grateful.

I watched the flag pass by one day, it fluttered in the breeze.

A young Marine saluted it, and then he stood at ease. I looked at him in uniform; so young, so tall, so proud. With hair cut square and eyes alert, he’d stand out in any crowd.

I thought “how many men like him had fallen through the years”? How many died on foreign soil? How many mother’s tears?

How many pilot’s plane shot down? How many died at sea? How many foxholes were soldier’s graves? NO, FREDDOM ISN’T FREE!!

I heard the sound of ”Taps” one night when everything was still. I listened to the bugler play and felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times that “Taps” had meant “Amen”. When a flag had draped a coffin of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children, of the mothers and the wives, of fathers, sons and husbands, with interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard at the bottom of the sea. Of unmarked graves in Arlington: NO FREEDOM ISN’T FREE!!

Enjoy your freedom and GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!

When you’ve finished with this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our service men & women. Of all the gifts you could give a U.S. Soldier, Prayer is the very best one.