Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day 2009

Below are two of my favorite verses from the song...

My Country Tis of Thee

My country,' tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty,
of thee I sing;
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims' pride,
from every mountainside let freedom ring!

Our fathers' God, to thee,
author of liberty,
to thee we sing;
long may our land be bright
with freedom's holy light;
protect us by thy might, great God, our King.

****

Today I remember my father who was in the Navy during WW II. He was in boot camp, just out of high school, with Gene Kelly, and then became a radioman on a yard mine sweeper . My dad went on to go to USC on his GI bill. He was a teacher and an engineer, and made many patents, including oxygen masks for the military (two examples are in the Smithsonian Museum) which is still in use today and those orange ones used in airlines for emergencies (started out as a sketch on a napkin).

My father passed away and I miss him very much. I am so grateful he was willing to die for our country.

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